My students write code in Lazarus IDE on PC running Windows 7, using Pascal programming language, and get a .exe file as their final product.
Is there a way to open these files within Google Chrome running on macOS? I read a bit about NPAPI (now discontinued) and Simple-Get, but I'm not sure either does the trick.
On a Windows PC, it's simple. I download the .exe from the dropbox where the students have submitted it to me, then open the download, and everything is right there ready for my keyboard input.
On my school-issued Mac, I'm disabled from downloading software for local installation. Thus, I'm looking for a way to make this all happen within Google Chrome as an extension or add-on.
Ultimately, I need to download the file (.exe) then open that downloaded file in Google Chrome (in a somewhat efficient way that allows me to look at probably 50 or so programs in 30 minutes).
Layman's terms certainly appreciated where possible, I have a definite language gap!
Best Answer
No, you can't run exe's via Google Chrome. You may be able to use some sort of remote desktop solution such as Chrome Remote Desktop, whereby you install the exe on a Windows computer which you can see and control from your Mac—but that's not quite the same thing.
There are a number of solutions for running Windows executables on a Mac, each with their own set of compromises:
Wineskin / Wine. Works perfectly with a minority of Windows programs, but doesn't work at all with others. When it does work, this is the best solution by far.
Bootcamp Assistant, which is preinstalled on every Intel Mac in the
Applications→Utilitiesfolder, will guide you through the process of installing Windows on a separate partition. Once done, you will be able to reboot your computer into Windows—effectively turning it into a PC, temporarily—and reboot again to return to macOS. Note that this will require a purchased copy of Windows. While rebooting is a pain, this is the most "no compromise" solution, in that every Windows app will work and you won't loose any performance.Virtualization software such as Virtualbox (free) or Parallels (paid, and expensive). Like Bootcamp, but you'll be able to switch to Windows without rebooting your computer. The catch is that you lose performance—applications will run considerably more slowly than normal. Note that the performance loss is much worse in Virtualbox than in Parallels—you get what you pay for, in this respect.
The problem is that all of these solutions requires either additional third party software (1, 3) or administrator privileges (2). I don't know your situation, but it seems to me that you need to have a discussion with a supervisor or similar about obtaining the resources and privileges necessary to do your job.