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Virtualising Windows Server 2025 on an Apple silicon Mac

I recently bought an Apple Mac mini (M4) to serve as my home office computer. It's a small, powerful, and relatively inexpensive machine that offers fantastic value.

I try to keep a simple computing environment, opting to virtualise whenever possible. Although it's fun to collect gear and bask in blinkenlights, I really cherish minimalist setups—clutter-free spaces help me feel calm and focused.

Naturally, the thought of a single, humble Mac mini serving as the orchestrator of my IT lab was very appealing to me.

There’s just one complicating factor: the Mac mini’s M4 chip uses Arm architecture, which means I can’t virtualise x86(-64)-based software, such as Windows Server.

(Note: you can emulate other architectures, but I’ve found the performance to be poor.)

Supposedly, Microsoft publishes Windows Server 2025 for Arm64 as part of their Windows Insider Program, but you wouldn’t know it if you visited their Server Insider Preview website because the download isn’t there!

UUP dump for the win!

A helpful Reddit post led me to a website I hadn’t heard about before: UUP dump. This looked perfect! (Security risks notwithstanding.)

I eventually got a Canary Channel build up and running in VMware Fusion, but I found the whole process a bit clunky, so I thought I'd publish a quick how-to guide so that others can get things up and running with minimal frustration.

1. Download and install VMware Fusion

  1. Create a myBroadcom account.
  2. Sign in and navigate to Free Downloads.
  3. Select VMware Fusion.
  4. Expand VMware Fusion 13, select Release 13.6.3, and click the cloud icon to download the installation package.
  5. Open Terminal in the download location and verify the SHA2 checksum: sha256sum VMware-Fusion-13.6.3-24585314_universal.dmg.
  6. If the checksum matches, open the .dmg file and double-click VMware Fusion to install.

2. Download UUP package and create the setup .iso

  1. Navigate to UUP dump and search for server arm64.
  2. Select the latest release. (As of publishing, it is Windows Server Insider Preview 26404.5000 (ge_prerelease) arm64, added 2025-05-01).
  3. Choose your language and click Next.
  4. Choose your edition (e.g. Windows Server Standard) and click Next.
  5. Select the Download and convert to ISO method and click Create download package.
    • Note: updates are not included in the macOS version of the UUP conversion script, but can be manually downloaded using the Create download package for these updates button.
  6. Unzip the downloaded package.
  7. Ensure uup_download_macos.sh prerequisites are installed.
    1. Install Homebrew using one of the following methods:
      1. open Terminal and enter: /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"; or
      2. download and install a .pkg installer from Homebrew's latest GitHub release.
    2. Open Terminal and enter: brew tap minacle/chntpw && brew install cabextract wimlib cdrtools minacle/chntpw/chntpw.

      Note: The readme.unix.md file refers to the sidneys/homebrew GitHub repo, but I've found that it doesn't work, and I'm not the only one: the repo has a bunch of open issues. User minacle's highly rated comment appears to resolve the issue; the above command is per said comment.

  8. In Terminal, enter sh uup_download_macos.sh and let the script download the UUP files and convert them to an .iso file.

3. Create Windows Server VM

  1. Open VMware Fusion, and select File > New….
  2. Select Create a custom virtual machine and click Continue.
  3. Configure the VM as follows:
    1. