VMware Fusion, the company’s virtualization software, now supports Windows 11 on Apple silicon Macs. The software is available as a free download from VMware’s website. Windows 11 is the latest version of Microsoft’s operating system and it offers a number of improvements over its predecessors. One of the most significant changes is that Windows 11 uses a new kernel architecture which should make it more stable and responsive than previous versions of Windows. VMware Fusion allows users to run multiple operating systems simultaneously on their computer. This makes it ideal for users who want to use both Windows and Mac applications simultaneously. The compatibility between VMware Fusion and Windows 11 is not perfect however. Some features, such as the Start menu, are not available in Windows 11 on Apple silicon Macs. However, this should not be a problem for most users because they can easily access these features by using third-party applications or by using VMware Fusion’s virtual machine interface. ..
VMware released a Tech Preview for the Mac version of Fusion on Thursday, which works similarly to Parallels Desktop. This is the first version of VMware that can run Windows 11 without any hacks or workarounds, on both Intel and Silicon-based Mac computers, thanks to a new virtual TPM module. VMware also now offers early graphics drivers for Windows on ARM, so 4K and higher resolutions should work — don’t expect to play any demanding games, though.
VMware is also improving Linux support on Apple Silicon Macs. The company said in a blog post, “working with the communities of various operating systems and open source open-source projects such as Mesa, Linux, as well as our own open-vm-tools, we’ve made many enhancements to the Linux on Apple silicon experience.” As long as you have an updated Linux distribution, it should work well in VMware.
The preview release still has the same core limitation as Parallels on Mac — you can’t boot an operating system designed for a different CPU architecture. That means you’re limited to ARM Windows and ARM Linux on Macs with Apple Silicon chips, while older Intel Macs have more options for operating systems. VMware also doesn’t support macOS virtual machines yet, and newer builds of Ubuntu Linux are broken.
If you need to reliably run Windows software on a modern Mac, Parallels is probably still the best option, since it’s a fully-supported commercial product (unlike VMware’s preview release). The free UTM app can also virtualize Windows on Mac with fewer features, and CodeWeavers CrossOver runs some Windows software through a compatibility layer.
Source: VMware Blog
