How to Install Windows 8/8.1 on VMware Fusion in macOS/Mac

By Tolga Bagci August 28, 2021 VMware Fusion 0 Comments

In this article, we will examine how to run Windows 8/8.1 on a new virtual machine using VMware Fusion 12 Pro on the macOS operating system on a Mac computer.

How to Set Up Windows 8/8.1 on a Virtual Machine on Mac using Fusion 12 Pro

If you want to install and run Microsoft’s Windows 8/8.1 version on your Mac computer, you can use Fusion Pro, one of the virtualization software platforms.

VMware Fusion is virtualization software that allows you to create virtual machines on macOS operating systems. Using this software, you can install an additional virtual operating system without restarting your computer.

You can install a Windows system on Apple computers using Boot Camp software, but you will have to restart your computer each time you switch systems.

Therefore, you can avoid these problems by using the Fusion software developed by VMware for Mac computers.

When creating a virtual machine in Fusion, it is important for performance to choose the platform of the system you will install correctly and to make good virtual hardware settings. In this way, you can run a more efficient and performance virtual computer on your host computer.

How to Create a New Virtual Machine for Windows 8/8.1

After installing Fusion Pro on your Mac and running the program from Applications, you are now ready to create a virtual machine.

You can quickly create a virtual machine by dragging and dropping the ISO image of the operating system you will install on the Fusion homepage. However, you can improve virtual machine performance by manually editing instead of the settings defined by default.

Step 1

After running Fusion Pro, you can create a VM or add an existing VM to the program by dragging and dropping an ISO image directly onto its homepage.

To manually configure the VM’s settings, select Create a custom virtual machine and click Continue.

Step 2

In the Guest operating system selection window, select Microsoft Windows / Windows 8.x x64 and click Continue.

Step 3

If the operating system you will install on the virtual machine supports UEFI firmware, you can change the firmware type from this window. You should choose Legacy BIOS when you plan to install older systems. But, to increase the security of the virtual machine and enable fast boot, select UEFI / Secure Boot and continue.

Step 4

Since you will be installing Windows 8 from scratch, you must select Create a new virtual disk in the virtual disk selection window. If you have a Windows 8 virtual disk that you have installed before, you can add the existing virtual disk to the VM in this window.

Step 5

In the window containing the summary information of the virtual machine you have prepared, click Customize Settings to configure the virtual hardware settings, and then click the Save button if you want to accept the default installation location.

Step 6

Click the Processors & Memory device in the virtual machine’s settings and increase the number of virtual processors and configure the amount of RAM depending on the hardware features of your Mac.

If you intend to use any virtualization software within the virtual machine, enable the hypervisor. Also, enable IOMMU for better memory management between host and VM.

Step 7

You can choose Ethernet to assign an IP address to the guest machine from the DHCP server from which your Mac gets the IP address. With this option, your guest machine will appear as an additional computer on the local network.

Step 8

If you run the Windows 8/8.1 operating system on the NVMe virtual disk, you will significantly increase the virtual machine performance. So, change Bus Type from SCSI to NVMe and click Apply.

By default, the disk size defined for Windows 8x in Fusion is 60 GB. If you want to increase or decrease the capacity of the virtual disk, you can change it in Disk Size.

Step 9

To add the Windows 8x ISO file to the virtual machine, click Choose a disc or disc image from the CD/DVD (SATA) device settings drop-down list.

Step 10

Select the Windows 8.1 Pro x64 ISO file you downloaded to your computer from the table at the bottom of the article, and then click Open.

Step 11

If you are not going to use your printer on the guest machine, click Remove Printer Port and click Remove to confirm the removal.

Step 12

Change the Troubleshooting property to None in the advanced settings of the virtual computer and disable the Side Channel Mitigations feature.

Step 13

Run your virtual computer to start the Windows installation.

How to Install Windows 8/8.1

After creating a new virtual computer for Windows 8.1 and adjusting its settings, you need to boot the system with the ISO image you added and start the installation.

The installation steps of an operating system that you will install on the guest machine on your Mac computer are the same as if you are installing on a real computer.

Step 1

After running your virtual system, press any key on your keyboard to start the Windows setup wizard.

Step 2

In the Windows 8 setup wizard, set the system language, keyboard layout, and system time you will use on your system and click the Next button.

Step 3

If you have installed the Windows 8x operating system before, you can click Repair Your Computer in this window to repair your system. Click Install Now to start the Windows installation and continue.

Step 4

If you have purchased Windows 8 before, type your product key and click Next.

Step 5

Accept the Windows 8x license agreement and click Next.

Step 6

If you have an older version of Windows, you can upgrade your system without deleting your existing files, settings, and applications. Since you will be installing a system from scratch, click the Install Windows Only option in this window.

Step 7

Click New to edit the unallocated disk space, then click the Apply button to accept the automatically configured disk capacity. Also, click OK in the window informing you that Windows will create additional spaces for system files.

Step 8

After creating a new partition for the entire capacity of the virtual disk, select the Primary partition and click Next.

Step 9

Wait while the Windows wizard is copying the system files required for installation, and do not turn off your guest machine.

