You invested in one of Apple‘s incredible new Macs powered by the revolutionary M1 chip. Blazing fast, power efficient, a macOS workflow turbocharger. But like many, you still need Windows sometimes – critical apps or games haven‘t moved over. Fear not! While Apple hasn‘t restored Boot Camp support, you can absolutely virtualize Windows 10 or 11 on these new ARM-based Macs.
And I‘m going to walk you through exactly how to set it up.
See, I‘ve been an avid Mac user for over a decade across my work in IT and tech writing. I‘ve helped hundreds of professionals and companies handle the transition to Apple Silicon. Virtualization provides a fantastic path to run x86 Windows on these devices. Performance is impressive too thanks to the incredible efficiency of the M1 chip.
In this guide, we‘ll tackle:
- The history of Apple‘s Intel shift and Boot Camp
- Why Windows support had to change on M1 Macs
- Virtualization options for running Windows 10/11
- Downloading and configuring the UTM virtualizer
- Installing and setting up Windows within a virtual machine
- Getting the best Windows experience on Apple Silicon
So let‘s get started!
The Rise and Fall of Boot Camp for Running Windows
Remember the big shift to Intel? After years on PowerPC, Apple transitioned their Mac line-up to x86 processors in 2006. This brought greater compatibility with Windows. Enter Boot Camp: a utility allowing native dual booting into both macOS and Windows on Mac hardware.
Boot Camp handled the bare metal installation of Windows drivers and partitioning to essentially transform your Mac into a Windows PC. For 15 years, Boot Camp provided the unambiguous path for Mac users to run critical Windows software when needed.
That all changed when Apple unveiled their new in-house M1 system-on-a-chip (SoC) using ARM architecture. Leveraging their extensive mobile processor design experience, the M1‘s performance per watt exceeded all competitors. But with a completely different CPU architecture than past Macs, Windows compatibility suffered.
You see, Microsoft only offers ARM editions of Windows 10 and 11 for certain mobile devices with compatible low-powered processors. Their current licensing does not cover provisioning these OS versions for customers wanting to install Windows on an M1 Mac natively.
And attempting to force x86 Windows builds hits immediate incompatibilities at the hardware driver level during installation. The fact is Windows on ARM for M1 Macs simply remains unsupported by Microsoft.
With Boot Camp designed explicitly for Intel architecture, Apple has not re-enabled the utility in macOS for M1 models. Still, where there‘s a will to run Windows, there‘s a way…
Virtualization to the Rescue!
While the native dual boot option fell away, Mac users still needed access to critical Windows apps and games that had yet to modernize for the Apple Silicon transition. Enter creative workarounds through hypervisor virtualization technology!
Hypervisors allow you to create virtual machines that emulate a complete computer system. This includes not only the operating system but also a virtual CPU with cores, memory, storage, network card – everything the guest OS requires to function.
The magic is that this virtual hardware maps back to real resources on your physical machine. And thanks to the immense power efficiency of the M1 chip, performance overhead is minimal.
But the key for our Windows on M1 scenario is that hypervisors can seamlessly translate between the host ARM environment and an x86 Windows guest via what‘s called binary translation. This allows the guest OS and software within the VM to communicate properly with the actual Apple Silicon host hardware like the M1.
In other words, you can successfully install and run typical x86 versions of Windows inside a VM on these ARM-based Macs! Let‘s examine this in action…
Downloading UTM for Virtualization on M1
There are a couple leading hypervisors for Mac that can run Windows 10 or 11 virtual machines on M1 hardware:
- Parallels Desktop – Well-known longtime Mac virtualizer, requires paid license
- UTM – Open source hypervisor built for Apple Silicon, completely free
For this walkthrough, we‘ll be using UTM given its Apple M1 focus, widespread adoption, excellent performance and lack of pricing barriers.
Let‘s get it downloaded:
- Use your Mac to browse to https://mac.getutm.app
- Download the latest UTM for macOS installer (M1 and Intel universal build)
- Double click the UTM .dmg file once downloaded
- Drag the UTM icon into your Applications folder
- Find UTM in your Apps and launch!
Acquiring a Windows 10 or 11 Image
With UTM launched, we of course need an OS to install! You‘ll want to source a Windows 10 or Windows 11 disk image file (ISO).
I‘d recommend Windows 10 rather than the newer Windows 11 preview for best VM compatibility currently. Whichever you pick, be sure to download the x86 full 64-bit architecture version instead of any 32-bit or ARM build.
You have a few options to obtain modern Windows ISOs:
- Download an Windows 10 Enterprise eval copy direct from Microsoft‘s site
- Leverage UUP Dump to grab ISO files for the latest public Windows releases
- Use any modern Windows 10 Pro/Home/Enterprise x64 ISO
Disclaimer: Please confirm usage rights for any Windows software with the vendor‘s licensing terms.
I prefer working with an untouched ISO straight from Microsoft‘s servers when possible via the UUP Dump method. Once you have the .iso file, we can set UTM up…
Creating Your M1-Powered Windows 10 Virtual Machine
With UTM open and your Windows ISO downloaded, it‘s go time!
- Click the + button in UTM to summon the Create VM wizard
- Select "Virtualize" on the Method screen
- Choose "Windows" for OS
- Check boxes to install VirtIO drivers and SPICE tools
- Click Browse to select your Windows 10 ISO file
- Customize CPU cores and memory higher if desired
- Set virtual disk capacity to at least 64 GB
- Click Save to finalize the VM!
After provisioning a moment, the new VM configuration appears in your UTM library. Right click and select Run to power it on just like a real PC!
Because you specified a Windows installation image up front, the VM should immediately boot into the Windows setup process you‘re familiar with from any past Windows devices.
Installing Windows 10 Within the M1 Virtual Machine
As Windows begins setup within the virtual environment:
- Pick your language, region and keyboard options
- Accept Microsoft‘s licensing terms
- Choose Express recommended settings or tweak to your liking
- Supply your desired username, password and security answers
The system will then proceed with installation, forcing restarts as needed. Be patient as Windows finalizes device driver setup for the virtual hardware environment.
Once you arrive at the desktop, I highly suggest immediately running Windows Update to get the latest security and compatibility fixes from Microsoft. Enable auto updates as well.
With that VM hardened, go ahead and install any applications you need within Windows – Office, Creative Cloud tools, games, etc. Restart when prompted. And enjoy your Windows 10 virtual machine running on Apple Silicon!
Optimization and Troubleshooting Tips
I‘ve compiled some top tips for getting the best experience using Windows VMs on M1 powered Macs:
- Tick up CPU cores & RAM available to VM if performance lags
- Increase the virtual disk size from UTM if you need more Windows storage
- Disable fancy Aero graphics in Windows guest OS to maximize speed
- Toggle Host key combo (Ctrl + Option by default) if losing mouse/keyboard control
- Frequently check Windows Update and reboot VM to keep current
- Review UTM logs if any instability crops up to identify the culprit
For most uses, the simplicity and speed offered by solutions like UTM or Parallels paired with the incredible power efficiency of M1 Macs should keep your Windows VM humming along nicely!
Let me know if any other questions come up. And enjoy unlocking the flexibility to enjoy both macOS and Windows apps on your Apple Silicon Mac!
