How to Install CrossOver on Mac and Run Your First Windows Game (2026 Guide)

CrossOver is the software that lets you run Windows games on your Mac without installing Windows. It costs $74 a year, the 14-day free trial requires no payment information to start, and the entire setup including your first game installation takes about 20 to 30 minutes once you're downloading the game. This guide walks through every step with the actual settings we use, the specific issues you might hit, and what to do when something doesn't work.

If you just want the install steps, skip to "Installing CrossOver" below. If you want to understand what you're installing and why before you commit, the next section explains it.

What CrossOver is and what you're installing

CrossOver is a commercial application from CodeWeavers that translates Windows software calls into something macOS can understand, on the fly, while a game runs. There's no Windows operating system involved. There's no virtual machine. The Windows game thinks it's running on Windows, macOS thinks it's running a native Mac application, and CrossOver sits in the middle doing the translation work.

CrossOver is built on top of Wine, the open-source compatibility project that's been doing this kind of translation for nearly 30 years. CodeWeavers funds active Wine development, which is part of why we recommend the paid product over free alternatives. When you buy CrossOver, you're paying for a polished interface, automatic configuration profiles for hundreds of games, customer support, and the ongoing development of the underlying open-source project that the whole Mac gaming compatibility scene depends on.

The version you'll install is CrossOver 26, which was released in February 2026. CrossOver 26 was a significant update. It introduced D3DMetal 3.0 (Apple's DirectX-to-Metal translation layer at its third major version), an alternative translation layer called DXMT v0.72, and Wine 11.0 with over 6,000 changes from the upstream project. The result is meaningfully better game compatibility than CrossOver 25, including titles that previously didn't work like Helldivers 2, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, Starfield, and (as of the 26.1 patch in May 2026) Diablo IV and Overwatch.

Hardware requirements: any Apple Silicon Mac (M1 or later) running macOS 13 Ventura or higher. Intel Macs still work but performance is significantly worse and we don't recommend new Intel Mac purchases for gaming. M2 Pro or higher is the sweet spot for AAA gaming via CrossOver. The base M1 MacBook Air handles older games and indie titles well but will struggle on recent AAA releases.

Before you install: try the trial first

CrossOver offers a fully functional 14-day free trial. No payment information is required to start it. You can install the trial, install your specific target game, and verify that it works before paying anything.

We strongly recommend doing this. The CrossOver compatibility database covers thousands of games but performance on your specific Mac with your specific game is something you should verify directly. If the game you most want to play works during the trial, buy the licence. If it doesn't, you've lost 30 minutes and learned something useful.

A few honest expectations:

• Modern single-player AAA without anti-cheat: high chance of working well
• Older Windows games from 2005 to 2018: very high chance of working, often better than on modern Windows
• Live-service multiplayer games: variable, check the specific title's status
• Games with kernel-level anti-cheat (Valorant, Apex, Fortnite, COD, CS2, PUBG): will not work; do not attempt; some publishers will ban your account for trying

If your target game has kernel anti-cheat means cloud streaming via Boosteroid or GeForce Now is the answer for those titles, not CrossOver.

Installing CrossOver

The actual installation is the easy part. Five steps, maybe four minutes total.

Setting up Steam inside CrossOver

For most Mac gamers, the first thing you'll do with CrossOver is install Steam, then install your games through Steam as you would on a Windows PC. CrossOver makes this process straightforward.

Installing your first game

The mechanics of installing a game are simple: open Steam inside CrossOver, find the game in your library, click Install, wait for it to download. The questions are which game you should try first and what to expect.

Picking a good first game

For your first CrossOver game, pick something with a known good compatibility profile. This lets you verify that your setup works correctly before you start troubleshooting unfamiliar issues.

