All Mac® users know about the Mac App Store®, and most have probably used it to get an app or two. If you’re also a Parallels Desktop® for Mac user, there’s another store you should check out: the Microsoft Store.

Oct 11, 2019 How to Run 32-Bit Apps in macOS Catalina. Apple's latest version of macOS, Catalina, officially ditches 32-bit app support, but you can still run the software you need by following these steps. Jul 05, 2017 Like Linux, Mac OS X has gained more and more PC gaming support over the years. In the old days, you’d have to look elsewhere for Mac games. When the rare game was ported to Mac, you’d have to purchase the Mac-only version to run it on your Mac. These days, many of the games you already own probably have Mac versions available.

The Microsoft Store is accessible from Windows 8 or 10—but in all practical terms, this means onlvidy Windows 10, since Windows 8 is used so rarely these days.

The Microsoft Store is for all things to play or consume on Windows 10: movies, music, apps, books, fonts, extensions to the Edge browser, and even hardware. In Apple® terms, it’s iTunes®, the Mac App Store, iBooks®, and the Apple Store® all rolled into one. However, in this blog post, I will focus mainly on apps available from the Microsoft Store.

Accessing the Store

Just as Apple has the App Store app, Microsoft has the Microsoft Store app. (See Figure 1.)

Here are some apps I have downloaded from the Microsoft Store, none of which are available on the Mac App Store:

*Available for the iPhone®/iPad® in the Apple App Store.

All of these apps run fine for me on my MacBook Pro® in a Windows 10 VM using Parallels Desktop 14—with the single exception of Age of Empires: Definitive Edition. I used every setting I know to get this app to run with acceptable performance, but in the end, I gave up. (Age of Empires is my favorite game of all time, as I posted back in 2014.)

You can predict whether an app in the Microsoft Store will run in Parallels Desktop by looking at its system requirements from within your virtual machine. (See Figure 2.)

Figures 3–5 show some other apps from the Microsoft Store running in Parallels Desktop on my MacBook Pro.

Video 1 shows some games from the Microsoft Store running in Parallels Desktop 14 on my MacBook Pro:

And Video 2 shows some of the 3D models available for the Sensavis Visual Learning Tool:

As of today, there are about 800,000 Windows 10 apps in the Microsoft Store, as opposed to only about 11,000 in the Mac App Store. There are a number of excellent apps in both stores, and the Mac user with Parallels Desktop can take advantage of both to find the perfect app for your needs.

Have you found a particularly useful or novel app on the Microsoft Store? If so, tell us about it in the comments.

If you want to play Microsoft Xbox games on your Mac there are two easy ways to do so. One is by running Windows on your Mac using Parallels and the other is via an app called OneCast.

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Here’s an overview of both ways so you can choose the best one for you.

1. Parallels

Parallels is our favorite way to run Windows on a Mac and the latest version of Parallels 15 supports Xbox Beta from the Windows store which allows you to play Xbox games in Windows 10.

You also need an Xbox pass but you can get one for an introductory offer of $1 for the first month and then $5 per month afterwards.

Even better, you can connect your Xbox controller via Bluetooth meaning you can enjoy the full Xbox experience on your Mac.

Run Microsoft Games On Mac Computer

Installing Windows on your Mac also opens up a whole world of other advantages allowing you to install PC only apps and games on macOS.

2. OneCast

OneCast allows you to stream Xbox One games to macOS in 1080p and connect an Xbox controller to your Mac via Bluetooth or USB.

Run Microsoft Games On Mac Free

OneCast is extremely easy to setup, there’s almost no lag when playing and you can setup multiple profiles for multiple Xboxes.

You can try OneCast for free although after 14 days it costs $10 to buy a license key for the full version. It’s normally $20 but it’s currently 50% off until April 1st. You can also watch OneCast in action playing NBA Live on Mac here.

Before starting, make sure that your Mac and Xbox are connected to the same internet router at home. Then follow these instructions to start streaming Xbox games to your Mac for free:

• Download the trial version of OneCast for free and open the DMG file downloaded.

• Drag the OneCast app to your Applications folder.

• Click on the OneCast icon in your dock to launch it.

• OneCast will then automatically detect your Xbox on your home network (assuming it’s switched on) and allow you to connect to it. OneCast will prompt you to login into your Xbox with your Microsoft account details. Just use the same username and password that you use to log onto your Xbox One.
• Finally you simply need to connect your Xbox One controller to your Mac which you can do by activating Bluetooth on your Mac via System Preferences. Alternatively you can also connect it via USB.

You can stream your Xbox on your Mac in either windowed mode or full screen mode. You can even connect your Mac to your Xbox away from home too although this requires a few simple manual network configuration changes which are explained in the OneCast user manual.

Although there is some lag at times, most games run pretty smoothly in 1080p using OneCast and it’s generally very impressive. If you find that lag becomes a problem, you can try changing the video quality when you launch OneCast from “Very High” to “High”, “Medium” or “Low”.

It is also a good idea to shut down all other applications while using OneCast as it’s quite GPU intensive and your Macs cooling vents will kick in pretty quickly if you’ve got lots of other applications open.

The Mac gaming scene is really hotting-up this year with NVIDIA GeForce Now already allowing Mac users to play Windows only Steam games on Mac.

Windows Games On Mac

Previously the only way to run Xbox games on Mac was to install Windows on Mac for free using Boot Camp but both Parallels and OneCast are definitely easier and more efficient.

Run Microsoft Games On Mac Steam

If you’re having any problems playing Xbox games on your Mac, let us know in the comments below.