If you recently moved from Mac to Windows, you might be looking for VMWare, which supports a workstation player for Mac OSX. You might be puzzled to discover that finding one is not so easy! Why isn’t there a and you find that you much instead prefer the macOS over Windows.
VMWare does not have a Mac OSX workstation because Apple’s EULA states installing a macOS on a non-Apple hardware product is illegal. Apple’s hardware comes with a free copy of macOS by using VMWare to replicate their OS, and without the sale of hardware, Apple loses money.
While VMWare does not offer a Mac OSX workstation for legal reasons, you can consider other legal alternatives, depending on why you need a virtual machine. We’ll cover the legalities of Apple’s EULA, VMWare Fusion as a standard option, plus other valuable alternatives like VirtualBox.
Does VMWare Not Support A Mac OSX Player?
Apple sells a hardware product that comes with a free copy of the Mac OSX. If you were to run a Mac OS on Windows using VMWare, Apple would lose money because there was no sale of Apple hardware.
For this reason, Apple’s End User License Agreement (EULA) legally binds all users to install VMWare on Apple devices only.
Comparatively, Microsoft sells a software product, and running Windows with VM software still requires you to purchase Windows OS. Microsoft makes a sale and earns money from the transaction.
For these reasons, VMWare does not offer a workstation player for Mac OSX.
Can You Use VMWare Fusion To Create A Mac OSX Workstation?
VMWare Fusion enables Macs with Apple M series or Intel chips to run Linux, Windows, or macOS, provided the host OS is a Mac OS.
In keeping with Apple’s EULA, VMWare Fusion will detect whether you’re attempting to install Mac OSX on any device other than a Mac and abort the installation.
It allows Macs with Intel or the Apple M series of chips to run virtual machines with guest operating systems within the host macOS operating system, such as Microsoft Windows, Linux, or macOS. You may even run 3D hardware-accelerated graphics.
VMWare offers Mac users a way to run one or multiple VMs on their macOS, with a free version for anyone who wishes to use it for personal use, like home users, students, and open-source contributors. If you wish to use it for commercial activities, you must purchase its license.
Is There An Alternative To Purchasing VMWare Fusion?
If you do not wish to purchase VMWare Fusion, consider VirtualBox.
It’s a potent, open-source x86 and AMD64/Intel64 software with a plethora of features and supported operating systems. These include:
- Linux (2.4, 2.6, 3.x, 4.x)
- macOS
- Windows (NT 4.0, 2000, XP, Server 2003, Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10)
- DOS/Windows 3.x
- OpenBSD
- Solaris, OpenSolaris, OS/2
You may also like: Is There A Difference Between AMD64 and x64?
Resources
Legalities of Mac OS and VMWare: discussions.apple.com
There is no free workstation player for Mac OSX: apple.stackexchange.com