Excellent first-game options:

• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — works exceptionally well on CrossOver, broadly tested, no anti-cheat to worry about
• DOOM Eternal — highly optimised in CrossOver, excellent performance benchmark
• Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade — runs surprisingly well on CrossOver 26 on Apple Silicon, DLSS support in 26.1
• Hogwarts Legacy — works well, modern AAA test, no anti-cheat
• Hades — light and fast, runs perfectly, good baseline confirmation

Avoid for your first try:

• Any free-to-play multiplayer (most have kernel anti-cheat that won't work and might flag your account)
• Brand new releases (might not be in the compatibility database yet)
• Games requiring specific launchers like the EA App or Ubisoft Connect (these add complexity)

What to expect during install and first launch

Download speeds inside CrossOver Steam are the same as native Steam. If your normal Mac Steam pulls at 100 Mbps, CrossOver Steam will too. The game files get stored inside the CrossOver Bottle, which by default lives in your home folder, so a 100 GB game eats 100 GB of your Mac's disk. Plan accordingly.

The first launch of a new game is often slower than subsequent launches because CrossOver compiles shaders the first time. You might see the game appear to hang on a loading screen or pre-launch black screen for one to two minutes. This is normal. Subsequent launches will be faster.

If the game launches and runs, great. Note the frame rate, check the graphics settings, see if you need to dial anything back. Most games on M2 Pro or higher will run at 1440p with high settings at 50 to 70 FPS, which is the sweet spot for laptop gaming.

If the game fails to launch or crashes, don't panic. Most issues have known solutions. The troubleshooting section below covers the common ones.

Recommended settings for best performance

A few configuration recommendations beyond the basic D3DMetal/MSync/High Resolution Mode trio.

Inside the game itself: Disable any "Windows-specific" rendering options the game offers, particularly Frame Generation and certain DLSS modes that may not work cleanly through CrossOver. CrossOver 26.1 added support for DLSS but specific implementations vary by game. If a game offers MetalFX Upscaling (rare but it happens in some ported titles), use that.

Resolution: Set the game's resolution to match your Mac's native display resolution, but enable any built-in scaling option in the game (FSR, DLSS Performance, or similar). Running native resolution with upscaling is generally faster than running a lower base resolution.

V-Sync: Disable V-Sync inside the game and let macOS handle frame timing. This generally produces less input lag.

Frame rate cap: Cap your frame rate at your display's refresh rate (typically 60 or 120 FPS) to avoid wasting GPU cycles on frames you can't see.

Power adapter: Plug your MacBook into power for gaming sessions. Apple Silicon Macs reduce GPU performance on battery to extend life. This makes a real difference; an unplugged M2 Pro might deliver half the gaming performance of a plugged-in M2 Pro.

Close other apps: Quit Chrome (it eats RAM), Slack, and anything else memory-hungry before launching demanding games. Macs share unified memory between CPU and GPU, and freeing up RAM directly improves gaming performance.

Common problems and solutions

A few issues that come up regularly and how to fix them. If anti-cheat is the blocker, your fix isn't here — see our Boosteroid vs GeForce Now comparison for the cloud streaming alternative.

"The game launches and immediately crashes"

This is the most common issue and is almost always a missing Windows dependency. Open the Bottle settings in CrossOver, look for the option to install additional Windows components, and add DirectX Runtime, Visual C++ 2015-2022, and .NET Framework. These cover the dependencies that most games need.

If a specific game continues to crash, search the CrossOver compatibility database (codeweavers.com/compatibility) for that game. The database includes community-submitted tips for problematic titles.

"Steam won't update or download games"

If Steam's downloads stall at 0 bytes or repeatedly fail, the most common cause is Steam's network settings inside the Bottle. Open Steam settings, go to Downloads, and try changing your download region to a server closer to you. Restart Steam from CrossOver.

If that doesn't fix it, your Bottle may have a corrupted Steam install. Right-click the Bottle in CrossOver, choose "Run Command," and run cmd to open a command prompt inside the Bottle. From there you can navigate to Steam and reinstall.

"Performance is terrible compared to what I expected"

First, verify D3DMetal is enabled and MSync is on (Bottle settings). Second, verify the Mac is plugged into power. Third, close other applications. Fourth, lower in-game resolution and graphics settings; CrossOver adds roughly 20 to 30 percent performance overhead, so settings you'd run on equivalent Windows hardware need to come down a notch.

If performance is still bad, check the game's compatibility profile. Some games have known issues that the compatibility database flags with workarounds. Final Fantasy VII Remake, for example, benefits from specific engine fixes that the community has documented.

