In the market we have various solutions when it comes to create virtual machines with Windows or Linux on macOS, VMWare being one of the most popular on the market. One year after the introduction of Macs with the M1 processor, the company has announced the launch of the first beta of VMWare Fusion for Macs with M1.
We do not know the reasons for this delay, but it is clear that they have taken it very calmly. The head of VMWare Fusion, Michael Roy, has announced through his Twitter account the launch of the first beta along with the link to a form where all users who want can be registered.
Hey friends!
Are you interested in joining our Private Tech Preview for @VMwareFusion on @Manzana silicon?We’re not taking _everyone_ just yet, but you can submit a request to join here: https: //t.co/udQsATVuFA
Full Public TP drops in about 2 weeks!
– Michael Roy (@mikeroySoft) September 8, 2021
The beta will be available for download in about two weeks, so it is more than likely that the final version will not be available until shortly before the end of the year. However, not everything looks as nice as the users of this application can expect, since we are faced with two important limitations.
The most important is that VMWare Fusion for Macs with M1 will not offer support for running Windows virtual machines Because Microsoft does not sell official licenses for Windows 10 ARM and, although it can be installed with VMWare Fusion, there are no official drivers compatible with the M1.
Another negative point is that does not offer support for macOS Monterey due to API incompatibilities. At the moment it is unknown if in the future they will add support to be able to install this version of macOS in a virtual machine. Graphics will be CPU-based, as support for GPU-equipped virtual machines is still under development.
The only option left to users who have the need to create Windows or macOS Monterey virtual machines on Macs with the M1 processor and later, it is to use Parallels, an application that was updated a few weeks ago adding support for Apple Silicon.
