Creating new Fusion instance for Windows 10 or 11

[Eric Soli]

I have a MacBook Pro, and I currently run Windows 8.1 and VMware Fusion 13.6.3 in order to be able to run Quicken for Windows.  I'm aware the Microsoft ended support for Windows 8/8.1 in January of 2023.  So I'm looking for guidance to upgrade to either Windows 10 or Windows 11.  I'm not super technical, and appreciate any help.  Thank you, Eric

[Technogeezer]

Some of my thoughts:

You may want to consider not doing anything. The end of support by Microsoft simply means that there are no more updates. It won't stop working. If you decide to do nothing, don't use that VM on the Internet and only for Quicken (don't use any internet features of Quicken either).

if you're looking to upgrade Windows, the first thing is to determine if the version of Quicken you're using is compatible with Windows 11. If not, you'll have to upgrade it.

Your Windows upgrade path should be Windows 11. Don't think about Windows 10 as Microsoft is discontinuing support for that soon.

Windows 11 requires UEFI firmware and a GPT formatted disk. Most people set up older VMs with defaults -- which are BIOS firmware for the VM and Windows deciding to create a "traditional" Master Boot Record (MBR) formatted disk. Those need to be changed before upgrading a VM to Windows 11 As a less technical user, making those conversions before Windows 11 installation are not straightforward.

I'd be more inclined to forego upgrading the existing Windows 8.1 VM. Instead, create a new VM with Windows 11 (choosing a virtual machine type of Windows 11 so that the TPM and Secure Boot are enabled per Windows 11 requirements). Install Quicken in this new VM. Then move your Quicken data files to the new VM like you'd do it if you were getting a new PC.  Doing things this way means that your old VM is available as a fall-back in case something goes wrong. 

Many Windows VMs are configured for BIOS firmware and

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- Paul (technogeezer)
vExpert 2025
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