Open your computer's Start menu. Click the Start button in the lower-left corner of your desktop to. So many software out there can help you open EXE files on Mac. You are advised to go with the Parallel Desktop. Parallel Desktop. This software is simplistic and won't take up much on your time because it doesn't even require a Mac restart anytime you wish to run a Windows application. A copy of Microsoft Windows is required though. Aug 13, 2020 To Open EXE Files on Mac, you can either install WINE, which is free software, or install Windows 8 or 10 using your Mac’s Boot Camp feature. But, first let’s understand, what is an EXE file. EXE is a file extension for an executable file format.
Problem:You need to open an .exe file but you have a Mac®.
Solution:You can easily open an .exe from your Mac by using Parallels Desktop® for Mac.
I frequently get questions like this from Mac users:
My friend asked me to download a file named Paint-tool-sai.exe, but I can’t open it on my Mac. How can I open this file?
From a person who only uses Mac computers and iPads, this is a very reasonable question.
The quick, short answer is, “By itself, the Mac can’t open this file.”
The longer, more positive answer requires a little background.
File Extensions
Open Exe File Mac Winebottler
Both PC and Mac computers use three- or four-letter extensions on file names—the portion of the name after the period—to determine which application can open a file.
You may have noticed that files with extensions “.jpg” or “.jpeg” are opened by the Preview app on the Mac. Those files are images or photos.
Similarly, you may have noticed that files with extensions “.docx” or “.doc” are opened on the Mac by Microsoft Word or TextEdit. Those files are word processing documents.
What you may not have noticed is that Mac applications themselves have an “.app” extension. (See figure 1.)
Figure 1_Applications on the Mac have the file name extension “.app”
When you double click on a file with the “.app” extension on a Mac, the macOS® launches that application. In other words, opening a file with an “.app” extension is really launching that application; the macOS itself opens that file.
With this background, it is understandable that the Mac by itself can’t open an “.exe” file because the .exe extension means that the file is a Windows application. The Windows operating system is needed to open an “.exe” file.
Enter Parallels Desktop
When you have Parallels Desktop and a Windows virtual machine (VM) on your Mac, everything just works when you double click on an “.exe” file. It feels a little bit like magic.
Underneath, here is how the magic works: Parallels Desktop tells the Mac that it can open “.exe” files. So when you double click on that “.exe” file, the macOS® launches Parallels Desktop. This is just like when you double click on a “.jpg” file and the macOS launches Preview, or when you double click on a “.docx” file and the macOS launches Microsoft Word.
When Parallels Desktop is launched because you clicked on an “.exe” file, Parallels Desktop boots your Windows VM and tells Windows that you want this “.exe” file opened. Windows then launches the application for that “.exe” file.
Open Exe File On Mac Using Terminal
While the quick, short answer to the question at the beginning of this blog post still is, “By itself, the Mac can’t open this file”…
The longer, more positive answer is, “This is a Windows file, so you need Windows to open it. The easiest way to get Windows on your Mac is to get Parallels Desktop and a Windows VM.”
Oh yeah, and if you have Boot Camp® on your Mac, you still won’t be able to double click on that “.exe” file and have it open. The short answer to “Why not?” is because the macOS and Boot Camp can’t talk to each other. The long answer will be the subject of a future blog post.
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