Installing Windows 11 on M1 Mac with UTM
Now most of you all know that I don’t ever write blog posts on my content. But here is a first of hopefully many. The following method of installing Windows 11 isn’t perfect for sure. But when it does work, it works MUCH better than the previous method which was via VMware Fusion Technical Preview.
So here are some things you need first:
M1 Based Mac (I’m using a Mac mini)
Homebrew — https://brew.sh
UTM — https://mac.getutm.app
Spice Tools — https://mac.getutm.app/support/
Windows 11 ARM file — https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windowsinsiderpreviewARM64
1. Installing Homebrew
Copy:
/bin/bash -c “$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
Paste it into Terminal on your Mac then hit Return
It will get to a point that looks like this:
Copy the lines:
echo ‘eval “$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)”’ >> /Users/kwekuasafu-adjaye/.zprofile
eval “$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)”
Press Return
2. Installing QEMU
Copy:
brew install qemu
Press Return
3. Converting .VHDX to .QCOW2
Next in Terminal type in:
qemu-img convert -p -O qcow2
Then go to your Finder and click the Insider Preview .VHDX file and drag it into Terminal on that same line. Then make a single space and drag the file again but this time change the VHDX to QCOW2.
Hit Return and let it do its work.
4. Set up the VM
Locate and double click on your UTM.dmg
Now with UTM open, click the + button to create a new VM
Name it whatever you want, scroll down and under icons, you’ll see that you can hit the drop down to change the type of icon. I chose operating system for obvious reasons.
Under System
Set architecture to ARM64 (aarch64)
Set system to QEMU 5.2 ARM Virtual Machine (virt-5.2)
Set memory to 4gb (4096mb) or more
Under CPU, set it Default
Under Drives
Click Import Drives
Then look for your .QCOW2 file
Set the interface to NVMe
Click New Drive
Check off Removable
Finally you can hit save at the bottom right corner.
Mounting SpiceGuestTools
Click on your new VM. Scroll down and you should see CD/DVD (the removable drive you created).
Click it, hit browse and locate your Spice Guest Tools.
Now that all of this is done, start your VM and pray that it works (it should). This method skips the installation part and goes straight to the OOBE (out of box experience). Follow the instructions on screen and then you should finally be at the desktop.
Desktop Tweaks
First thing you want to do is go to your file explorer, you should see the Spice Guest Tools mounted there.
Click it to open and inside you want to double click to install the spice-guest-tools file.
After installation, go to your settings (simply tap the Command key and search for Settings).
Go to Display, it currently shows Show only on 2, change it to Show only on 1. Now you can change your resolution as you please.
Internet should also work now (although if it does not, do a simple restart).
Final thoughts
This way still also does not have the Microsoft Store. However it is far easier to set up. This can also be updated via Windows Update.
I am planning on finding another method of installing Windows 11 next. Possibly for December. So stay tuned and thanks for reading and watching my video.
