PC Game Port
How to run a Windows .exe on a Mac
Last updated: October 25, 2026
Double-click an .exe on a Mac and nothing useful happens: macOS asks which app should open it. An .exe is a Windows program. It's written for Windows and, almost always, for Intel processors, while your Mac runs macOS on an Apple chip. To run one, something has to stand in for Windows. This guide shows the quickest way for games, and what to do when the .exe is an installer.
Your options
- A translation app runs the .exe itself and translates its Windows requests to macOS as it runs. It's the lightest way, with no Windows license. PC Game Port is one, made for games.
- A virtual machine runs a full copy of Windows for Arm in a window. It needs a Windows license and plenty of memory, and games run slower.
- Cloud streaming can't run your own .exe. It streams games the service already offers.
Compared in detail in how to play Windows games on a Mac.
Run an .exe with PC Game Port
- Install PC Game Port and open it once. The welcome screen sets up Windows the first time, which takes a minute or two.
- Add the .exe. Click + (Add Game), drag the .exe onto the window, or right-click it in Finder and choose Open With → PCGamePort.
- Press Play. The game opens in its own window, like any Mac app.
Installers: setup.exe and friends
Many game downloads are installers that put the game on your Mac. PC Game Port checks every .exe you add. If it's a setup program:
- It runs the installer. Click through it as on a PC, then close it.
- It adds the game the installer created, using the shortcut the installer made, so your library gets the game and not its installer.
- If the installer made no shortcut and installed several programs, it asks which one to add.
Installed games go to PC Game Port's Windows C: drive, in ~/Games/default/drive_c in your home folder. Right-click a game → Show in Finder to see its files.
Portable games and game folders
Some games come as a folder with the .exe inside, with no installer. Add the game's main .exe from that folder. Keep the folder where it is: the game needs the files next to its .exe.
Launch options
Right-click a game → Edit to add launch options, the same switches you'd add to a Windows shortcut. Common ones are -windowed to start in a window and -dx11 to choose DirectX 11 in games that offer it. Which options work depends on the game, so check its support pages.
Only run .exe files you trust
A Windows program run this way works with your files like any Mac app: it can read and change what's in your home folder. That includes Windows viruses. Download games from stores and developers you trust, and never run an .exe that arrived in an email or a message.
.msi installers
PC Game Port adds .exe files only. If a game offers both an .msi and an .exe setup, download the .exe.
When an .exe won't run
- It's for an older Windows. Settings → Windows → Windows version can be set to Windows 7 or XP for old games.
- It came from a disc or ISO. Disc and ISO installs aren't supported. Use the digital version from a store.
- It uses kernel-level anti-cheat. That can't run on a Mac. See anti-cheat on Mac.
- Something else. See Windows game won't start on your Mac.