Parallels, VMWare confirm Apple M1 support amid silence from other virtualization companie...
Parallels is actively working on a new version of its virtualization software that will be compatible with Apple Silicon and M1 machines, the company said on Tuesday.
![Credit: Parallels](https://photos5.appleinsider.com/gallery/38755-73912-Parallels-Apple-Silicon-l.jpg)
Credit: Parallels
The company said it is "excited to see the performance, power efficiency, and virtualization features" that Apple's new M1 chip brings to the Mac and MacBook lineups. But it noted that current versions of Parallels Desktop won't be compatible on the new devices.
A new version compatible with Apple Silicon was shown off at WWDC 2020, and Parallels said that the app has made "tremendous progress" since then. The company has switched Parallels Desktop to a universal binary, and has optimized its virtualization code."
Nick Dobrovolskiy, Parallels SVP of Engineering and Support, said the company is "eager to try" the new app on the M1-equipped MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro, and Mac mini.
In a tweet, VMWare Fusion also announced that it was working on an Apple Silicon-compatible version of its virtualization software. No other details were revealed, however.
Beyond those two, no other major virtualization or container companies have made similar announcements about compatibility with Apple Silicon. Oracle's VirtualBox, for example, has remained silent on the matter thus far. Developers for emulator WINE are "experimenting" with an ARM-based port, but haven't detailed any sort of actual compatibility.
Virtualization, along with Rosetta 2, is one of several initiatives that Apple says will make the switch to Apple Silicon smoother for developers and consumers. Boot Camp, long a way for users to run Windows on Mac hardware, will not make the transition.
Update: Added VMWare Fusion announcement of Apple Silicon support.
![Credit: Parallels](https://photos5.appleinsider.com/gallery/38755-73912-Parallels-Apple-Silicon-l.jpg)
Credit: Parallels
The company said it is "excited to see the performance, power efficiency, and virtualization features" that Apple's new M1 chip brings to the Mac and MacBook lineups. But it noted that current versions of Parallels Desktop won't be compatible on the new devices.
A new version compatible with Apple Silicon was shown off at WWDC 2020, and Parallels said that the app has made "tremendous progress" since then. The company has switched Parallels Desktop to a universal binary, and has optimized its virtualization code."
Nick Dobrovolskiy, Parallels SVP of Engineering and Support, said the company is "eager to try" the new app on the M1-equipped MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro, and Mac mini.
In a tweet, VMWare Fusion also announced that it was working on an Apple Silicon-compatible version of its virtualization software. No other details were revealed, however.
So excited for todays announcements from @Apple!
While we're not quite ready to announce our timeline, we're happy to say that we are committed to delivering VMware virtual machines on #AppleSilicon! pic.twitter.com/en1FNorxrM-- VMware Fusion (@VMwareFusion)
Beyond those two, no other major virtualization or container companies have made similar announcements about compatibility with Apple Silicon. Oracle's VirtualBox, for example, has remained silent on the matter thus far. Developers for emulator WINE are "experimenting" with an ARM-based port, but haven't detailed any sort of actual compatibility.
Virtualization, along with Rosetta 2, is one of several initiatives that Apple says will make the switch to Apple Silicon smoother for developers and consumers. Boot Camp, long a way for users to run Windows on Mac hardware, will not make the transition.
Update: Added VMWare Fusion announcement of Apple Silicon support.
![ronn](https://forums.appleinsider.com/uploads/userpics/657/nG3AD53JUR9T7.jpg)
Comments
Here’s hoping Parallels is working on emulation for their next big release.
