Fusion 13 for Mac insists that a VM is x86 when it's ARM

[fveaux]

I'm trying to move off Parallels to VMWare Fusion, since Parallels is trying very hard to push users to its subscription model (the version you can buy outright, for instance, is limited to no more than 8GB of guest RAM+guest VRAM total).

VMWare claims to be able to import a Parallels VM. I cannot make it work.

For starters, the Web help pages are wrong. They say to import a Parallels VM using the File->Import command. There is no File->Import command; you actually use File->New, then import the Parallels VM from there.

I will admit that gave me pause. Writing a hypervisor requires incredible attention to detail. When you're producing documentation that refers to commands that don't exist, that doesn't speak well for your ability to write complex software that needs finicky attention to detail.

But okay, maybe the docs are written by an unpaid intern but the dev team is actually better, right?

Well, once I imported the VM, it would not boot. "This virtual machine cannot be powered on because it requires the X86 machine architecture,"

Wrongo, wrongo, drum and bongo.

This Parallels VM is absolutely positively 100% Windows 11 for ARM. It absolutely positively is not x86. I can boot into Parallels and check and yes, it is definitely for ARM.

For some reason, VMware wrongly thinks the imported VM is Windows for x86. I have never even owned a license for Windows 11 for x86, and it's running on an ARM (M1) computer in an ARM version of Parallels and definitely says it is Windows for ARM.

Is this a known problem when migrating from Parallels VM? Is there a fix? Do I need to completely re-install Windows 11 and all my apps?

I really want to get away from Parallels but man, VMware is NOT making a good first impression here.

[Technogeezer]

Import of Parallels virtual machines is not supported by Fusion on Apple Silicon. That’s poorly documented in the official VMware docs, but is called out in the unofficial guide I link to below. Because of this the attempt to import is probably generating an incompatible virtual machine configuration. It thinks you’re coming from an Intel Windows VM, so it’s creating a Windows x64 Fusion VM. That could explain the error message  

You might be able to create a Windows 11 ARM custom virtual machine and if your attempted conversion has given you a VMware Virtual disk, then you might be able to add a copy of that into your new custom virtual machine.

You should also take a look at the Unofficial Fusion 13 Companion Guide https://communities.vmware.com/t5/VMware-Fusion-Documents/The-Unofficial-Fusion-13-for-Apple-Silicon-Companion-Guide/ta-p/2939907/page/2 . It has an alternative procedure for converting Parallels virtual disks to Fusion that might be helpful.

However, you may end up with issues with dissimilar hardware, especially if Parallels doesn’t use an NVMe virtual disk. You might want to have a copy of a Windows 11 Arm ISO installer handy in case you need to boot it and perform any repair to get Windows to boot. You will also need to uninstall Parallels Tools from the converted VM if you can get it booted. 

Also if you’re coming from Parallels, you might want to look at the Fusion 2023 Tech Preview. The Tech Preview still doesn’t support Parallels import, but it does have a much more functional set of VMware Tools that supports copy/paste/drag/drop and 3d acceleration. 

[fveaux]

Ah, interesting.

I ended up building a new custom VM and importing the virtual disk that VMware imported from Parallels, and that worked. The next stumbling block came when I used the "Install VMware Tools" menu item to install the drivers. The dialog that popped up told me to run setup.exe from the virtual CD it connected, but of course there is no "setup.exe" on the virtual CD it connects.

Instead, a readme file had me change the PowerShell configuration to allow me to run the setup.ps PowerShell script.

I'm really trying very hard to be patient with all this, because I really want to migrate away from Parallels, but...

Not to put too fine a point on it, this is a LUDICROUSLY bad user experience. I mean cartoonishly bad. This is something out of a Dilbert strip or a parody on XKCD. It quite honestly astonishes me. It makes it seem that VMware is run by two teenagers from a garage in Kansas City. I don't...I just don't see myself taking this product or this company seriously.

If the front-facing user experience is this comedically awful, what kind of shambles must the codebase be? What am I missing here?

[Technogeezer]

There’s a litany of reasons why the VMware Tools for Windows 11 ARM are as they are in Fusion 13. You can search the forum for discussions why, I won’t get into it here.

The 2023 Tech Preview has a “proper” installer app for its Tools. What you see in the Tech Preview will be in the next official fFusion version (along with shared folders) sometime this fall. And VMware has stated that the version will be an update to Fusion 13, so current owners shouldn’t have to shell out for another license. 

I’ve been running it for about a month now with a variety of Windows 11 and Linux VMs on Apple Silicon. It’s pretty stable and usable for a public beta release. 

[fveaux]

Ah, interesting.

I'm coming into VMware Fusion without any background in VMware at all (I've been a Parallels user for years), and there's no sign I saw that Fusion on Apple Silicon was a beta. It certainly doesn't seem to be billed that way on the main site! Had I known I was getting a beta, I would've calibrated my expectations appropriately.

 

Will the release version focus on performance? I built a Fusion VM from scratch, and the first thing I noticed is it's consistently about 20% slower than Parallels in everything except x86 emulation, where it's about 50% slower to launch an x86 app and about 30% slower to run.

[Technogeezer]

Fusion 13 is not a beta release on Apple Silicon. It is a fully supported release. However its support for Windows 11 ARM as a guest is rudimentary at best because it did not have any drivers or tools other than network and 2d video drivers.

The Fusion 2023 Tech Preview is indeed a beta that contains expanded Tools support. 

x86/x64 emulation is handled by Windows 11 ARM, not Parallels or Fusion. If there's any performance differences, it's due to differences in the the emulated virtual disk, graphics adapter, or networking as both Fusion and Parallels are using the Apple hypervisor.

I do hope that VMware is listening, though, if the performance of Fusion on Apple Silicon is not up to what the competition is providing (  do you have any comment on this?).

 

 

[ColoradoMarmot]

Did you build it in the tech preview, using the instructions in the unofficial guide?  If not, that's the best approach, and I'd suggest giving it a try.

Fusion has historically been slower than Parallels, but much more stable and less invasive in terms of telemetry and integration with the host OS (i.e. it's much easier to isolate the VM).  I would expect that trend to continue given their enterprise vs consumer focus.

[ColoradoMarmot]

If you were using a powershell configuration then you're not using the current Tech Preview.  Your experience is due to that, and trying to do something that's simply not supported (importing a parallels VM), which is documented in the release notes.

I'd recommend that you download the new/current TP, and build a new VM from scratch using the instructions in the Unofficial guide.   That's seamless and easy.  Yes, there's features not currently available (like shared folders), but the experience is pretty solid overall.