In June, Google announced that Windows apps will soon be made available to Chrome OS through a third-party partnership. Now, it has launched Parallels Desktop for Chromebook Enterprise that provides access to Windows apps on Chromebooks. These users will be able to purchase the app for $69.99 per user. Will the help of Parallels Desktop, Chrome OS will now boot a full version of Windows inside a virtual machine.
This is still an initial release, and a deeper Chrome OS and Windows app integration will come over time. As of now, everything happens in a window that has two rows of buttons with various controls. These can be resized. Plus, full touch and keyboard input is supported. Moreover, the cursor transforms depending on what OS you’re hovering over.
The Windows 10 experience on Chromebooks is accessed from the Parallels Desktop icon in the bottom shelf. You can also enter fullscreen mode to hide the underlying operating system. Parallels and Google have worked together to enable features like a shared clipboard, shared user profiles, and custom folders. With the help of these features, you’ll be able to share files between the Windows instance and Chrome OS. It will also allow web links in the Windows instance to open the Chrome browser, which is the main part of Chrome OS.
The Verge reports, printers that are supported in Chrome OS will also be available in Windows, but webcams, microphones, and any other USB devices won’t be supported inside Windows as of now. However, Parallels is working to enable USB peripherals and webcams in a future update.
The new feature is limited to ‘power users’ – those have machines that ship with Intel’s Core i5 or Core i7 processors and 8GB of RAM for devices with a fan or 16GB of RAM for fanless models. To configure devices, it will require Windows 10 license from IT admins who will be able to use Google’s Admin console to enable Parallels on compatible devices.
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