Experience using a virtual environment to run Windows on Mac? Parallel Desktop? The idea of doing this always made me nervous, but I want to learn software only available for Windows.
I used Oracle’s Vitrualbox on my intel based iMac. I have not got it working on my M1 Mac Studio yet. UTM is working with very limited success on my M1 Mac Studio. Virtual box works on my Windows10 computer.
Parallels was probably the easiest set-up to run Windows on my older Macs. After around 2015 or so, Boot Camp was just as easy to set up, so it depends on the age of your Mac. On M1 Macs, Boot Camp isn't installed, so you have to use Parallels. With Parallels, I recommend the additional program they have that makes it easy to add or remove memory...
I don't think virtualbox works for the latest M1 or M2 macs. I wasn't able to get it to work about 5 months ago. Haven't tried since. Parallels seems to be the recommended method. But I haven't had a need to do it.
I used Parallels when I first had a Mac, in 2010, and it worked fine, but I haven’t had any need to run Windows software for years, so I don’t know the current situation.