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VMWare tools for Windows ARM64

Tracking the status for the release of VMWare Tools for Win11/10 on ARM64 Mac M1.

 

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scott28tt
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Do you expect there to be a release when Windows is not supported?

Screenshot 2021-11-12 at 09.39.21.png


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Technogeezer
Immortal
Immortal

And in case you ask when will VMware support Windows, VMware has stated they will work to support Windows on ARM under Fusion when Microsoft clarifies its licensing and support for Windows on Apple Silicon. Unfortunately at the present time Microsoft has publicly stated they do not intend to support Windows running on Apple Silicon.

Ball’s in Microsoft’s court.

- Paul (Technogeezer)
Editor of the Unofficial Fusion Companion Guides
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lucano66
Contributor
Contributor

For experimental use, is possible to download VMware Tools for windows arm64 or source code of open vm tools to compile under windows arm64 version?

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Technogeezer
Immortal
Immortal

Short answer: no..

There is no experimental build of VMware Tools for Windows for ARM being made available. VMware has made their statements why this is so.  VMware Tools is proprietary software and VMware does not provide source code for it. There’s no ability for you to compile/port it yourself. 

open-vm-tools is available as open source but it is designed for Linux operating systems. I have not seen the code but it is almost guaranteed not to compile or work on Windows. 

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

It will not work.  There is no workaround other than the remote desktop option for the video resolution.

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AFerrit
Contributor
Contributor

They proudly blogged that this is now officially supported by Microsoft.

https://blogs.vmware.com/teamfusion/2023/02/microsoft-now-officially-supports-windows-on-mac-compute...

What's the hold up?

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Technogeezer
Immortal
Immortal

Those that know for sure are prohibited from speaking.  Yes it’s not fast enough.

TL;DR

IMO

it’s the development and testing of tools on Windows ARM. The tools have to be “ported” to the ARM architecture by the team within VMware that develops the tools for all VMware hypervisors. The Windows ARM architecture is a brand new platform for them. We think they’re also working on 3D support - which would involve both Windows driver support and integration with the existing features in Fusion that support 3rd acceleration for Linux. 

I also believe that they didn’t start this in earnest until Microsoft gave the blessing for Apple Silicon. Mix in the behemoth that is VMware and internal engineering priorities that compete for resources with their other products and who knows how quickly they will get this done.

I would also hope they are working with Microsoft to solve the issue of getting an installation ISO. Parallels did. I wrote a tool that mimics what Parallels does. Shouldn’t be hard for VMware to put something in the product to do the same. 

Once that’s done then I assume that they’ll go to Microsoft to get the same blessing as Parallels did.

As usual VMware is tight lipped about when we’ll see it. Their corporate gag order on discussing futures is maddening given how late this support is. There are several of us that think that they’ll release it in the next Fusion version. If so, that would be in the fall when they typically release new versions of Fusion and Workstation (they seem to tie both of those products to the hip - which is extremely annoying). The best case is that they announce a “tech preview” release this summer (perhaps after WWDC??)

in any case, it’s not soon enough 

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

You can now install VMware tools in latest Fusion installation. However you need to first enable installation on the VM itself in PowerShell: Step 1: Click the Windows Start menu and type PowerShell in the search box. Click Run as Administrator, and click Yes on the User Access Control prompt. (If you don’t see Run as Administrator, right click on PowerShell and select Run as Administrator).

Step 2: Type the following inside the PowerShell prompt:

Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned
Press Return on your keyboard to execute the command, and then type ‘Y’ and press Return to confirm the change to the execution policy. Type Exit and press Return to close the PowerShell.

Step 3: In the menu bar click Virtual Machine → Reinstall VMware Tools and click the Install button on the prompt that appears.

Step 4: Open Windows Explorer, navigate to the DVD drive, and ensure that VMware Tools setup is mounted. You should see a Setup.ps1 PowerShell script in the root of the DVD drive.

Step 5: Right click on the Setup PowerShell Script and click Run with PowerShell. Click Yes on the User Account Control pop-up.

VMware Tools will now install, along with the necessary VMXNet3 network drivers and SVGA display driver. After a short countdown, the PowerShell window will automatically close.

Network functionality should now be operational, and you will also be able to configure display settings via Start → Settings → Display. There should be no need to restart in order to enable this functionality.
Technogeezer
Immortal
Immortal

Yes, there are tools for W11 ARM. But the issue that people are rightfully concerned about is that they aren’t a full implementation like they are for x86/x64 Windows. The tools only contain video and NIC drivers. The don’t contain all the other features such as copy/paste/drag/drop, 3D acceleration, shared folders, ThinPrint printer sharing, time sync with host, soft power controls.

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

This will come with time, this is still early days 🙂
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JankoBebek
Contributor
Contributor

JankoBebek_0-1688943558845.png

 

CallistoJag
Enthusiast
‎05-16-2023 05:01 AM

 

This is a SOLUTION! Thank you so much for step by step guide 🙂

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