Error message - This virtual machine cannot be powered on because it requires the X86 machine architecture, which is incompatible with this Arm machine architecture host

[Nancy Kosik]

I have used a MacBook air and have migrated all apps and files to my new MacBook pro. 
Cannot open the VMware fusion app - message includes:

This virtual machine cannot be powered on because it requires the X86 machine architecture, which is incompatible with this Arm machine architecture host

Can you please assist, Thank you

[Technogeezer]

This error message typically appears when you move a virtual machine that you created on an Intel Mac to an Apple Silicon Mac.

What it means is that Fusion can't run the VM. The VM you moved from an Intel Mac is built to run on an Intel processor. Fusion doesn't emulate an Intel processor when run on an Apple Silicon Mac. It runs virtual machines that have been built with operating systems that run on ARM processors. 

You will need to rebuild that VM using an operating system that runs on an ARM processor. For Windows, that means running Windows 11 ARM (no other Windows version will work) or a Linux distribution for the arm64 (not x86_64) processor.  Also note that Fusion on Apple Silicon can't run any macOS version - for different reasons. 

Once you've rebuilt your VM with a ARM compatible operating system, you can migrate your files and applications to the new VM. 

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Paul Rockwell (technogeezer)
vExpert 2026 (3x)
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