Step 10

The wizard will reboot your virtual system within the specified time after copying the Windows 8 system files. Restart your guest machine without waiting for the time and continue.

Step 11

Type a different computer name from other computers in your local network and also set the theme color and click Next.

Step 12

You can give permission by clicking Use Express Settings to automatically connect to other devices on the local network, automatically install Windows updates, protect your personal data with Windows Defender, or help its development by sending user data to Microsoft.

If you want to change some system settings to suit your personal purpose, you can click Customize and enable or disable some settings.

Step 13

To sign in to Windows 8x, you can sign in with a Microsoft account and back up all your data in the cloud. Since there is no continue without Microsoft account option on this screen, click Create a new account and continue.

Step 14

On the Create a Microsoft account screen, click Sign in without a Microsoft account to enable logging in with the offline account.

Step 15

To create a local user account in your virtual system, type a username and click Finish.

Step 16

After installing Windows 8x, press Windows + R to find out the system version and type the winver command in the Run window, and press OK.

How to Install VMware Tools

After installing Windows 8/8.1 with VMware Fusion on macOS, you need to install VMware Tools to enable the VM to run more efficiently, enable full-screen resolution, and transfer files between the host and the VM.

Step 1

While the virtual machine is running, click Virtual Machine / Install VMware Tools from the Fusion tool menu, and then click the Install button to mount the CD image to the system from the pop-up window.

Step 2

After the VMware Tools CD image is added to the virtual machine, click Run setup64.exe, and start the wizard.

Step 3

Click Next in the VMware Tools setup wizard.

Step 4

If you plan to use your guest machine with other VMware products later, select Complete for compatibility and click Next.

Step 5

Click Install to start the installation of the Guest machine tools, or click Back if you want to make changes.

Step 6

After installing VMware Tools on your Windows 8 virtual computer, restart your system.

Step 7

Take your guest operating system in full-screen mode and check the resolution.

Step 8

Also, check that you can transfer files between your Mac and guest machine by drag and drop.

How to Check Internet Connection

You may need to check that the guest machine you are running on your Mac can access your local network and the Internet. This way, you can continue with your work in the VM.

Step 1

Press Windows + R to open the CMD prompt and type cmd in the Run window and click OK. After opening the CMD prompt, execute the ping 8.8.8.8 command and test your Internet connection by pinging the Google servers.

Step 2

If you can ping Google or any website, you have an Internet connection. Additionally, open the Internet Explorer browser and try to visit the Google homepage.

How to Configure Shared Folder

You can transfer files by drag and drop with the guest machine on your Mac, but this sometimes takes time. Therefore, you can exchange data over the location you specify by activating the Shared Folder feature in Fusion.

Step 1

Open the settings of the Windows 8.1 guest machine and click Sharing.

Step 2

Enable Shared Folders and then click the + button and specify a location on your Mac. After configuring the public folder, you will see that the VMware Shared Folders shortcut has been created on the guest machine.

Step 3

Click the Shared Folders shortcut on your guest machine and create a text document in it and check if it has been created at your Mac’s location.

How to Use USB Flash Memory

Another way to transfer files with a VM on your Mac is to use a USB flash drive. USB sticks that you use on your Windows computer cannot normally be used on macOS, because macOS does not run devices with the NTFS file format. So you need to format NTFS to ExFAT format.

Step 1

After you plug your USB flash drive into your Mac, the Fusion software will ask you where you want to connect the device. In this window, you can choose to connect either to your Mac or to your Windows guest machine.

To make the flash drive writable, you need to format the file, so connect your device to your Mac.

Step 2

Open Disk Utility and click the right button / Erase option on your flash memory from the External section.

Step 3

Select ExFAT from the Format section and click the Erase button again.

Step 4

Check that it is writable by creating a new folder in the USB memory named KINGSTON.

Step 5

Click Virtual Machine / USB & Bluetooth / Connect (Name of Your USB) in the tool menu to connect your USB stick to the Windows 8 guest machine.

Step 6

You can now use your USB stick on both macOS and Windows 8 virtual PC.

How to Connect from a Mac to a Windows Guest Machine using Microsoft Remote Desktop

You can remotely connect to your guest machines via LAN or WAN using the Microsoft Remote Desktop application on your Mac computer.

Step 1

After downloading the Microsoft Remote Desktop application from the App Store, double-click the setup file to start the installation and click the Continue button in the wizard that opens.

Step 2

To accept the license agreement of the remote desktop application, accept the agreement after clicking Continue.

Step 3

Select Install for all users of this computer and continue.

Step 4

After clicking the Install button in the window that states that the installation will use 145.8 MB of disk space, type your user account password and click Install Software.

Step 5

After installing the Microsoft Remote Desktop application on your macOS system, close the wizard.

Step 6

Open Applications on your Mac and run Microsoft Remote Desktop.

Step 7

If you want to use your host’s camera and microphone device on your guest machine after installing the remote desktop application, give access permission.

Step 8

Right-click on My Computer on your Windows 8x virtual machine and click Manage. When Computer Management opens, click Local Users and Groups / Users and right-click / Set Password on the username you created for your virtual system, and then click the Proceed button in the window that opens.