VMWare Fusion for Apple Silicon?

[BobFillmore]

Apple has announced that they are creating their own desktop-class processors... Apple Silicon, to replace Intel processors in 2021.  Any plans for VMWare Fusion to run on Apple Silicon?  Obviously this would require complete emulation of Intel processors by Apple Silicon code, which is ARM-based.   This would have an additional benefit of potentially allowing Windows to run on an iPad... new iPads are very capable.

[Mikero]

We're not quite ready to make any announcements for or against this yet.

> "Obviously this would require complete emulation of Intel processors by Apple Silicon code, which is ARM-based.  "

Only if we wanted to emulate x86 instructions, which is not the same as virtualization. We have to rebuild our monitor (low-level hypervisor code) to 'speak arm', not 'translate x86', quite different beasts.

That said, if it were to happen, it would be HIGHLY unlikely to support iPads because they lack virtualization features in the CPU, and I don't have any sense that this will change.
Finally, there is no way to acquire a Windows for ARM license outside of being an OEM, so that won't really help users until that changes. Maybe it will, maybe not, but it's certainly not the case today.

[BobFillmore]

Thanks for the reality check!

Probably easier to run a macOS guest... but iPad is a different animal than desktop OSs, and will probably stay that way.

[maartenb64]

Interesting, any updates?  Would VMware be able to get the OEM license for its customers?

[ColoradoMarmot]

Check out this: https://communities.vmware.com/t5/VMware-Fusion-Discussions/VMware-Fusion-12-running-on-Apple-Silico...

[AndrewP-2]

VMWARE NOW SUPPORTS RUNNING FUSION ON M1 MACS!!!!

Great news everyone. I was just out to VMWares fusion page and they now support Macs with an M1 Processor!!!

This is huge news now we can run windows on our silicon macs.

Heres the announcement right from the VMware fusion page: https://www.vmware.com/products/fusion.html

TECH SPECS

Fusion 12

See VMware Fusion system requirements:

Hardware

All Macs launched in 2012* or later are supported, as well as:

• 2010 Mac Pro “Six Core”, “Eight Core” and “Twelve Core”.

*With exception, the following Macs are not supported:

• 2012 Mac Pro “Quad Core” using the Intel Xeon
  W3565 Processor

Software

Fusion 12 supports Macs with macOS 11.0 Big Sur and macOS 10.15 Catalina. Fusion 12 does not function on macOS 10.14 and earlier.

As you can clearly see the product runs on ALL MACS SINCE 2012 with the exception of one intel xeon processor in a 2012 mac thats not supported. As all macs since 2012 are supported that includes the new silicon m1 macs. As to those who doubt, don't forget this page was specifically updated for the release of fusion 12

As a note, I was not able to ask sales for more details as 5 calls and 2 voicemails to the sales team have gone unanswered.

Enjoy Fusion of your silicon macs everyone. I'm soooo excited to be the first to be able to make this exciting announcement!

[ColoradoMarmot]

Um, I don't think so.  That text predates the M1 release.  I know they're working on it, but we'd have seen a product update if that were the case.

@Mikero does marketing need to update the wording on that page in the meantime?

[AndrewP-2]

@Mikero perhaps we could have sales return phone calls while were at it so we can avoid this confusion in the future? Seeing as I just bought a new mac based on the wording on your website it might be appropriate to get legal on the line too, just to solve claims that are inevitably going to result due to this "marketing" mistake.

[ColoradoMarmot]

They are working on it, and have said so.  While they can't announce dates, we should see support for ARM based guests in the next few weeks (my guess).

[0f2g]

Why not leverage the OEM status of your parent company (DELL)?

[AndrewP-2]

@ColoradoMarmot sorry could you provide a link to the VMware page that says they’re working on it the way I did? Or are we just supposed to guess. Is that your excuse for sales not calling people back or why legal should not be involved in your false advertising campaign? 

