VMware Fusion Pro 13 Now Freely Available for Personal Use

[Pezimak]

Wonder how well Windows or Steam gaming will work on Apple Silicon with this?

 

[00001000bit]

I wonder if their plan is to run Parallels out of business and then jack up the prices...

I doubt crippling Parallels is the primary plan. Otherwise, no need to make virtualization on Windows/Linux available at all. I have to imagine the number of Mac users running VMs is miniscule compared to the number of businesses that do virtualization.

This seems more like the business model of getting people to use it for their personal use, so that they feel comfortable with it and want to use it at work (where they have to pay.)

 

[vgmrm]

VMware free: good
VMware subscription: a disaster
VMware usability: unavailable

 

[phillypharm]

The free Fusion Player had almost all the features of Fusion Pro.

These are the advanced features that are now available for free.

View attachment 2378337

Thanks I was trying to the difference since I’ve been running Player (done it’s been free). I just want to be able to access files directly between Mac/Windows now without having to create a “network share”.

 

[diego.caraballo]

Ohhhh!! THis could be great news for me. I have an older version of Prarallels I bought but have not upgraded , and that Mac is on an older version of MacOS because of that. If This is a better alternative and works as well as Parallels I am in!

Unfortunately it doesn't work as well as Parallels. Using a graphics demanding app is almost impossible.
Also, they don't support folders sharing between Mac Mx and Windows ARM.

 

[TechnoMonk]

I stopped using Parallels after they were pushing subscription model. I have a Linux workstation, which can boot windows as needed. I am gonna try windows ARM/VM fusion on my M1 Max.

 

[Fidgetyrat]

Wonder how well Windows or Steam gaming will work on Apple Silicon with this?

Not easily, I can tell you that. Unless you can find ARM versions of operating systems or manage to get windows 11 ARM to work, (which I never managed in the past).

It's likely free because with the move the ARM, few people actually have any use for it anymore and sales tanked.

 

[phillypharm]

I stopped using Parallels after they were pushing subscription model. I have a Linux workstation, which can boot windows as needed. I am gonna try windows ARM/VM fusion on my M1 Max.

I’ve been using the fusion player free for a few months on my base M1 Pro 16gb and it’s worked fine for Power BI stuff. I do wish had more ram, but it’s fine for now.

 

[Digital Dude]

I’ve tried both options of synthetic windows, and they both sucked. I recently played around with Windows 11 on a real PC, and it was surprisingly stable. 🤷‍♂️

 

[falkon-engine]

I use Parallels and it works great. I virtualize windows and Ubuntu and they work excellently!

But when my Parallels subscription expires, if the free VMWare Fusion is good, I may not renew my parallels subscription...........

 

[jgleigh]

Parrellels is garbage.. IMO. I used to buy it yearly but got expensive for what I needed it for.

Parallels was great until they started charging per install even for personal use. Totally broke a previously excellent license model.

 

[Mlrollin91]

Awesome! Have they made spinning up a Windows 11 ARM easy yet? I tried it a year or so ago and it was a nightmare to get working, where Parallels I was up and running in like 20 minutes.

Downloaded VM and had Windows 11 installed and running on my M1 Pro within 20 minutes. Very easy.

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

I'm so lost as to what differences those products have

Player, workspace, pro, pro workspace? I can't find a comprehensive table explaining it all

 

[chrfr]

they don't support folders sharing between Mac Mx and Windows ARM.

Edit: drag and drop works but shared folders don't.

 

[chrfr]

Wonder how well Windows or Steam gaming will work on Apple Silicon with this?

Poorly, if at all.

 

[neilw]

Unfortunately it doesn't work as well as Parallels. Using a graphics demanding app is almost impossible.
Also, they don't support folders sharing between Mac Mx and Windows ARM.

Lack of folder sharing is really annoying, but I can't complain too much for free. Parallels is a non-option for me given subscription model; I only want to run a couple of freeware programs on Windows.

Gotta go set up an NFS drive or whatever the method is for sharing between the VM and the host.

 

[terraphantm]

Anybody else stuck at "Account verification pending" ?

 

[aorr]

I managed to get Windows up and running relatively easily, but then I just imported my Parallels VM.

That's good to know you can import a Parallels VM. I just forked up for a second Parallels license for my laptop and am not going to be thrilled in July when I have to renew the cost of two Macs. I'll have to investigate VMWare's free option before that happens.

 

[Geoffb9]

I have used both, VMware Fusion and Parallels. They’re almost the same.
I think Parallel’s latest pricing is NOT worth it. I am not renewing my subscription and totally switching to leverage this new free Fusion Pro.

 

[chrfr]

Anybody else stuck at "Account verification pending" ?

Yes, this seems to be a pretty common problem. The Broadcom-VMware transition is pretty terrible.

 

[MRJEFF]

I currently have parallels running on an M2 machine only to run windows 11 to be able to play vintage arcade games. Launchbox works flawlessly with parallels including an Xbox controller. I installed the free parallels and it worked with everything besides the x box controller. Hopefully this newer release of parallels will work with the x box controller. If anyone is able to test this that would be great as my machine with these installed is at another location.

 

[gank41]

Parallels was great until they started charging per install even for personal use. Totally broke a previously excellent license model.

I'm not sure what you mean. I've got the subscription and have paid only once, but have Parallels installed on Two Machines, one with Two VM's and another with (I think) Eight.

 

[Return Zero]

I'm getting to the download page but then it says "something went wrong" a while after clicking the download link... this is the sketchiest process I've ever seen for something legal, haha

 

[gank41]

It's also my understanding that, due to all of this media writeup about the free app, there's more traffic than usual to their site, so if the process fails, just try again or wait until later.

 

[andrewxgx]

parallels rekt

please make sure you stick to the licensing and dont use it within corporate environemnt

we had Oracle contact us once because one employee installed an virtualbox addon that was also free for personal use, but not for commercial use. it pinged oracle back. they wanted money, lol.

guarantee they will follow same tactics after a while.