Can I run Windows 8 on my Mac with VMWare Fusion?

It's not only possible, it actually works surprisingly well and I have to say, wow, Windows 8 looks completely different to previous versions of Windows that I'm used to, and I've been running Windows since it was Windows 3.1, and on and on...

Now is Windows 8 ready for prime time, ready for people to install on their main production computers? Definitely not. In fact, that's why it's labeled a "developer's preview", along with the fact that we have no idea how stable and reliable the code base is at this point. For all you know, it could crash and corrupt the disk at the most random and unfortunate moment. If you're not ready for the adventure, definitely stick with a production operating system like the quite stable Windows 7 from Microsoft.

I'll also warn you that you really need to have VMWare Fusion 4.0 or later, an upgrade just released and tuned for Mac OS X 10.7 Lion. I'm running Lion on my MacBook Pro, and as you'll see, it worked just fine...

To get started, install the latest version of VMWare Fusion. Software well worth having on your Mac anyway, in my opinion. Then download the install image for Windows 8 developer preview. Got them both?

Let's Go!

I first tried to install Win8 with the 64-bit version of the OS but failed, so here you'll want to pick 32-bit (x86) for your own installation. Perhaps down the road the 64-bit version will work, but for now, stick with 32 and you'll be able to proceed.

Once the Win8 ".iso" disk image has downloaded, launch your new version of VMWare Fusion. If you already have a virtual machine running an OS of some sort already installed, you'll see it appear in the Virtual Machine Library, like I do:

If not, well, it'll look mostly the same, just the middle part will be blank.

To proceed, click on "Create New" on the lower left corner, and...

Since there's no actual install DVD for Win8, click on "Continue without disc"...

What you downloaded from Microsoft was a disc image, so select that and it'll pop up a file selection window. Pick the image (it'll be named "WindowsDeveloperPreview-32bit-English.iso" or similar) and you'll be right back where you were, but now it shows the image name:

Looks good so far. Click on "Continue" and you'll get to pick what set of default configuration settings you need:

As you can see, I picked "Windows 7", plain and straightforward. Another click on "Continue" and here's the summary of my settings:

Looks okay, but the problem is that there's not enough RAM. To fix it, I'll click on "Customize Settings", which -- rather surprisingly -- produces a little window asking you to name the virtual machine:

It makes sense if you think about it, it's just a bit surprising (to me, at least) where it shows up. Anyway, give it a good, mnemonic name. Or call it "Borg" or whatever. Click "Save" and you'll be able to tweak the RAM allocated to the virtual machine:

See that icon on the top right, "Processors and Memory"? Click on it. Now you can move the slider to allocate as much memory as you'd like, up to the full RAM of your device:

I'm going to pick 2GB -- 2048MB -- but if you have a lot of memory, you can't do wrong by giving it even more RAM to work with.

Set it as you desire, click "Save" on the top left, then click the play button on the top left of the virtual machine window:

Ready? Awaayyyyyy we go:

Very cool, eh? To proceed, just click on "Next".

Take your time, read every line of the license terms in detail. Check with your attorney. Call your Dad. Or, um, do what the rest of us do and accept the terms without even reading the license :-)

Either way, once you proceed, you'll be able to decide whether you want to upgrade or do a clean install:

We're starting from scratch, so you definitely want "Custom (advanced)" so you can install a new copy of Win 8. Nice.

Next up, time to ensure that it's going to install on the correct drive (which is pretty straightforward when there's only one choice and it's virtual):

Still, make sure it's correct, then click on "Next" on the lower right (not shown) to proceed.

Now Windows 8 developer preview will start its real install and it'll take a while:

Some time passes. Alright, a fair amount of time passes, but eventually you see this cool display:

Heck, even the typeface looks good!

A bit later you'll get to a few screens where you'll have to enter some info, starting with the most basic of personalization:

You can name the virtual PC anything you want, of course. I called mine "win8dp" in a burst of extraordinary creativity.

There's a bit more to set up before you're ready to run Win8:

Then you can connect with your Windows Live account...

I couldn't get this step to work -- it didn't like my WinLive account -- so I ended up clicking on the "skip this step" link that's hidden near the bottom of the page. I can always reinstall or fix it later, right?

Finally, I'm really, really close:

Another minute or two and we've got Windows 8 developer preview running live and with good performance in VMWare Fusion:

As my son would say, this is sick!

And ya gotta admit, this is quite a bit different than any previous version of Microsoft Windows, isn't it? Oh, see the bottom? It's a scrollbar. Move it to the side and there's more!

So that's it. You're running Windows 8 within the virtual world of Fusion. Not too bad at all, and quite interesting to see what direction Microsoft's going with its system.

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