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Benjaminbatwing
Contributor
Contributor

Does VMware fusion pro run on Mac M1 chip?

I recently purchased VMware fusion 12 pro and when I got the download link it was for intel based Macs. I have the new MacBook Pro M1, so do I need to return the software and purchase something else or will it run on my M1? Thanks

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Technogeezer
Immortal
Immortal


@RDPetruska wrote:

@Technogeezer wrote:

Why is it that nobody wants to hold Microsoft’s feet to the fire on this because it it their refusals that’s ultimately causing this issue. 


And please explain why they should?  Why should Microsoft be expected to spend their resources to create and then Support (which ultimately costs way more, with QA and Help Desk, etc. ongoing costs) their competitor's proprietary hardware? 


I don't think the costs would be as high as you think. Microsoft's policies for Windows is are to provide rminimum system reference configurations and supported chip sets along with a set of default drivers. They leave it to hardware OEMs to build drivers for the devices that are included in systems. 

In the ARM world, they have a published SystemReady SR spec for workstations and servers that accomplishes something similar. I suspect that Microsoft is building Windows for ARM to those specs, given how easily Parallels and to a lesser extent VMware can run Windows for ARM in VMs out of the box. 

If Microsoft is serious about letting system vendors openly build ARM architecture devices for Windows, they wouldn't force you to use a Qualcomm development system and list only Qualcomm CPU chips as "supported CPUs". They would use the "SystemReady SR" specs as a supported reference CPU architecture, and allow Apple/VMware/Parallels to build the drivers necessary to support their peripherals.

Microsoft didn't have to spend R&D and support money to support Apple "proprietary" peripherals, and they don't have to do that on M1 Macs if they follow their own established policies. Apple bore the expense of changing their boot environment with Boot Camp, and providing drivers for their own hardware. And the entire issue of "Apple proprietary" goes out the window with virtualization solutions as they provide their own virtualized device drivers. (I'm sure VMware would have ported VMware tools to Windows for ARM if their lawyers didn't feel that Microsoft would cause problems for them).

Here is the article that I found that says Apple's willing to invest in Window on M1 if Microsoft is open to it : https://appleinsider.com/articles/20/11/20/windows-on-apple-silicon-is-up-to-microsoft-says-craig-fe...

The refusal to support Apple Silicon stands directly in front of evidence that Microsoft has through their telemetry that Windows works quite well "as is" on ARM VMs. The fact that the only "supported" ARM chips are Qualcomm and their own Surface CPUs shows that something else is afoot. I believe that to be the exclusivity agreement between Qualcomm and Microsoft - not anything technical..

I am not asking Microsoft bow down to Apple. I'm simply expecting them to listen to their users. Communicate that they embrace Windows on ARM VMs, and free Parallels and VMware from the gray areas. Evidently they don't think that Windows users on the Mac are worth listening to, especially those that use M1 Macs.

That being said, it is ultimately Microsoft's business decision what they decide to support. Users then make their own decisions based on that. 


Here we are and yet once again Apple proves they do not want to play with everybody else in the market... they have ALWAYS stuck with hardware which nobody else in the world uses, refused to allow 3rd party cloning like IBM did, etc.

Apple proves that they want to march to their own drummer to provide a "insanely great" product. That means that it may (and usually does) build devices unlike others on the market. Apple would not be ias successful as they are if they "played with everyone else in the market" That market values commodity pricing and high volume to make a profit. The fact that people are willing to pay more for the Apple experience given cheaper alternatives says something, and that does not make them "sheep" or "stupid for paying that much". Value is in the eyes of the beholder, not the bystander.

And before you start on "well Windows is the standard", consider that according to reports there are about 1.4 billion Windows devices, 1.5 billion iOS devices and 2 billion Android devices out there. Windows is not the dominant computing platform for end users because the market has changed.  

You yourself have stated on this forum that there are flavors of Linux for ARM processors which will NOT work on this Apple M1 ARM-like processor because Apple did not include support for certain block sizes, which clearly EVERY other ARM processor manufacturer does!

