This document summarizes notes taken to make VMWare Fusion 13 Player work on Apple M1 Pro. It builds upon a previous (deprecated) document based on VMWare Tech Preview 21H1
VMWare Fusion 13 was released on November 17, 2022 and Fusion 13.5 on October 19, 2023
Created on: November 20, 2022
Updated on: June 1, 2024
This process has been used from macOS 12.6.1 to macOS 14.5
First install Rosetta if not already done, this is needed to run x86 code:
/usr/sbin/softwareupdate --install-rosetta --agree-to-license
Install Vagrant via brew or install it manually.
brew install [email protected]
Not going to describe how to get VMWare Fusion 13 Player at this time.
It is possible to get VMWare Fusion 13 Player free for a personal license but the download and registration process is downright hostile for the end user. You should be expected to have to login in Incognito Window and try different browsers if necessary. You may also want to disable your ad-blocker if you have any as it may interfer with some pages.
If you use it as part of your work, you can go through the normal purchase process in the VMWare Store.
It requires two steps. This is detailed in the documentation but follow the steps below:
It is now available via brew, so you can do
brew install --cask vagrant-vmware-utility
Otherwise, go to Vagrant vmware Utility and download the binary and install it. The direct link is vagrant-vmware-utility_1.0.21_x86_64.dmg.
It needs to be version 1.0.21
Next install the provider:
vagrant plugin install vagrant-vmware-desktop
You can use the following example as a box based on Ubuntu 20.04.5:
Vagrant.configure("2") do |config|
config.vm.box = "starboard/ubuntu-arm64-20.04.5"
config.vm.box_version = "20221120.20.40.0"
config.vm.box_download_insecure = true
config.vm.provider "vmware_desktop" do |v|
v.ssh_info_public = true
v.gui = true
v.linked_clone = false
v.vmx["ethernet0.virtualdev"] = "vmxnet3"
end
end
The line v.vmx["ethernet0.virtualdev"] = "vmxnet3" is extremely important otherwise your box will most
likely fail to boot as it will try to use the legacy e1000 VMWare NIC which is not working anymore.
vagrant up
and then
vagrant ssh
Hopefully this should work and you should find yourself with everything working.
- Unofficial Fusion for Apple Silicon Companion Guide - This document is a compilation of tips, tricks and gotchas related to the use of VMWare Fusion on Apple Silicon. It is a gold mine and where you will find the most up to date information in relation to the OS you want to run and more.
Please do check the document above before chosing a random vagrant box to run. The distribution and kernel version used on a box is extremely important and is the difference between working or not.
This worked for me! 🎉