Windows ARM via Fusion?

[BrianJ844]

Hi all, we have an Intel MBP 2017 that we use for the house as well as a few projects my wife works on. One of her clients uses Microsoft Publisher for some of their work. So I setup a windows VM using VMWare Fusion on the Intel MBP that has a MS Office subscription.

I am now itching to upgrade to an M3 or M4 but want to make sure I don't overlook access to MS Publisher. I am reading that VMWare does have a Fusion release for the M series and there is an ARM version of Windows that can run on it. I assume that the ARM version of Windows can run MS Office without issues? Anyone have any experience on how stable Windows ARM is?

Thanks,
Brian

 

[Acidsplat]

Microsoft Office has an ARM-native version for Windows on ARM.
For apps that aren't ARM-native, Microsoft has a built-in app translator for Intel/x86 apps.

I'm using Parallels but based off of forum posts here, VMware Fusion works well for office applications.

 

[salamanderjuice]

Hi all, we have an Intel MBP 2017 that we use for the house as well as a few projects my wife works on. One of her clients uses Microsoft Publisher for some of their work. So I setup a windows VM using VMWare Fusion on the Intel MBP that has a MS Office subscription.

I am now itching to upgrade to an M3 or M4 but want to make sure I don't overlook access to MS Publisher. I am reading that VMWare does have a Fusion release for the M series and there is an ARM version of Windows that can run on it. I assume that the ARM version of Windows can run MS Office without issues? Anyone have any experience on how stable Windows ARM is?

Thanks,
Brian

Office 2021 and up are ARM native. Older versions should work through the backwards compatibility layer just fine though.

Windows on ARM is perfectly stable in my experience.

 

[chrfr]

Fusion runs Windows on ARM quite well, and it's entirely free. You can run Windows without registering it so you can do a full test without any cost if you have an Apple Silicon Mac.

 

[BigBlur]

Just an FYI, Publisher is being discontinued and will reach end of life in October 2026. Publisher will be removed from M365 subscriptions, and subscribers will no longer be able to open or edit Publisher files in Publisher.

You may want to start looking for alternatives instead, or find/purchase a standalone version of Publisher 2021 (or Office 2021).

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/microsoft-publisher-will-no-longer-be-supported-after-october-2026-ee6302a2-4bc7-4841-babf-8e9be3acbfd7

 

[BrianJ844]

Very interesting on Publisher... I had no idea. I let my wife know so that the group she is working with can keep an eye on it and start looking to transition to another software as the time nears. Glad to hear that Windows ARM is a solution for this. Thank you all for the help!