How to install Windows 8 on VMware Fusion

September 14, 2011
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Now that the Windows 8 Consumer Preview is available to the public, people want to test, use and play around with Microsofts new and shiny OS (Metro-Style). I have made a simple step-by-step guide on how to install it on a Mac running VMware Fusion. It’s quite easy, so let’s get on with it:

Prerequisite (with download links)
- Microsoft Windows 8 Developer Preview

- Microsoft Windows 8 Consumer Preview (NEW!)

 

 

 

 

- VMware Fusion 4

 

 

 

 

 

1. Install VMware Fusion (you must install/upgrade to version 4)

2. Start Fusion and choose Create New from the Virtual Machine Library

3. In the Create New Virtual Machine wizard, choose Continue without disc

4. Pick Use operating system installation disc or image and browse for your downloaded Windows 8 ISO (x32 or x64) file. Click Continue

5. Make sure the Operating System shows Microsoft Windows and Version Windows 7. Click Continue

6. Unless you want to make any customized changes to the installation (for advanced users), just hit Finish

7. Name your newly created virtual machine and hit Save

8. Fusion should automatically start the virtual machine for you, if it doesn’t just hit the Play button and it will start.

9. The next screen should look (kind of) familiar if you have installed Windows 7 before

10. After you have your Windows 8 up and running, you have to Install VMware Tools from the menu option Virtual Machine (this adds the correct video, network, sound, usb, etc. drivers)
Note: This is only available when the virtual machine is powered on and in use – follow the on-screen wizard in Windows 8 for installing it properly.

11. That’s it – you are finished! Please leave some feedback in the comment field if you found this useful. Thank you!

Filed under:
Microsoft, Virtualization by Satheesh

  • Hassan Ali

    I think you need to post help for Windows 7.

  • Dexthageek

    Installed Fusion 4, downloading x64 version of preview now. Will update later tonight

  • Anonymous

    Good point. Maybe I should make a guide for that too… :)

  • http://www.facebook.com/jedimstr Philip De Leon

    Install worked fine on a Mac Mini, but always hangs while installing vmware tools on a Mac Pro with a AMD Radeon 5770 video card.  Subsequent reboots of that VM get stuck on a 3D issue.  Thoughts???  

  • Anonymous

    Did you try to disable the 3D graphics, install VMware Tools and then enabling it again? Don’t know if it will work, just giving you some pointers…

  • http://www.facebook.com/jedimstr Philip De Leon

    Nope…no go.  Guess I’ll have to wait for an update from VMWare, though I don’t think they’ll support a pre-beta/alpha OS.

  • William Addington

    Hey thanks for the tutorial but I am trying to install it on my Macbook Air 2011 and the Windows Installer asks me for drivers for the CD/DVD drive and since its a MacBook Air without a DVD/CD drive I dont have drivers. How do I get past this hangup as the Windows 8 installer refuses to move forward until I give it a driver so I never get into Windows 8.

  • Anonymous

    At what point did the installer ask for the driver? Not sure where you are stuck. I’m also using a MBA2011, and everything works perfectly… (Make sure you follow the guide exactly as described. Also take a screen-shot and attach it here.)

  • http://twitter.com/wesselth Thomas Wesseling

    Is this VMWARE Fusion on Lion OS? I’m getting the error “hal initialization failed” with both 32bit and 64 bit versions. Disabling hardware devices doesn’t solve the error…

  • Anonymous

    Move your mouse-pointer to the down-left corner (where the Start/Windows-button is on previous versions) and left-click mouse. Do you get any options?
    It probably has something to do with the ATI graphics I suspect. Because people using the Intel doesn’t (or shouldn’t) have this problem.

  • Giraldo Hierro

    My Windows 8 NICs don’t like the vmxnet3 drivers that VMTools installs. :( Did you have any problems getting your network to NAT or Bridge? My host OSX is 10.6.8.

  • http://aoberoi.me Ankur Oberoi

    has anyone gotten horizontal scrolling to work? it would be really nice if i could gesture across the Metro UI to move around instead of grabbing the scrollbar at the bottom.