And you will also see in my writings that those flavors were older Red Hat 7/8 distros and associated downstream distros. Red Hat compiled their RHEL 7 and 8 kernels for ARM with a 64KB page size. With RHEL 9 they changed that to 4KB page sizes. I'm absolutely positive they made the change because of Apple Silicon. (/s)

It's also not a given that every other ARM processor manufacturer support 64KB page sizes. Most distros have settled on 4K page sizes. But I've found distos where they have both 64KB and non-64KB page size options. You wouldn't do that if all manufacturers supported it. 

- Paul (Technogeezer)
Editor of the Unofficial Fusion Companion Guides
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Spixy
Contributor
Contributor

Bump! Need too this tool.

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Technogeezer
Immortal
Immortal

@Spixy If by “need this tool”, you mean running x86-64 VMs on M1, forget it. Not happening in the foreseeable future. From either VMware or Parallels, IMO.

If you mean “Windows for ARM supported on a VMware product”, we’re all hoping that the hinted July update of the Tech Preview moves the needle on this. 

If you mean an officially released product from VMware (rather than a tech preview) VMware has hinted later this year. My best guess given how they have behaved in the past is something might be said at their user conference (scheduled for the end of August). 

- Paul (Technogeezer)
Editor of the Unofficial Fusion Companion Guides
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egidioco
Contributor
Contributor

Dear Team,

I have a question concerning the licence. If I got "intel based" license key, will those licence be reused when I will change my MACs to a new M1 based ? 

In other world, Will I need to buy a new set of licence for M1 MAC ?

the reason for that my Customer is actually running with 150 Mac Intel, and the swap to the M1 will come just when the Fusion will formally released by vmware.

 

thanks a lot 

 

 

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RDPetruska
Leadership
Leadership


@egidioco wrote:

Dear Team,

I have a question concerning the licence. If I got "intel based" license key, will those licence be reused when I will change my MACs to a new M1 based ? 

In other world, Will I need to buy a new set of licence for M1 MAC ?

the reason for that my Customer is actually running with 150 Mac Intel, and the swap to the M1 will come just when the Fusion will formally released by vmware.

 

thanks a lot 

 

 


The only folks who will know the answer to this is VMware Sales... I would reach out to them.

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ColoradoMarmot
Champion
Champion

I'd hold off until the next version is announced if you can.  They usually do some kind of lookback free upgrade, but the time window on that is never clear.

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egidioco
Contributor
Contributor

Thank you all for your prompt replies.

Reading that no time window for the support is formalized yet, make me worried, since some competitor, Parallel first, seems to be ready.

Let wait for vmware next updates then

 

 

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RDPetruska
Leadership
Leadership

Oh, and not sure what your customer's use case is currently with their 150 Intel-based Mac computers using Fusion.  Realize that if they do switch to the M1 ARM-based Mac computers that they will NOT be able to run any existing x86/x86-64 based virtual machines, but only newly created ARM-based ones.

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JoVo007
Contributor
Contributor

Which isn't that bad, really. Not more than setting up a newly bought PC, IF there wasn't Microsofts really lackluster x86 emulation which is inferior in terms of both speed and compatibility to about every other emulation out there, even freeware/ QEMU based ones, not to talk about Apples great Rosetta 2. No 64Bit emulation and the low speed kinda kill the fun in some cases. Still all in all, the dev preview of Win 11 on ARM runs sufficiently well on M1 based Macs if you know those caveats.

 

And if I had 150 cogeneration plants based on Intel chips I'd really think about replacing them with M1 Mac minis just for the amount of power saved. That invest will return from power costs in a not so long time not to talk about environmental sustainability.

 

P.S.: Since that competitor (whose name shouldn't be spoken out 😉 ) has a long history of broken USB support I'd really like to have a working VMWare solution, as well.

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VirtualMac2009
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

"P.S.: Since that competitor (whose name shouldn't be spoken out 😉) has a long history of broken USB support I'd really like to have a working VMWare solution, as well".