I don't think a lot of Mac owners fully realize the great deal that the VMWare Fusion Player 12 (for non commercial use) represents for Mac users. The feature set of the free VMWare Fusion Player has one important feature, Snapshots, in the free version that Windows users do not get with the equivalent free version for Windows. To get Snapshots on Windows you'll have to pay for the VMWare Workstation 16 Pro version, which is $199.00 USD.
https://www.parallels.com/blogs/parallels-desktop-apple-silicon-mac/ Not really a lot of information other than they're building a universal app. They mention the Windows blog listed below.
https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2020/09/30/now-more-essential-than-ever-the-role-of-the-windows-pc-has-changed/ "We are working closely with Acer, HP, Lenovo, Samsung and Surface to bring these Windows 10 on ARM innovations and products to our shared customers." No mention about "Apple" in this blog
I thought Apple said they will not support any x86 emulation on the M1 chip. If Microsoft tries to build a Rosetta-type emulation software, I have to wonder if Apple will even allow it. If Microsoft is able to somehow create an emulation layer in front of Windows 10 that would run using Apple's Rosetta-2 it would be a miracle since Microsoft has problems writing any software that runs well on a Mac.
https://twitter.com/VMwareFusion/status/1326229094648832000
They don't have a timeline yet but from what I understand, the Big Sur version of VMWare Fusion already uses the macOS hypervisor as an option so it shouldn't be a huge amount of work.
This doesn't imply any ability to run Windows, just that you can run something in a VM. Probably macOS Big Sur or Linux for ARM etc.
Edit: Added URL for the Tweet.
Once you've booted into Windows for ARM via a virtualisation app, there's nothing macOS can do to prevent Windows for ARM then running an emulation layer in order to run Windows apps compiled for x86 and x64. And in any case, why would you even want to prevent that?
Checked out RedHat enterprise and found this:
--ARM architectures
While IBM Power and z Systems are not "new," ARM, specifically the 64-bit ARMv8-A architecture, is new. As an example of our multi-architecture enablement efforts, over the past two years Red Hat has delivered Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server for ARM as a Development Preview to partners designing and building systems based on 64-bit ARMv8-A architecture. This has helped to consolidate, stabilize and standardize ARM hardware support in the base operating system and move it forward to a more mature level.
--
https://www.linux.com/training-tutorials/4-fine-linux-arm-distros/ Lists four free linux distributions that run on ARM. It would be interesting if Apple tries to recompile Bootcamp for ARM linux distributions or if they simply want users to use virtualization software. It would be nice to see linux running native under Bootcamp making use of the M1's advanced security architecture.
MS would need to do something drastic to get it working on Apple’s chips. And Parallels would find performance to be a dog. With little software available for it, there’s no real purpose anyway. Right now, it only runs recompile’s of older 32 bit Windows software. 64 bit recompiled software support is planned, but for when? .NET, needed for proper software conversion to ARM won’t be out until the end of this year, assuming the best. But Microsoft has been working on different versions of Windows on ARM for, get this—9 years, and hasn’t gotten it right yet.
Of course these just released machines might be a little lightweight for how I do work from my Mac. I currently have a 8 core 2013 MacPro with 64 GB. I don't know if 16 GB will cut it. Because VMWare will have to use the Big Sur Hypervisor, it may not allocate memory the same way. In that case, having only 16 GB might not be as bad. But if I want 2 macOS instances running simultaneously or 1 macOS VM, with 1 Linux or 1 Windows VM, then I can easily dedicate 16 to 20 GB or so just to the VMs in the current version of VMWare.
I don’t remember Apple saying they wouldn’t allow it, just that nothing was planned to make it easy.
Edit: as others have pointed out below, this is not correct. It's translation, not emulation.
I wouldn't say it offers nothing. If a VM could run Windows on ARM then Microsoft Windows could emulate 32-bit x86 windows software on a Mac. And Microsoft has said that AMD64 emulation is coming soon. That gives a complete method for running all Windows software on a Mac. It might be relatively slow but with the performance promised for the M1 Macs, it might still be pretty good (for everything except games).
Edit: Clarification.
I'm a lot more positive about it than I was, after reading the Parallels and VMWare releases on Apple Silicon, but we shall still have to wait and see what they actually deliver.
2. At no point did Apple say they would disallow any kind of emulation.
3. It won’t be too long before someone develops an actual x86 hardware emulator. (See qemu.org) It is obviously something that will eventually be needed by many users.