Parallels tech preview for M1

[bobcomer]

Good tip, I'll look into setting up a VPN for the Windows VM then. As for RDP, ah well. There's also TeamViewer and the like. I'll play around with a few and see what sticks.

I use Softether for my VPN at home, it works pretty well, and I run it in a Windows VM running on my Intel Mac Mini.

 

[gank41]

Good tip, I'll look into setting up a VPN for the Windows VM then. As for RDP, ah well. There's also TeamViewer and the like. I'll play around with a few and see what sticks.

I’ve used TeamViewer on a headless Windows machine for a very long time, works great. Should work just as well on a VM, too.

 

[Jemani]

So this is interesting. Up to this point, everyone's been saying the barrier to virtualizing ARM-Windows on Apple Silicon is Microsoft, since they weren't willing to sell individual copies of ARM-Windows (OEM only).

But now it turns out they're willing to give away ARM-Windows (at least a beta version) for free to anyone who creates a Microsoft account and registers for the Windows Insider program.

So what's going on? Is this a change in MS's thinking? Or did those who insisted MS wouldn't release individual copies of ARM-Windows not understand MS's game plan?

I have a Windows Insider account since the days of my Windows Phone, which ran Windows 10 on my Arm based Windows Phone. In order to install Windows 10 on it, I had to have a Windows Insider account. My Nokia Windows Phone was on the beta program for Windows 10.

 

[lpolarityl]

I'm actually building the NAS I have on my to-do list for a long time now. Except I'm basing it on Proxmox and I'll have a Windows VM next to the file server/cloud/... NAS VM. It's pretty easy to do. I only upgraded my RAM requirement from 16GB to 32GB. Another €100 and the "M1 doesn't do Windows VMs" problem has been solved. To access it from anywhere, I'll use DDNS. With thanks to a colleague who's already doing this for some time.

This is how I'm "coping" with not being able to run x86/x64 VMs. I had a 16" MBP for a while but it was a bit cumbersome and it got oddly hot and sluggish when using an external display and the ghosting issues were starting to get on my nerves. I sold it and got a M1 MBP 512/16GB as soon as it was released. I've been using a cheap i5-10400 powered ESXi host for VM needs and it has been working out just fine. In total it cost ~$600 to build it. Most of the excessive cost was due to the form factor and case I wanted to use (mATX). With how Intel prices are looking now, it should be even cheaper to build, especially if you use a 10th gen processor. I still do wish I could run x86/x64 VMs natively on the M1 MBP, but until then, the ESXi setup is working out perfectly. Also, like you're planning to do, DDNS should make it easy to remote / VPN in when offsite.

 

[cool11]

I read this

Windows on Arm: This is how well 64-bit emulation is working | TechRepublic

64-bit apps on Windows on Arm are a work in progress: some are native, many work well with the new 64-bit emulation, but others will have to wait for more support in insider builds of Windows.

www.techrepublic.com

but I still wonder...

How well 'windows 10 for arm', emulate and run x86-64 win10 applications?

 

[PeterJP]

I read this

Windows on Arm: This is how well 64-bit emulation is working | TechRepublic

64-bit apps on Windows on Arm are a work in progress: some are native, many work well with the new 64-bit emulation, but others will have to wait for more support in insider builds of Windows.

www.techrepublic.com

but I still wonder...

How well 'windows 10 for arm', emulate and run x86-64 win10 applications?

If you're referring to some sort of Rosetta for Windows ARM, then forget it. Nobody's ever done anything like this. Apple's work is groundbreaking. So don't get used to it. Except for a couple of very rudimentary emulators here and there, it doesn't exist anywhere else.

 

[jdb8167]

If you're referring to some sort of Rosetta for Windows ARM, then forget it. Nobody's ever done anything like this. Apple's work is groundbreaking. So don't get used to it. Except for a couple of very rudimentary emulators here and there, it doesn't exist anywhere else.

It isn’t completely new but Apple has advantages that no other vender has ever had. Because Apple controls the LLVM, CLang, and Swift compilers and the developer environments they can more easily predict the binaries. They leveraged LLVM to produce a very efficient and effective translation. Others have done binary translation but never with Apple’s advantages.

 

[bobcomer]

I read this

Windows on Arm: This is how well 64-bit emulation is working | TechRepublic

64-bit apps on Windows on Arm are a work in progress: some are native, many work well with the new 64-bit emulation, but others will have to wait for more support in insider builds of Windows.

www.techrepublic.com

but I still wonder...

How well 'windows 10 for arm', emulate and run x86-64 win10 applications?

It does an okay job, most things run, some do not. It's not as fast as rosetta. There's really no way to tell beforehand that it will work for your particular apps are not. But you can bet Microsoft apps will work.

I'm just hoping Microsoft will eventually allow us to license WoA to make it all nice and legal for work, and to be able to stop with all these developer builds!

 

[leman]

It isn’t completely new but Apple has advantages that no other vender has ever had. Because Apple controls the LLVM, CLang, and Swift compilers and the developer environments they can more easily predict the binaries. They leveraged LLVM to produce a very efficient and effective translation. Others have done binary translation but never with Apple’s advantages.

They can't "predict" the binaries any better than anyone else can... and how would that be helpful anyway? To ensure correct transpiration of x86 to ARM you have to implement all of the semantics anyway.

Apple's unique advantage is that they have built in hardware emulation of x86 memory ordering models into their CPU. This allows them to simply transpire the code and be sure that it will run correctly. Windows does not have this luxury, since it targets ARM hardware that cannot emulate x86 behavior.

 

[jdb8167]

They can't "predict" the binaries any better than anyone else can... and how would that be helpful anyway? To ensure correct transpiration of x86 to ARM you have to implement all of the semantics anyway.

Apple's unique advantage is that they have built in hardware emulation of x86 memory ordering models into their CPU. This allows them to simply transpire the code and be sure that it will run correctly. Windows does not have this luxury, since it targets ARM hardware that cannot emulate x86 behavior.

Sure all of x86-64 user space has to work but hotspots are a real thing. When you can only do static analysis at translation time it helps if you have a broad understanding of what code the compilers generate and are able to run many examples through your optimizations.

I’d have to look to see where I read that Apple does this but I’m sure I saw it in one of Apples presentations.

 

[gank41]

The Parallels Blogs shows v16.5.1 is available but I'm not seeing it come up when I check for updates...

KB Parallels: Parallels Desktop 16 for Mac updates summary

kb.parallels.com

It's listed under Account/Updates, though:

Parallels My Account

Your personal account at Parallels: manage your Parallels product licenses, get technical support, ask questions on the Parallels product forums.

my.parallels.com

 

[PeterJP]

I use Softether for my VPN at home, it works pretty well, and I run it in a Windows VM running on my Intel Mac Mini.

I’ve used TeamViewer on a headless Windows machine for a very long time, works great. Should work just as well on a VM, too.

I ended up setting up a Proxmox server with XPenology and a Windows machine. The XPenology has a vpn that allows access to the LAN, so then I can remote desktop into the Windows machine. Works like a charm and gives me access to my files and a Windows machine from anywhere.