This week, VMware revealed that its most recent VMware Fusion upgrade now supports Macs built with both Intel and Apple chips. The 2H22 version of Fusion, which is now available as a free tech preview, will finally enable Apple silicon Mac customers to download and run Windows on their devices through virtualization.
Features include better Linux compatibility on Apple silicon machines, Windows 11 support with 2D GFX and networking, VMtools installation for Windows on Apple silicon computers, and more.
- Windows 11 with networking and 2D graphics on Intel and Apple silicon
- Installation of VMtools for Windows 11 GOS on M1
- enhanced Linux support for the M1
- OpenGL 4.3 with 3D Graphics HW Acceleration in Linux VMs* (Requires Mesa 22.1.3+ and Linux 5.19+)
- TPM virtual device
- Speedy Encryption
- Unified Binary
Although Windows 11 was taken into consideration when designing the new feature, VMware claims the tools may also be utilised with other VMs. Fusion is still “still a work in progress” on Apple silicon devices, and there are certain restrictions to be aware of.
Fusion won’t support operating virtual machines on many architectures. (For example, M1 Macs cannot run x86 64 VMs.)
Although they are outside the purview of this release, macOS virtual machines are something we’re looking at.
We are attempting to fix the issue where Ubuntu 20.04.4 builds made on or after July 5 and 22.04 for arm64 do not presently boot.
In order to fix bugs and introduce new features in advance of more official support later this year, VMware says it is asking for customer feedback.
VMware Fusion will be accessible without charge throughout the testing phase. On the VMware website, you may download the VMware Fusion Tech Preview.