"The game runs but I can't get the Steam overlay to work"

This is a known issue with some CrossOver Bottle configurations. The Steam overlay (shift+tab in game) sometimes fails to appear. A community-found fix involves editing the registry to adjust paging file settings. From the Bottle's Run Command option, enter regedit, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SYSTEM > CurrentControlSet > Control > Session Manager > Memory Management, find PagingFiles, and change the value to C:\pagefile.sys 16384 32768 (for 32GB RAM Macs) or C:\pagefile.sys 16384 24576 (for 18GB RAM Macs). Restart CrossOver. This is documented in CodeWeavers' community forums.

If you're not comfortable editing the registry, the Steam overlay issue isn't fatal; you can navigate to friends, achievements, and screenshots through the main Steam application instead.

"The game has graphical glitches or weird flickering"

Try toggling D3DMetal off and using DXMT instead (Bottle settings). DXMT is the alternative DirectX-to-Metal translation layer that CrossOver 26 introduced; some games run better on one versus the other. There's no universal answer; you have to try both for your specific game.

"CrossOver itself is slow to launch or hangs"

Quit CrossOver completely, restart your Mac, and try again. CrossOver maintains background processes that occasionally accumulate state issues; a clean restart fixes most CrossOver-level performance issues.

"My licence stopped working after a macOS update"

This is rare but happens. Open CrossOver, sign in to your CodeWeavers account, and the licence should reactivate automatically. If not, contact CodeWeavers support through their site; they're generally responsive on licence issues.

What CrossOver still can't do

Worth being explicit about. CrossOver in 2026 handles most Windows games but not all.

Games with kernel-mode anti-cheat will not work. This includes Valorant (Vanguard), Apex Legends (Easy Anti-Cheat in kernel mode), Fortnite (EAC kernel), Call of Duty including Warzone (Ricochet), PUBG (BattlEye), Escape From Tarkov (BattlEye), and Counter-Strike 2 (VAC bans documented for CrossOver use). For these games, the answer is cloud streaming via Boosteroid or GeForce Now, not compatibility layers.

Some games require specific Windows-only DRM that CrossOver hasn't integrated. Rare but it happens. Check the compatibility database for your specific title.

Brand new releases sometimes lag. A game released yesterday might not work on CrossOver until CodeWeavers updates compatibility, which can take weeks for complex titles. CrossOver 26's track record on this has improved (Helldivers 2 support came nine months after launch, Diablo IV got back to playable status in a few months), but it's still slower than playing on Windows directly.

What next

Once your first game works, you have everything you need to expand. The same process repeats for any new game: install it through Steam inside CrossOver, configure the Bottle settings if needed, play.

For specific games, check our individual game guides on willitrunonmac.com. Each guide includes the recommended Mac method for that game, specific CrossOver settings if relevant, and links to where to buy.

A few specific recommendations for what to play after your first successful CrossOver install:

• If you went with The Witcher 3 first, follow it up with Cyberpunk 2077 (same developer, similar engine, similar CrossOver compatibility)
• If you went with DOOM Eternal, try Hunt: Showdown for a different style on the same well-optimised engine family
• If you went with Final Fantasy VII Remake, you'll have an excellent time with Resident Evil 4 Remake (which has a native Mac port and is even better)
• If you went with Hades, the broader indie back catalogue opens up: try Hollow Knight, Celeste, or Stardew Valley (which have native Mac versions but also run on CrossOver if needed)

For games that don't work on CrossOver, the answer is usually Boosteroid (for cloud streaming) or, for the small subset where Parallels works better than CrossOver's translation, Parallels Desktop.

Where to go next

• Read our overview: Gaming on Mac in 2026: Everything You Need to Know
• The 10 Best FPS Games to Play on Mac in 2026 (cloud and CrossOver tested)
• CrossOver vs Parallels vs Game Porting Toolkit: full comparison
• Boosteroid vs GeForce Now vs Amazon Luna for Mac cloud gaming
• Best Mac-native games of 2026 (coming soon)

Search any specific Windows game on our homepage to see whether it runs on CrossOver, what the recommended setup is, and where to buy it.

Last updated: May 2026. We re-test CrossOver setup on every major version release.