[AndrewP-2]

@Mikero as Product line manager for fusion you should have been VERY aware of apples transition to its own Silicon chips. The [attempt at profanity removed by moderator] coming on your website serve to highlight VMware’s lack of connection to its customer base, it’s lack of focus on customer needs, and it’s overall failure to communicate effectively with its customers. As the community point of contact your failure in this matter is more than clear. Here it is 3 days later and I STILL have yet to receive a call back from sales. Still have no received any kind of apology for putting me in this situation, and honestly as a customer I’m more than fed up. Perhaps a legal summons IS the ONLY way to get a responsive out of your deceitful company.

[petec35_2]

So, @Mikero any word on this?  

I am running the Technical Preview of Parallels on my M1 Mac.  It's a little rough around the edges, and the installs require manual installation from a bootable image, but it works and performance is stellar.  

I am running the Windows 10 for ARM Developer Preview, and Ubuntu for ARM.  I would rather be using Vmware Fusion, but it appears I have no option for that.  Thanks in advance for an update.  

[ColoradoMarmot]

As a public company, they are limited in what they can share about upcoming releases...we probably will just have to wait.

I will note, that Fusion is unlikely to release something as rough as what the competition did, since they focus on the corporate market.  I expect we'll get a much more polished product day one.

[petec35_2]

That's fair. 

But they've already claimed "they're working on it", so they've already leaked the news about an upcoming product.  Now months ago.  If they don't back that statement up, their customers and shareholders should be concerned about their ability to deliver.  

I will take the first product released.  I've used both for many years, and they've very comparable and quite capable.  

Parallels were very transparent about it being a "Technical Preview" that you had to specifically request.  Not even a beta, a tech preview.  However, It's on it's 2nd update now, and I find it quite usable.  I'm quite confident that they not just "working on it" but have a working product.  

[ColoradoMarmot]

I have zero doubt that Fusion for ARM guests will be out, and likely sooner rather than later.  But we'll have to wait and see unfortunately - private companies have advantages that public ones don't.

[wordsmithereens]

Parallels has a working Tech Preview for M1, but the guest drivers are available ONLY for Windows so far. If you want to run Linux VMs, you're stuck with lowest common denominator for hardware.

[petec35_2]

So, @Mikero this post is nearly 6 months old now with no update.  Should we assume this has been abandoned?  Thanks in advance for any info you can give.  

[Mikero]

>” Should we assume this has been abandoned?”

Please do not interpret our “radio silence” on this as any indication in that regard.
Please be patient.

We’re a public company so we’re limited to what we can disclose, particularly around release dates.
Please be patient.

That said, the work is ongoing. It’s hard, and there’s a gigantic body of work to assemble.
Please be patient.

Tech Preview season is just around the corner =D
Please be patient 😉

I want this too... for my own daily work. It’s happening, it’s just hard.
We spent a lot of time porting our hypervisor to support Big Sur, and now we’re basically doing that again to support ARM64. The work is complimentary, but it’s not as simple as just porting our ESXi-ARM64 kernel extensions and calling it a day unfortunately.

AND... our quality bar is pretty high... we’re not going to release even a tech preview that doesn’t live up to our expectations there, and this is all new tech we’re building, so there are a lot of unknowns that we’re discovering as we ‘peel back the onion’ so to speak.

We do appreciate the patience. It’s happening.

There’s a saying that I heard recently... 
Q: “How long will it take to support this?”
A: “How log does it take to catch a fish?”

❤️ you folks

[Technogeezer]

@Mikero thanks for the update. But I think that many of us would like answers to a couple of questions that are generated by your comments.

• You mention ARM64 support. Are we to assume that your work is provide virtualization for ARM64-based operating systems such as Linux (and perhaps even the unicorn Windows 10 on ARM)? 
• Any direction to support x86 emulation that would allow todays Intel-based operating systems to run under Fusion on Apple Silicon?

I know there are things you can't say but I'm sure you know that there are a lot of people out here that need Fusion to run Intel Windows and have been caught in a bad place with Apple moving all of their new gear to Apple Silicon...