Introduction
SubWin runs a headless Windows 11 on your Apple Silicon Mac — no window of its own, only a monitor icon in your menu bar, with Windows kept running in the background and reached with Microsoft’s Windows App from any device on your network. It’s for people who want a Windows machine always on, not something they launch and quit each time: trading terminals that stay up around the clock, a Windows build or CI box that’s always on call, or the employer-issued Windows you’d rather reach from your Mac.
Prefer to see it first? Watch the demo on YouTube.
Set it up once
Download a Windows 11 ARM ISO from Microsoft, point SubWin to it, and set the Windows username and password. SubWin installs Windows in the background and runs it from the monitor icon in your menu bar — that icon is the whole app, so don’t look for a window. To use it, connect to localhost:3389 from Microsoft’s free Windows App.
Features
- Efficient — Windows runs on the virtualization built into every Apple Silicon Mac, at near-native speed with no emulation overhead — lean enough to stay up in the background for weeks at a time.
- Focused — SubWin does one thing: keep Windows running quietly from your menu bar. Windows stays invisible until you connect, so your Mac stays a Mac.
- Everywhere — connect from your Mac, an iPad, an iPhone, or another Mac on your network: the same always-on Windows from any of them.
Pricing
SubWin is a one-time $99 purchase. It covers every Mac you own, and up to six family members through Family Sharing.
SubWin has no built-in trial, but you can gauge its performance before buying. SubWin and WinRun run Windows on the same Apple virtualization engine, so Windows performs the same on your Mac in either. WinRun gives every new Mac 20 free minutes on first launch — enough to see how Windows runs on your hardware before you commit to SubWin.
If you use TestFlight, you’re welcome to join our external testing group and try SubWin itself before buying.
Privacy
Your data stays on your Mac, always. No accounts, no analytics, no server uploads — and the whole app is confined to the full macOS sandbox for system-level security. Read our Privacy Policy.
Beyond that, SubWin is designed to need zero trust of its own: the virtualization engine is Apple’s, the Windows is Microsoft’s — so is the client you connect with — and SubWin is just the thin layer that installs and runs it, without even a camera or microphone entitlement. Learn more at Trust: Windows on Mac.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a Windows license? Can I use it commercially? Yes to both. SubWin automatically installs Windows 11 Pro ARM — the edition is fixed, so there is no Home-vs-Pro choice to make. The license itself is yours to obtain: download the ARM ISO directly from Microsoft and activate with a Windows 11 Pro key. Commercial use is covered on both sides — the standard Mac App Store license permits it, and so does Windows 11 Pro.
Will my Windows software run on ARM? Almost certainly. Windows 11 ARM includes a built-in x86/x64 emulation layer that runs the vast majority of legacy Windows applications transparently. Edge cases are limited to software that ships kernel-level drivers (a small number of anti-cheat games, certain virtual camera plugins).
Can I access SubWin from my iPad or iPhone?
Yes. SubWin listens on 0.0.0.0:3389, so any device on your local network can connect — we recommend Microsoft’s free Windows App from the App Store as the RDP client. You can also expose port 3389 on your Mac to the public internet to reach SubWin from anywhere — if you do, take proper precautions first: use a strong Windows password, and prefer a VPN (or an SSH tunnel) over exposing RDP directly, since open RDP ports are a common attack target.
What happens to my data if SubWin is updated or removed? Your Windows VM lives in the app’s sandbox on your Mac. App updates preserve it. If you uninstall SubWin, macOS removes the sandbox along with it — back up anything important from inside Windows first.
Is GPU acceleration supported? No, by design. GPU acceleration would require injecting third-party drivers into Windows, and SubWin ships none — the Windows you get is exactly what Microsoft ships, clean and trustworthy. SubWin focuses on productivity and remote-desktop workflows; heavy 3D games or GPU-intensive workloads aren’t a fit.
Is USB passthrough supported? No. USB passthrough has known stability issues at the macOS system level, so we deliberately leave it out to keep SubWin stable. Keyboard, mouse, display, and audio come through the Windows App from whichever device you connect from. For the occasional USB device, a USB-over-network tool such as VirtualHere works well.
Support
For help, bug reports, or feature ideas, email support@lonefondness.com. We read every email and typically respond within 1–2 business days.
You can also join the conversation in the SubWin discussion thread on r/MacOSApps — questions and feedback are welcome there too.