[SUCCESS] Virtualize Windows 10 for ARM on M1 with Alexander Graf's qemu hypervisor patch

[3rik]

Does anyone care to speculate when we may see Parallels for M1 and Windows ARM available and working decently without much fuss?

I am sitting on a 2014 iMac and have to virtualize Windows a little. I am trying to determine if I should bite the bullet and purchase a new Intel iMac or wait for the M powered 27" (whatever size) and take my chances.

parallels for m1 and windows on arm already works great and no longer requires the beta version

 

[Morac]

parallels for m1 and windows on arm already works great and no longer requires the beta version

I agree they do work great, but be warned that Microsoft does not license the ARM version of Windows to run on Macs. It works, but is not supported and possibly not legal.

 

[KPOM]

Does anyone care to speculate when we may see Parallels for M1 and Windows ARM available and working decently without much fuss?

I am sitting on a 2014 iMac and have to virtualize Windows a little. I am trying to determine if I should bite the bullet and purchase a new Intel iMac or wait for the M powered 27" (whatever size) and take my chances.

Maybe never for a sanctioned version. Parallels has been out for a few months now and Microsoft has said nothing about making Windows on ARM available for retail sale. Originally I thought Corel (who owns Parallels now) would work out a deal with Microsoft to be an "OEM" for Windows on ARM licenses, but they just went ahead and released Parallels 16.5 with wink-and-nod instructions on how to download the insider preview. No enterprise is going to rely on that.

I'm guessing Microsoft doesn't want the fastest PCs running Windows on ARM to be the M1 Mac lineup. That said, if there is a big enough potential market for it, then perhaps Microsoft will relent. I'm sure they are keeping track of how many Windows on ARM Insider Previews are being downloaded.

 

[drbill]

Does anyone care to speculate when we may see Parallels for M1 and Windows ARM available and working decently without much fuss?

I am sitting on a 2014 iMac and have to virtualize Windows a little. I am trying to determine if I should bite the bullet and purchase a new Intel iMac or wait for the M powered 27" (whatever size) and take my chances.

Windows 10 Pro build 21370.1 (ARM) is running great on my M1 MBP using Parallels 16.5.1

 

[aplnub]

Thank you everyone for the responses. Much appreciated.

I was hoping to hear more positive news on the Windows side. This would be the only installation of a desktop powered M Mac in my office (we have several M1 mobile units and they are fantastic). We just purchased everyone the latest loaded iMacs for the office in hopes that in three to five years we can virtualize windows on a Mac as we do today. No one wants to go to a PC. The two software packages holding back the purchases for a slice of my office are not coming to the Mac or web in the foreseeable future.

I will wait until the M powered larger iMacs are released and probably go that route. Windows for me is a luxury, not a requirement.

 

[bobcomer]

Thank you everyone for the responses. Much appreciated.

I was hoping to hear more positive news on the Windows side. This would be the only installation of a desktop powered M Mac in my office (we have several M1 mobile units and they are fantastic). We just purchased everyone the latest loaded iMacs for the office in hopes that in three to five years we can virtualize windows on a Mac as we do today. No one wants to go to a PC. The two software packages holding back the purchases for a slice of my office are not coming to the Mac or web in the foreseeable future.

I will wait until the M powered larger iMacs are released and probably go that route. Windows for me is a luxury, not a requirement.

There's always the possibility of running a Windows Server and using terminal services (RDP) to run your legacy Windows apps. It may not be quite as fast as running a windows machine yourself, but it *will* be faster than any Windows emulation that an M1(x) machine will ever do. (and you can do it now!)

Windows on Arm might get better and be licensable(I hope!), but the way it does x86 emulation it's never going to be blazingly fast.

 

[billpowel514]

PLEASE HELP.

hello beautiful,

kudos to the nice work by the OP
but
people, after getting windows set up on the macbook m1 with this wonderful tutorial, everytime i shut down there comes error and wont start up again. then the inter trick is not working for me.

PLEASE HELP.

thanks

 

[4743913]

possibly not legal.

I activated mine. The ball is in their court now.

 

[crashnburn]

I activated mine. The ball is in their court now.

Key Question - How? (some MDL way?)

 

[4743913]

Key Question - How? (some MDL way?)

license that I got from school that I was not using.

 

[crashnburn]

license that I got from school that I was not using.

An ARM EDU license or any x86 license from EDU also worked?

 

[4743913]

An ARM EDU license or any x86 license from EDU also worked?

I don't believe there is a difference. There was no either/or when I got the license. I had previously used it on x86 (2017 Macbook Pro) and now on ARM on my Macbook Air. It shows the activation on the desktop too right above the eval watermark:

Windows 10 Education
Evaluation Copy Build xxxxx

 

[bobcomer]

I don't believe there is a difference. There was no either/or when I got the license. I had previously used it on x86 (2017 Macbook Pro) and now on ARM on my Macbook Air. It shows the activation on the desktop too right above the eval watermark:

It's an activation key, not a license -- there is a difference.

