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Using Time Tagger on macOS

Learn how to use Time Tagger on macOS via a Windows virtual machine or remote control with TimeTaggerRPC.

Time Tagger is supported on Windows and Linux, but not on macOS. There are two practical ways to still use it from a Mac.

Running Windows in a Virtual Machine

You can run Windows in a virtual machine (e.g. Parallels Desktop, VMware Fusion, or UTM) on your Mac and pass the USB port with the connected Time Tagger through to the VM.

On Apple Silicon (M-series) Macs, be aware that virtualization is ARM-based, so common VM tools only offer Windows 11 on ARM by default, but Time Tagger requires Windows on an x64 system and does not support Windows on ARM64. This workaround therefore only works if your VM software can run x64 Windows (for example via x64 emulation), which comes with a performance cost; check your VM software’s current capabilities before relying on this option. On Intel-based Macs, this limitation does not apply, since the VM runs native x64 Windows.

Remote Control via TimeTaggerRPC

If setting up a VM is not an option, TimeTaggerRPC lets you write and run your measurement code in Python on macOS while the Time Tagger hardware stays connected to a separate Windows or Linux machine. A lightweight RPC server runs on that machine and handles the actual data acquisition, while your macOS Python code talks to it over the network as if the Time Tagger were local. This requires a Windows or Linux PC on the same network as your Mac, connected to the Time Tagger via USB.

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