Developer Successfully Virtualizes Windows for Arm on M1 Mac

Developer Alexandre graf successfully virtualized the Arm version of Windows on a Mac M1, proving that the M1 chip is capable of running Microsoft’s operating system (via 8 bits).

Currently, Macs with the M1 chip do not support Windows and there is no Boot Camp functionality like on Intel Macs, but Windows support is a feature that many users would like to see.

By using the open source QEMU virtualizer, Graf was able to virtualize the Arm version of Windows on Apple’s M1 chip, without emulation. Since the M1 chip is a custom SoC Arm, it is no longer possible to install the x86 version of Windows or x86 Windows applications using Boot Camp, as was the case with older Intel Macs. However, he said in a Tweet that when virtualized on a Mac M1, “Windows ARM64 can run x86 applications just fine. It’s not as fast as Rosetta 2, but close.”

Graf was able to run the Windows ARM64 Insider Preview by virtualizing it through Hypervisor.framework. Apple claims that this allows users to interact with virtualization technologies without having to write kernel extensions (KEXT).

Graf applied a custom patch to the QEMU virtualizer, which is said to be known to “achieve near-native performance” by running guest code directly on the host processor. This means that the Arm version of Windows can be virtualized on M1 Macs with excellent performance.

Although Graf’s experiment is still at an early stage, he believes others could replicate his results. “This is the start for that. It’s certainly possible to replicate my results – all fixes are on the mailing list – but don’t expect a stable and fully functional system just yet,” he said. Importantly, Graf has shown that Windows is capable of running on M1 Macs.

Apple’s chief software engineer, Craig Federighi, recently said that Windows’ arrival on the M1 Macs is up to Microsoft. The M1 chip contains the basic technologies needed to run Windows, but Microsoft must decide whether or not to release its Arm version of Windows to Mac users.

See Graf’s complete process for virtualizing the Arm version of Windows for more information.