How to Install & Run Windows 11 in VMware Fusion Pro on Mac
There are numerous options to run Windows 11 simultaneously with MacOS, and one great app option that is newly free is VMware Fusion Pro 13.
VMWare Fusion Pro makes it particularly simple to download, install, and setup Windows 11 in a virtual machine on the Mac, but if you’re new to virtualization and virtual machines, it may sound like a complicated process.
Not to fret, this walkthrough will detail the necessary steps to install Windows 11 into VMware Fusion Pro on a Mac, entirely for free.
How to Install & Run Windows 11 on Mac with VMware Fusion Pro
You can use Windows 11 for free, and download and use VMWare Fusion Pro for free as well, making this a great option for running Windows on a Mac.
- Before anything else, you need to download and install VMWare Fusion Pro by signing up for a free Broadcom account, and agree to use VMWare Fusion Pro for personal use
- Launch VMWare Fusion Pro if you have not done so already
- Choose “Get Windows from Microsoft” to start downloading Windows 11 within VMWare Fusion Pro
- Configure the VM and continue on to begin the installation of Windows 11
- Go through the typical Windows 11 installation process in the VMWare VM
- Let Windows 11 finish installation
- Go through the standard Windows 11 setup screens, sign in with a Microsoft account (you can get around that requirement if you don’t want to login), and proceed as usual
- You’ll soon be booted into a Windows 11 desktop, running alongside MacOS within the VMware Fusion Pro app
This is a full fledged and fully capable installation of Windows 11, and you can install apps into it, install Windows WSL, and use it for many purposes, whether professional or personal.
There are some scenarios where installation may get stuck or halted, whether when requiring the usage of and sign-in with a Microsoft account to login and start using the operating system, or the internet connection requirement, both of which can be bypassed.
Do you run Windows 11 on your Mac? Do you use VMware or another app, like UTM, for this purpose? What do you think of virtualizing Windows 11 on a Mac? Share with us your thoughts in the comments.
Someone asks why he does not have an option to download windows 11, and nobody helps him..
I think it only shows up for them as they have Apple Silicon Macs. This is so they can download the ARM version of Windows 11 from inside VMWare Fusion.
I also have an Intel Mac, and no option to download Windows 11 is there.
Help people, don’t be morons..
Is there a way to virtualize Sonoma using Fusion?
I successfully built a Windows 11 VM and tried multiple ways to build a MacOS VM, but I never succeeded.
Is this forbidden by Apple?
Using UTM I built a Sonoma VM, so it seems it’s not forbidden by Apple. I altro tried to convert an UTM VM into a Fusion VM, but, again, it did not work
So, it seems Fusion only allows to build Windows and Linux VMs, not Apple VMs
What’s your exeprience with this?
Thanks
Yes you can, it’s a little more complicated though.
UTM, another free virtualization app, makes it super easy to virtualize macOS Sonoma. You might find this walkthrough helpful
https://osxdaily.com/2024/01/09/how-install-macos-sonoma-virtual-machine-utm/
Thanks for the feedback. I already built a VM in UTM, my goal was to build a Sonoma VM with Fusion which should be superior to UTM.
It’s weird that VMware made out file more complicated to build a MacOS VM inside a Mac application (Fusion).
So… do you have a good tutorial to build a MacOS VM using Fusion?
I tried to build an iso or build a VM out of the install pkg but none of those methods worked.
Thanks
Luciano
There is no option in VMWare Fusion pro for downloading windows 11; i.e., there is now option that says “Get Windows From Microsoft.”
Yes, selecting “Get Windows from Microsoft” is what downloads the Windows 11 ISO
there is no get windows from Microsoft:
Have 6 options –
drag your own iso from disk
install MacOS
Import from existing machine
install from bootcamp
create custom vm
create a vm on remote server
there is no option to pull it from Microsoft.
suggestions?
How do I enable shared folders with this? Everything I’m finding online tells me to enable this in the settings under the sharing option. But there is no sharing option.
Managed to download VMWare. The option to download Windows 11 never appeared; so stuck. Help! Thank you.
When you launch VMWare, you select the option in the middle of the screen that says “Get Windows from Microsoft” and it starts the process to download it, where you can choose Home or Professional
I can’t see the first window
And I can’t see (Windows 11) window
After STEP 5
thx!
How is it that installing Windows with VM is free? Don’t we have to pay for Windows?
VMWare Fusion is free, and Windows is free to download and install as well, just skip the activation part unless you want to pay