Fusion 12 and compatibility with M1 / Big Sur - not relevant any longer

[frmo76]

Update : Ok, after some more digging, I finally understand that Fusion is not compatible with M1 chip for the time being. I'll have to find another way to run my old business application. Sorry for the trouble.

Hello,

I'm new at VMWare Fusion, I've downloaded the trial version of Fusion Pro for Mac OS to run an old version of Mac OS (10.6 server). The version 12 is said to be compatible with both Big Sur and M1 chip. I've 2 computers : one iMac Pro running Big Sur and one brand new MacBook Pro with M1 chip also running Big Sur.

The installation runs well on the iMac and the old Mac OS version is running smoothly.

When I try the same process on the MacBook, I get an error (in French) that translates like this: "Fail to activate /Users/myuser/Documents/MacOSX.vmwarevm/Mac OS X Server 10.6 64 bits.vmx'

I've tried to migrate the VM created on the iMac and to create a new VM from scratch using Apple MacOS 10.6 server installer. But it still crashes with the same error on my MacBook. I also tried to install earlier version of Mac OS and even Windows 10 but always get the same message.

Do you have any idea or any suggestion ? I'm glad I did not buy it yet since I tend to doubt the real compatibility of the product.

Thank you for your support

[DrBigJim]

I seriously doubt that Microsoft will license Windows 10 for ARM outside of the current OEMs that have access. They have been playing around with it in the server environment within their Azure environment, and it appears that Microsoft is more interested in the status quo rather than moving to a better platform.

[ColoradoMarmot]

Getting emulation right is really really hard, what Apple's done with Rosetta is amazing, but they also have the advantage of owing the whole stack. I'm sure we'll get 'excel level' emulation from windows ARM, but getting 'solidworks' level is a different story.

There's workloads you definitely want to run in a VM, but there's a bunch - games in particular - that I'm finding are at least as good, if not better, in the cloud.

[DrBigJim]

I use virtual machines a lot to isolate things and verify they are not harmful. As for games, life is more interesting.

[Bradall]

Parallels have now released their production version of virtualisation for the M1 with version 16.5. I'm still looking for a timeline for Fusion to even start. The time difference I can see many who still require virtualisation moving to the only product that is available.

[DrBigJim]

I am looking to compare VMware Fusion against Parallels before deciding about my chosen virtualization solution. I have yet decided on whether I still want a virtualization product either.

[Technogeezer]

Just keep in mind that the "only product available" on Apple Silicon, i.e. Parallels, will not run any x86/x86_64 virtual machines. Which still means it's not a solution for those that need to run them (especially Windows 10 x64 and macOS prior to Big Sur).

If you haven't found it yet, you might want to read @Mikero 's post from 4/15 in VMware Fusion 12 running on Apple Silicon. And wait for his blog post about their progress that he says we might see shortly.

[DrBigJim]

x86 emulation is irrelevant for me.

[jsonyu]

https://www.theregister.com/2021/04/27/vmware_m1_fusion_release_months_away/

[ColoradoMarmot]

I wonder if there's something coming in the next MacOS release that they're waiting for....

[petec35_2]

If all you want to do is run x86/x86_64 code or applications under windows, then ARM Windows running on Parallels will be fine.  Microsoft has vastly improved their support of x86/x86_64 under Windows for ARM.  I can get all the apps I need to use running just fine.  Including things like MS Teams and Steam for gaming.  Neither of these ran initially, but they do now.  Performance is amazingly good.  M1 is incredible.

Advanced developer use-cases, like building Intel compatible containers, may never work.  But if all you want to do is run applications, you may find it just fine.  I do.  

Good luck everyone.  The 2 week evaluation period for Parallels is almost up, and I intend to buy it.  I was hoping VMWare would announce something concrete for Fusion, but it looks like it's a ways out.  I've gotten lots of value out of Parallels already, and it will likely be several updates more mature in the coming months.  I have no reason to wait.  Happy trails everyone.  

[DrBigJim]

I was hoping that the VMware team would have something before the trial expires, but it does seem like they have big enough issues that they are not pushing out an update that users would be able to download the M1 version of VMware Fusion. I have primarily used virtualization to run Windows in order to show some configuration settings for Windows. Largely I have found that Windows is irrelevant for my daily activities and thus I believe that I am completely done with virtualization. There are many open source alternatives or Macintosh native versions of games and applications that Microsoft software and VMware Fusion is no longer required nor necessary.

