VMWare Fusion Tech Preview doesn't recognise Windows 11 ARM ISO file

[ccarpio1]

Hello, everybody.

This is my first time posting here, please forgive me if this is the wrong category.

I read yesterday that VMWare Fusion Tech Preview had improved its support for Windows 11 ARM on Apple Silicon machines and decided to give it a go.

I installed VMWare Fusion Tech Preview and downloaded a Windows 11 ISO (file name: 22621.1702.230505-1222.ni_release_svc_refresh_CLIENTCONSUMER_RET_A64FRE_en-us, MD5: 32c7a298fe712af9c076812bd481dac8)

Edit: I forgot to specify that I'm using a Macbook Air M1 with Sonoma Deverloper Beta 3, in case it matters.

The ISO works. I'm able to mount it as a disk and it installs if using Parallels.

However, I must be making some mistake when trying to use it with VMWare Fusion, because it doesn't work.

These are the steps I follow:

1. When presented with the "Select the installation method" window, I drag the ISO file there. It correctly identifies it as "Windows 11 64-bit Arm".

2. In the next scren, I select UEFI but do not select UEFI Secure Boot.

3. In "Choose Encryption" I select the second option, encrypt only the files needed to support a TPM. I allow VMware to auto generate the password.

4. In the "Finish" screen I don't change any setting and just click on the Finish button.

5. I rename the Virtual Machine and the machine starts.

The first thing I see is EFI VMware Virtual SATA CDROM Drive (1.0)... No Media.

And I'm shown the boot manager.

The ISO image is mounted and, as I said, it works in Parallels.

I don't know what I'm doing wrong, any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[Technogeezer]

You have the wrong ISO for Apple Silicon.

You downloaded an x64 installation ISO from Microsoft. You need a Windows 11 ARM installation ISO, as the x64 will not boot on ARM architecture CPUs. That's why you're seeing the failure to boot and drop through to PXE (network) boot.

Microsoft does not post an ISO for ARM like they do for x64.

That ISO probably does work fine on Parallels. I would be willing to wager that you find it works on Parallels running on an Intel Mac, and not on an Apple Silicon Mac. . It won't work because the Intel and ARM architecture have incompatible instruction sets. As one of the other community members notes, it's like trying to run a gasoline engine on diesel fuel.

Note that if you're running on Apple Silicon and create a Windows VM, Parallels will build a compatible installation ISO for you by downloading components from Microsoft behind the scenes for you.

Take a look at the Unofficial Fusion 2023 Tech Preview Companion Guide https://communities.vmware.com/t5/Fusion-2023-Tech-Preview/The-Unofficial-Fusion-2023-Tech-Preview-C.... It has instructions and pointers to a utility that will build a compatible installation ISO (just like what Parallels does) that'll work fine on Fusion (13 and the Tech Preview) on Apple Silicon Macs. The Companion Guide is designed to be used along side the Tech Preview Testing Guide, so download a copy of that as well.

[ColoradoMarmot · Accepted solution]

Let me put in a plug here and strongly recommend using the method in the unofficial guide to get the ISO.  Neither of the 'official' mechanisms really work well - the VHDX is a insider build that expires, and the uuddump option won't build an ISO for the latest releases on a Mac.  Technogeezer's utility is basically doing the same thing that Parallels does behind the scenes, and grabs the bits directly from microsoft.

[Technogeezer]

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@ColoradoMarmot wrote:

 Technogeezer's utility is basically doing the same thing that Parallels does behind the scenes, and grabs the bits directly from microsoft.

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Technically both uupdump and the utility mentioned in the Guide both grab bits from Microsoft. The difference is that my utility grabs an Electronic Software Distribution (ESD) file that requires very little processing to product a bootable ISO. It also doesn't require additional software to be installed on your macOS system other than the utility. Just download the utility, run it, answer a couple of questions and typically you'll have a release channel (GA) ISO of Windows 11 ARM 22H2 Home, Professional, or Enterprise in under 10 minutes.

Building an ISO from uupdump.net downloads bits from Microsoft, but instead of 1 file, you get tens of smaller files containing individual components of Windows. The script you run from uupdump unpacks all of these files and stitches them together (in a best effort manner) as an installation ISO. Many times the result is not exactly the same as what you'd get from an ESD distribution so there might be some flaky behavior of the resulting VM. The build process also consumes well over twice the temp disk space for the build as my utility (20-30 GB opposed to 12 GB), and takes significantly longer.

Oh, before you ever get the script from uupdump.net, you're going to have to install Xcode command line tools, Homebrew or MacPorts, and 4 additional open source utilities.  

And then, yes, there's that pesky inability of uupdump to generate Windows 11 22H2 media on macOS. 

[ccarpio1]

Mmm... I don't think it's the x64 ISO. In order to download it, I told Parallels to do it and then got the ISO from my Downloads folder.

And, as I said, the ISO worked with Parallels in my M1 mac.

Anyway, that's a moot point because I followed @ColoradoMarmot 's advice and used your (@Technogeezer's) tool to create a new ISO and it has worked perfectly.

Thanks a lot!

[Technogeezer]

@ccarpio1 my apologies. In my haste I misread the file name. A64 is indeed the ARM version, I misread it as x64. I would have thought the Parallels ISO should have worked - that is unless they modified it with Parallels-specific content. 

[ColoradoMarmot]

Parallels modifies the ISO - it's known to not work with Fusion.

[SajeshR]

@ccarpio1  Could you please share the exact downloadable link for Windows 11 Arm ISO or else, share the ISO directly to us ? So that we can take look and validate. 

1. ISO is not able to recognize through Fusion Tech Preview. - We can take a look after sharing the ISO. 

2. Are you able to install the Guest OS or not though it's not recognizing ?? 

Thanks,

[ccarpio1]

Hi, @SajeshR 

I downloaded the ISO via Parallels. I told Parallels I wanted a new installation of Windows 11 ARM and it downloaded the ISO and started installing it. The ISO was in my Downloads folder and I tried to use it with VMware Fusion.

It didn't work at all, the VM said on start that there was no media.

Anyway, I downloades another ISO following @ColoradoMarmot using @Technogeezer and it worked without issue.

[Technogeezer]

Short version: I created an ISO through Parallels and was able to get it to work.

I saw what @ccarpio1 saw the very first time I used a Parallels created ISO. I was able to boot the ISO from the EFI boot manager menu by using the keyboard down arrow and selecting the EFI VMware Virtual SATA drive, then pressing return.

The VM then continued to boot to "Press any key to boot from CD or DVD" prompt. The Parallels ISO works.

I've tried this again, though with a new VM and the same ISO file. It now seems to work as expected (immediately displays the "Press any key" prompt.