  • CostaNovo

    same error with me in my vmware fusion over my macbook air 2011. I  have solved with customized instalation of the vmware tools without vesa driver checked. i think this it some issue display with Windows 8 preview. costanovo@me.com

  • Anonymous

    That’s weird. It should work right out the box… Are you sure it got installed correctly?

  • Guest

    Make sure you use (for step 5 above):
    Windows 7 for the 32bit win8 installWindows 7/64bit for the 64bit win8 install
    if you mix them up the vmware tools might not work for you (might explain some of the problems above)

  • Flatchulance

    Thanks for the post…I started out by wasting a ton of time trying to install on VMWARE Fusion 3.1. After upgrading to 4 and following these steps I got Win8 up and running super fast. Thanks 

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=54903212 Doc Prod

    I ran into the same issue…. delete whatever you’ve done and start over by following the previous instructions:

    Make sure you use (for step 5 above):
    Windows 7 for the 32bit win8 installWindows 7/64bit for the 64bit win8 install
    if you mix them up the vmware tools might not work for you (might explain some of the problems above)

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=54903212 Doc Prod

    Thanks for the great tips! Windows 8 is working great on my iMac, along with win7 and XP.

  • Cmooney

    Anyone get the touchpad scrolling working grabbing the bar sucks.  

  • Dave

    Just gonna re-post from the VMWare Fusion blog post, see if anyone here knows… BTW, running Fusion 4 on Lion

    None of the “sample apps” (weather, socialte, paint play, tuberider, checkm8, etc.) are running for me on the developer preview… I’ve tried using an account linked with a Windows Live ID, and one local to my VM only… also tried installing VMWare Tools, anyone have this problem?I’m running a 2009 Macbook Pro 13″, 2GB RAM given to the VM (4GB on the machine total) and 1 CPU core out of 2 on my box given to the VM.Internet Explorer, Windows Explorer, and the Control Panel seem to work fine. Can also access the desktop, command prompt, and powershell (from command prompt) as well.

  • Dave

    In response this question I posted last night, I found that all the sample apps work IF you put Fusion into full screen mode.  If you view it windowed, they will not work for some reason.  Cheers!

  • Carl

    Installed on 2010 MBP running Lion and Fusion 4.0. Works like a charm so far. I’ll work on trying to figure out the horizontal scroll. Maybe a Win7 driver for Trackpad???

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Maha-Braja/100000499602817 Maha Braja

    Sonang bah itu!

  • Gogo

    Turn On the 3D acceleration in VMware Fusion for your Win 8 machine. :)

  • http://windows8mods.com/ M. Qasim @ Win 8 Mods

    nice step by step tutorial

  • Jmonty5488

    Great tutorial! Keep up the good work!

  • Dave

    Great tutorial. Only one addition to add. I downloaded the Consumer Preview ISO, and between steps 9 and ten above, the option to select Standard or Custom install appears. If you select the standard it treats it like a Window Upgrade and quick back to step 9. Selecting Custom install gets it installing correctly. Hope this helps.

  • satheeshdotnet

    Yes, you are right – I always use “Custom install” when installing a fresh installation. I find it kinda weird that the Standard (or Upgrade) option is there in the first place…

  • Gerry Beauregard

    Thanks for the instructions. Very useful!  One small point: if you’re installing the 64-bit Windows 8 preview, at the “Choose Operating System” step choose “Windows 7 x64″ instead of “Windows 7″. 

  • Test2012

    Great instructions and worked perfectly the first time!!  Thanks!

  • Nicholas Johnson

    Choosing Windows7 as the type was the missing step for me. It finds the network (mounted as a wired ethernet adapter) and lets me dial out. Horizontal scroll works too. Running fine on late 2011 MBP + VMWare Fusion 4.

  • Gadgetrat

    Now how about if you have already installed windows 8 consumer preview in a bootcamp partition and want to use fusion VMware to run that as a virtual machine? I tried to do this and it keeps telling me the windows was not closed properly and tells you to set start discs in lion as windows and in windows as Mac OS. I tried this several times and it still tells me this. I’m stuck at this stage. Anyway to get past this?

  • Windows8test

    vmware fusion 4 is very slow, I uninstalled it and get back to 3.1.4 .Â
    I use a MacBook Pro mid 2008 with 4GB RAM DDR3, and 7200 RPM HD