[Bradall]

@petec35_2similar to myself. While I only use a windows machine every now and again for some development it was useful. With no date on the horizon on if fusion will be updated the only alternative is to commit to parallels and spend there. It's a good product and seems to run extremely well for what I want to do and looks like your experience is similar. Given the timeframe, and as a number of users here have said, they are now living without fusion, and the decision for that was probably primarily driven by no product availability. It may well be the end of the line. There probably is not much of a market left after this period.  

[jsonyu]

Update on "VMware Fusion on Apple Silicon: Progress Update"

Bottom line:

Win10 not a priority (as "Microsoft currently does not sell licenses of Windows 10 ARM for virtual machines") and more importantly "don’t plan to support installing or running x86 VMs on Macs with Apple silicon."

That's it for me then.. toodle-oo vmware!

https://blogs.vmware.com/teamfusion/2021/04/fusion-on-apple-silicon-progress-update.html

[philippeannet]

This discussion is basically not really relevant... I'm running a bunch of x86 and x64 VMs on my Intel MBP, and I'll continue to do so...

Regardless how good the emulator, I'm not willing to put any additional sources of problems on my way, just for the sake of NOT keeping my Intel Mac... Yes, it would be nice, but even if it was supported, at the slightest problem, you'd have to suspect the emulator, and any fix would undoubtedly require weeks, or even months to pop up... something professionals can't live with !

And as we have absolutely no clue on what will be working or available in 12 months from now, this debate is not likely to come to a sound conclusion... just some sort of 'religious' thoughts and wishes...

So, for the foreseeable future, fact is: professionals will stick to Intel Macs for Intel VMs, and have another (ARM) Mac for whatever they need it for. 

[DrBigJim]

I decided that intel Windows was no longer relevant and thus no need to stick with intel Macintosh. Windows 10 for ARM does run intel Windows programs and generally does perform better on the M1 Macintosh better than the Surface Pro X. As a Forensics Investigator, I have used virtualization to virtualize other platforms and largely the architectural differences between ARM and intel/AMD chips are pretty much irrelevant to the data. If I truly required intel/AMD 100% compatibility, I have other solutions that would be better than keeping old intel Macintoshs around. 

[BobDC]

Yeah, that's pretty much it for me and Fusion.  There's just no reason to buy a license for my M1 Mac.  I need Windows and x86 emulation.  Running Linux is not enough of a reason to buy a license, not even close.  Even running the beta would be useless for me...

[Technogeezer]

I read @Mikero ’s blog. Some comments.

Fusion and Parallels are still in the same boat when you look at Windows 10 for ARM hardware support and licensing. Microsoft is still limiting the sale of Windows on ARM to OEMs on specific chip sets. And we all know VMware’s position on adhering to vendor licensing policies. So it’s not surprising that Windows on ARM is a Secondary priority. We can hope that Microsoft changes their position. 

Fusion and Parallels are also in the same boat as neither will do x86 or x86_64 emulation. So no ability to run your existing VMs on Apple Silcon for either platform.

I would hope that the lack of open-vm-tools in ARM Linux distros would not delay Fusion. 

It’s disappointing that a tech preview isn’t closer. i can accept that VMWare was not the first out of the gate. But when you are this far behind VMware better deliver something spectacular or Fusion will become “meh” to all but their corporate customers. 

[ColoradoMarmot]

Agree on the Windows ARM piece - from the blog it sounds like Parallels probably violated the Microsoft EULA to get it running.   It wouldn't surprise me to see near-overnight support for it in Fusion if the EULA does change though.  But the delay is enough to push me to find alternatives for the windows-only/local access/can't go to the cloud stuff I still run.  There's honestly not much left (Turbotax for business and my media tagging software are the big ones).  Not urgent for sure, as I don't expect the M2 machines until this fall (earlier would be a massive surprise), so still have time.  And keeping an old intel machine around for a while for those handful of things is certainly an option too.

I will say, if i had a need to virtualize Linux the performance is absolutely stunning, so that's a nice piece of kit.  But...just no reason to do so - not like there's linux versions of my software :-).

I really feel for the Fusion team though.  The license agreements are a deal-killer - while a private company may decide to take the risk and ignore them, public companies certainly can't.  Rock meet hard spot.

[DrBigJim]

I was thinking that one of those Windows compute sticks would suffice for Windows applications.

[BobDC]

I thought of those compute sticks too, but they're really just Atom powered PC's and you plug them into a monitor/keyboard/mouse just like a real pc, and they are quite a bit slower.

Now there's no reason someone couldn't design one based on using USB and an app on a Mac to interact with it, but nobody has yet.