It’s official, VMware Fusion Tech Preview has made it possible to bring Windows 11 to Macs equipped with Apple Silicon SoCs, and also to those that use Intel processors, and are therefore older. Is about a previous version and totally freebut as we see it comes with a very important novelty, and as you may have imagined the key is in the virtualization.
Key features of VMware Fusion Tech Preview include Windows 11 support with 2D GFX and networking, installation of VMtools for Windows, and improved Linux support on Macs based on Apple Silicon chips. Here is a more complete summary with the most important keys:
- Windows 11 support on Intel and Apple Silicon with 2D GFX and networking.
- Installing VMtools for Windows 11 GOS on M1.
- Improved Linux support in M1.
- HW acceleration of 3D graphics and OpenGL 4.3 on Linux* virtual machines (requires Linux 5.19+ and Mesa 22.1.3+).
- Virtual TPM device.
- Fast encryption.
- world binary.
VMware has wanted to emphasize that still is working to improve support and the operation of this virtualization of Windows 11, and has specified that this is why problems can still appear in this previous version, so we must take it into account. Among the most important issues and limitations that the company has acknowledged in the VMware Fusion Tech Preview are:
- Fusion will not support running virtual machines on different architectures. (That is, there are no x86_64 virtual machines on Mac M1.)
- macOS virtual machines are out of scope for this release, but they’re working on it.
- Ubuntu 20.04.4 and 22.04 for arm64 won’t boot (Ubuntu 20.04.4 builds from July 5th onwards). They are also working to resolve it.
VMware has highlighted the importance of the ratings and opinions you receive of users to improve and underpin things during this testing stage. We can download the VMware Fusion Tech Preview from the company’s official website.
