Dear Microsoft and Parallels,

It feels like it’s a one-sided relationship between you two…

I’m hoping that you both will work with me here.

Parallels really wanted me to install Windows 11. And if you look at the Parallels website, it says that I can. As I mention elsewhere on this site, I have a mid-2015 MacBook Pro.

But Microsoft says that my MacBook Pro is unsupported in Windows 11. But Parallels let me install Windows 11, and I’ve been able to get most of the updates for Windows 11. Until now.

Now I have run into the problem of not being able to update to the latest version (22H2). You see, I’m nerdy enough to *want* 22H2. Tabs on File Explorer could be a beautiful thing.

Microsoft says in their fine print, “Sure you can install Windows 11, but we don’t promise that you’ll be able to get all the updates in an unsupported configuration.”

I assume that the engineers at Parallels and Microsoft have talked at least a few times to figure things out. Somehow, either Parallels ignored the check for supported CPU’s, or Microsoft decided that any Mac under Parallels could get Windows 11. Regardless, at some point, I’ll be stuck on 21H2, which will be unsupported.

I’m just hoping they come to a resolution.

Update, May 5, 2023 — a couple of weeks ago, I found a solution. But it’s not obvious. I tried downloading the ISO for Windows 11, but that wouldn’t work to update the operating system. I had to resort to the USB stick option in order to update Windows. But that did work, and I’m now on 22H2.