 

[4743913]

It's an activation key, not a license -- there is a difference.

actually its a perpetual license and I activate it with a license key (their words, not mine). I can play the pedantic game with you all day if it satisfies some need to feel good about yourself. 😀

 

[bobcomer]

actually its a perpetual license and I activate it with a license key (their words, not mine). I can play the pedantic game with you all day if it satisfies some need to feel good about yourself. ?

Sorry, no, it's not a perpetual license, you can't license Windows on Arm, it's not available to us end users. And that *is* a fact.

What you have is an activation key, no more, no less. Just because it works to activate WoA, it doesn't mean it's really covered by the same license.

 

[Morac]

as I said. they accepted the license key. the ball is in Sataya's court now. you can sleep easy brave champion.

They can always revoke it later.

Currently you don’t even need a license to run the Windows Insider ARM version. All you lose is customization.

 

[MacModMachine]

I agree they do work great, but be warned that Microsoft does not license the ARM version of Windows to run on Macs. It works, but is not supported and possibly not legal.

illegal.....absolutely not. unless your selling it.

against microsofts TOS...yes. but thats a civil matter.

 

[bobcomer]

illegal.....absolutely not. unless your selling it.

against microsofts TOS...yes. but thats a civil matter.

You're right.

 

[Gerdi]

I don't believe there is a difference. There was no either/or when I got the license. I had previously used it on x86 (2017 Macbook Pro) and now on ARM on my Macbook Air. It shows the activation on the desktop too right above the eval watermark:

Windows 10 Education
Evaluation Copy Build xxxxx

Indeed, Microsoft does not distinguish Windows licenses with respect to architectures. I am not even sure, who had the idea, that Windows ARM needs a different license - its just Windows.

 

[4743913]

Indeed, Microsoft does not distinguish Windows licenses with respect to architectures. I am not even sure, who had the idea, that Windows ARM needs a different license - its just Windows.

You're right.

 

[bobcomer]

Indeed, Microsoft does not distinguish Windows licenses with respect to architectures. I am not even sure, who had the idea, that Windows ARM needs a different license - its just Windows.

There are many reference to Microsoft saying they only license Windows on Arm to OEM. (inferencing that it's not the same license as Windows on x86.) And seeing as how you cannot download the release version and only Windows insider versions, that tends to bare that out. And then there's VMWare's statement on why they wont focus on WoA for their VMWare Fusion on Arm when it comes out.

Just google "windows on arm license microsoft" and see for yourself. I looked and couldn't find anything supporting what you say. (I wish I could!)

 

[Morac]

Indeed, Microsoft does not distinguish Windows licenses with respect to architectures. I am not even sure, who had the idea, that Windows ARM needs a different license - its just Windows.

Uh Microsoft had that idea. They only license the ARM version of Windows to OEMs. Just because the Pro license works on ARM doesn’t mean it’s a Microsoft approved license. Microsoft is free to adjust it so it doesn’t work at any time.

Apple’s new ARM-based Macs won’t support Windows through Boot Camp

Microsoft has the power to change ARM-based Macs running Windows 10 on ARM.

www.theverge.com

“Microsoft only licenses Windows 10 on ARM to OEMs,” says a Microsoft spokesperson in a statement to The Verge. We asked Microsoft if it plans to change this policy to allow Windows 10 on ARM-based Macs, and the company says “we have nothing further to share at this time.”

It’s highly likely Windows 11 licenses won’t work on M1 Macs. The Windows 11 compatibility app already claims a M1 Mac in Parallels isn’t compatible.

 

[bobcomer]

Uh Microsoft had that idea. They only license the ARM version of Windows to OEMs. Just because the Pro license works on ARM doesn’t mean it’s a Microsoft approved license. Microsoft is free to adjust it so it doesn’t work at any time.

Apple’s new ARM-based Macs won’t support Windows through Boot Camp

Microsoft has the power to change ARM-based Macs running Windows 10 on ARM.

www.theverge.com

It’s highly likely Windows 11 licenses won’t work on M1 Macs. The Windows 11 compatibility app already claims a M1 Mac in Parallels isn’t compatible.

Parallels says they have emulating the TPM on the M1 -- guess we'll have to wait and find out if they can. I know under windows that products virtualize the TPM, rather than emulate it, which is a bit different...

 

[jdb8167]

Parallels says they have emulating the TPM on the M1 -- guess we'll have to wait and find out if they can. I know under windows that products virtualize the TPM, rather than emulate it, which is a bit different...

I think that you can either do a pass through TPM or emulated TPM on Ubuntu QEMU.

From Ars Technica—Here’s what you’ll need to upgrade to Windows 11

If you don't have or don't want to use hardware or firmware TPM support on your VM's host device, you can install an emulator instead. We used the swtpm project, which required an extra repository to be added to our Ubuntu 20.04 system:

root@banshee:~# apt-add-repository ppa:smoser/swtpm
root@banshee:~# apt install swtpm swtpm-tools

 

[bobcomer]

I think that you can either do a pass through TPM or emulated TPM on Ubuntu QEMU.

From Ars Technica—Here’s what you’ll need to upgrade to Windows 11

They should be able to do it then, that's encouraging!