Anyone have success installing FS on a Mac?

User Support Hub Hardware & Peripherals
1

HI,
A Mate and I spent about 5 hours trying to get FS to install onto a mac running parallels.
FYI, I have zero Mac experience, but I have been on the FS ride since it’s release and I wanted to help him.
The Mac is a fairly recent ‘highly specced’ one, with a retina display.
We got errors so he updated his OS (both Mac and Windows), then his version of parallels to the latest (which cost more money), and in the end we gave up after countless errors around the installer trying to create a valid Directx 11 device or something.
I know some people have got it running but we failed and don’t know what else to try.
Again - I have zero experience with a Mac, so please forgive my inexperience.
Thanks for any constructive tips or suggestions.

PaulyFSPauly

2

If you were able to get it installed I imagine it would be VERY VERY slow. This sim is an absolute destroyer of hardware and sticking an emulator in its path is bound to give you something more like a slideshow than actual flying. Bootcamp is probably the only legit option to do this and I’ve seen a few users on the forums who have been running FS with acceptable results at lower rendering qualities. Try a search for bootcamp to see what kinda feedback you might get.

3

I’ve been successful using Bootcamp on an iMac. It was pretty straightforward. I’ve got a fusion drive so booting between MacOS and Windows is pretty simple and quick. I’m getting 40+ fps on 1080p with med/high settings.

1 Like
4

My experience has been the same–MSFS 2020 on bootcamp with windows 10 and no problems at all. I’m running bootcamp from an external Samsung T7 SSD. I have a 2017 5K iMac.

I can also crank out @40 FPS at 1080P, and after the last update even bumped it up to 1440P with some lower LOD settings.

I’ve had no problems since my initial install and my performance has actually surprised me–considering I only have a 4GB Radeon pro 575. :grinning:

1 Like
5

HI @p1nba11er,
You’re not wrong about it being hard on the hardware! This is more a proof of concept exercise to get him to see the graphics etc before putting squillions towards a PC.
It seems like a few of our buddies on the forum have had success with Bootcamp so I’ll suggest he gives that a go.
Thanks
PaulyFSPauly.

6

Hi @xazo3k,

Thanks for that - It seems bootcamp might be the go. Ill suggest it to him.
PaulyFSPauly

7

Hi @SOSBlackbird,
Seems you’re not alone :slight_smile:
I’ll let him know the good news - Not sure if he’s a bit put off atm but he’ll come around.
Thanks
PaulyFSPauly