 

That is our experience as well at the University. Only VMWare Fusion works controlling laboratory machines via USB to collect experimental data (via Windows applications) using Fusion on Mac (such machines come with Windows applications only; no Mac applications).

 

Parallels Desktop crashes while collecting data, and therefore, expensive experiments are ruined and lost, besides the waste of work, effort and time.

 

When asked Parallels about it, they said that USB is not a priority for them. So, they do not care about it. Shocking! That is a deal breaker for us.

 

Therefore, looking forward to the brand new VMware Fusion 13 for both Intel x86 and ARM-based Apple Silicon Macs with Windows support. That would be great!

ColoradoMarmot
Champion
Champion

It doesn't appear to be a priority for Apple either - USB support has been badly broken in Monterey and still isn't fixed.  Hubs that work under Big Sur, fail under Monterey.  Drives that used to mount in seconds can now take up to a minute.

But your point is well taken - the competitor really focuses on the hobbyist/gamer market versus the professional.  They take shortcuts in many different ways, while Fusion has been vastly more stable.

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jscachette
Contributor
Contributor

It's starting to come around...VMware’s Fusion Tech Preview delivers Windows 11 support to Apple silicon Macs

Download VMware Fusion Public Tech Preview 22H2

VMware's Fusion Tech Preview delivers Windows 11 support to Apple silicon Macs (xda-developers.com)

-Jason
lensv
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I guess that it works with Windows 11 as a gest now (not Windows 10 though), but would this still be an unsupported solution by Microsoft?

/LS

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Technogeezer
Immortal
Immortal

@lensv since 6-8 months ago the needle has been moved on this question. 

The short answer to your question is “technically still not officially supported”. However the things that have changed make it less of a problem in my opinion. 

Licensing hasn’t been an issue for a while now. Windows 11 (and 10) licenses have activated Windows 11 ARM for a while now. Microsoft has blessed Parallels as a solution, so they have removed their block on Apple Silicon as a platform. VMware still hasn’t been blessed by Microsoft yet, but it seems they have provided a path for VMware to do so. 

It’s now on VMware to deliver on a full VMware Tools implementation and get that Microsoft certification. Sooner rather than later, I hope. 

- Paul (Technogeezer)
Editor of the Unofficial Fusion Companion Guides
lensv
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Just curious, is anyone actually using this in a professional environment? If so, where/how is media for Windows 11 distributed?

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RDPetruska
Leadership
Leadership

Well, I'm sure that nobody is using a 2-year-old Tech Preview/beta version professionally, since it expired a long time ago.  Yes, there are plenty of users using the GA Fusion 13.5.x.

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Technogeezer
Immortal
Immortal

And those that are using the Tech Preview releases at this point in time should stop using them. No reason to continue to use them, and plenty of reasons not to.

Fusion 13.5 and later have a built-in tool that will download the GA channel Windows 11 ARM ESD file from Microsoft and convert it to a bootable ISO. Just like Parallels and the former w11arm_esd2iso utility.

Microsoft still does not have a web site where mere mortals can download a Windows 11 ARM ISO file like they do for x86_64. 

I really wish that VMware would remove the Tech Preview releases for download. There is no reason for them to exist now that their beta testing period has expired  

 

- Paul (Technogeezer)
Editor of the Unofficial Fusion Companion Guides
lensv
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

So, where is media for Windows 11 available for download? I can still only find preview versions (at least at our volume license channel).

How about VMware Tools... 100% working now?

 

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lensv
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Ahh, sorry Technogeezer!

I was responding too slow. 😉

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Technogeezer
Immortal
Immortal

VMware Tools on Windows ARM are better than they were, but do not have 100% feature parity with VMware Tools on Intel.

This VMware KB article  https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/95031 compares the VMware Tools features available for Windows x86_64 and Windows ARM guests.  

Big missing features are OpenGL support, Shared Folders, OVA/OVF import/export and Unity.

- Paul (Technogeezer)
Editor of the Unofficial Fusion Companion Guides