Free versions of Windows for Parallels for Mac?

Question

I just purchased Parallels for Mac in order to use a program that requires Windows. Are there any free versions of Windows (7 or higher) and where safe places to download them from?

Answer 1

As mentioned in the comments, Windows is not a free product and so if you want to use Parallels for Mac you will have to buy a genuine copy of Windows as well.

As an alternative, in order to run a windows program on a Mac (depending on the Mac version and the program you are trying to run) you could always have a look into WineHQ:

https://www.winehq.org/

There are a few decent references in the following links:

https://www.davidbaumgold.com/tutorials/wine-mac/

https://wiki.winehq.org/MacOSX

Hopefully this is a reasonable answer for you.

Answer 2

The closest thing you will get to a free, legitimate copy of Windows is going to be a 90-day evaluation. The Microsoft Evaluation Center currently offers 90-day eval copies of Windows 8 Enterprise, Windows 8.1 Enterprise and Windows 10 Enterprise. These resources are usually for students, or IT personnel looking into upgrading and not meant for long-term personal use.

The only other legal way I know of is if you are a student at a college/university that has a DreamSpark Premium membership with Microsoft. All students with an edu email can get the basic DreamSpark account and get access to full versions of Windows Server, SQL Server, etc. However, the premium account grants access to full copies of client Windows operating systems.