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VM software for Apple Silicon Macs recommendations

Kimba

Kimba

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 22, 2009
58
23
Ventura County, California
I recently got an M4 Pro Mac Mini and I'd like to install a VM to run some Windows-only applications like MadCap Software Flare and Adobe FrameMaker but not games. Based on what I've found, these are the most popular options:

Right now, I'm wary of Parallels since I don't like subscription-based software and I'm leaning towards UTM since I've read several favorable reviews about it. However, I'm curious what people here think. Please note I've used VMs at work but never at home where I don't have an IT department to help me.

Thanks in advance!
 
Kimba said:
I recently got an M4 Pro Mac Mini and I'd like to install a VM to run some Windows-only applications like MadCap Software Flare and Adobe FrameMaker but not games. Based on what I've found, these are the most popular options:

Right now, I'm wary of Parallels since I don't like subscription-based software and I'm leaning towards UTM since I've read several favorable reviews about it. However, I'm curious what people here think. Please note I've used VMs at work but never at home where I don't have an IT department to help me.

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
I don’t currently use a VM because I’ve weaned myself of all Windows programs once Apple Silicon hit. However, from past experience, I can say Parallels is pretty good. I loved how I didn’t have to run Windows in a separate box. I could have a Windows application open right next to one of my Mac applications.

They push the subscription really hard, but you can still buy it. However when you’re buying software it’s only for the current version unlike the subscription. Expect that version to only work on the major version of macOS that was out at the time. For example if you buy Parallels and in September you update to macOS Bigfoot or whatever it’s going to be called, don’t expect it to work properly. It probably won’t completely stop working, but there will be issues and features may not work. You‘ll need to buy an upgrade for parallels. They used to offer upgrade pricing which was about half the full price. I don’t know if they still do.
 
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I have both UTM and Fusion on my M4 mini and Windows 11 ARM on UTM was much slower than on Fusion. On my work MacBook Pro I only run UTM due to VMware's commercial terms, but I don’t need Windows there.
 
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jzuena said:
I have both UTM and Fusion on my M4 mini and Windows 11 ARM on UTM was much slower than on Fusion. On my work MacBook Pro I only run UTM due to VMware's commercial terms, but I don’t need Windows there.
Click to expand...
VMware has now made Fusion free for all users, so you can even use that at work for free.
blogs.vmware.com

VMware Fusion and Workstation are Now Free for All Users - VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) Blog

These powerful desktop hypervisor products are free to all users - commercial, educational, & personal users alike!
blogs.vmware.com blogs.vmware.com
 
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chrfr said:
VMware has now made Fusion free for all users, so you can even use that at work for free.
blogs.vmware.com

VMware Fusion and Workstation are Now Free for All Users - VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) Blog

These powerful desktop hypervisor products are free to all users - commercial, educational, & personal users alike!
blogs.vmware.com blogs.vmware.com
Click to expand...
That's good to know. For Windows I have access to multiple ESXi and Citrix VMs, so no need to run Windows locally on my laptop. And UTM seems plenty fast enough when running Ubuntu and Red Hat Linux so I will probably just stay with UTM on my work machine.

For the OP, even though you don't need games that is how I was able to see the speed difference between UTM and Fusion. I installed Steam on the Windows VM and had all kinds of stuttering on somewhat older games like Half Life under UTM, but the games run fine under Fusion. UTM has more flexibility since it can emulate different processors (although I wouldn't try to emulate an x86-64 processor to run non-ARM Windows). Fusion only does virtualization, but it is much more efficient at it than UTM.
 
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I used VMWare Fusion for a year on my M2. It worked great; it was quite fast. I ran the beta version of FrameMaker for ARM Windows and it was fine. I’d recommend that combination if you’re using the current FrameMaker.
 
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VMWare/Win 11 ARM works great, but has some limitations, as far as I can see. Just today I couldn't get a USB device to work. The driver wouldn't install correctly. But most apps work great and fast.
 
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Based on your posts, it seems that VMWare Fusion is better for running windows applications?
 
jzuena said:
I have both UTM and Fusion on my M4 mini and Windows 11 ARM on UTM was much slower than on Fusion. On my work MacBook Pro I only run UTM due to VMware's commercial terms, but I don’t need Windows there.
Click to expand...
I use Windows Arm 11 via UTM VM and it runs as fast as my real Win Laptop 4700U based 8 Core.

The only downside is, no 3D (but it reports DX12 and i was able to Start Sweet Home 3D) no USB (do not need it anyway) and the normal downsides you also have on Arm Based Hardware with Windows for ARM.

I use this mostly for SQL with MariaDB / XAMPP / HeidiSQL / VB6 / ODBC 32 Bit Driver for MariaDB / Fiddler / Office(Word/Excel) / Chrome.

Data Exchange via Network just use Bridged and you can get an IP from your Router for the VM.
I have some Ubuntu with FQDN via DMZ this way over my MBA M2´s Wlan btw.

You have to Install Windows for Arm 11 in Virtualize Mode not Emulate.
I have also some Windows Hardware, but as i can just fire up the VM i do use Zorin on the Laptop and Hackintosh 15.3 on my Z490 Desktop and these are 99% off.

Since i have my MBA M2 i do not need any of these, but they are a good Backup.
 
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I need to run one Windows program--Kindle for PC version 2.4--on my iMac M4. Once upon a time, I did run lots of Windows programs on my Macs using Parallels. I don't want to go there this time because of the cost--I don't have a current version of Parallels or Windows. From what I've been able to understand, UTM looks like it might work. How hard is it to get one program like the Kindle app running with UTM? And where to you get the copy of Windows to run with UTM? Anyone know of a step by step on how to do this? Thank you.
 
JUMA55 said:
I need to run one Windows program--Kindle for PC version 2.4--on my iMac M4. Once upon a time, I did run lots of Windows programs on my Macs using Parallels. I don't want to go there this time because of the cost--I don't have a current version of Parallels or Windows. From what I've been able to understand, UTM looks like it might work. How hard is it to get one program like the Kindle app running with UTM? And where to you get the copy of Windows to run with UTM? Anyone know of a step by step on how to do this? Thank you.
Click to expand...
VMWare Fusion Pro is free and will be easier to set up- it will even download a copy of Windows for you in the process.
 
chrfr said:
VMWare Fusion Pro is free and will be easier to set up- it will even download a copy of Windows for you in the process.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the information. Do I have to pay for a copy of Windows?
 
JUMA55 said:
Thank you for the information. Do I have to pay for a copy of Windows?
Click to expand...
You do, though you can run Windows indefinitely without activation. There are some limitations in settings that are disabled and you'd periodically receive reminders to activate but Windows will continue to run.
No virtualization platform includes a license for Windows.
 
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To restate: you can download Windows installers from Microsoft itself for free. The installer will install Windows 11 and run all your programs, with the disabilities and reminders mentioned by chrfr. I doubt those disabilities would affect the specific use you have but since it’s free you can try it out. If you do need to unlock those features, Microsoft and its authorized resellers sell license keys online.
 
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Thanks, guys. I don't mind paying if I was planning on using Windows for a long time, but I'm hoping this situation only lasts a couple of weeks.
 
I still use Fusion to play WoW on Warmane.
Works like a charm.

Tried Parallels and just like you I hate subscriptions (makes me feel ripped off).
 
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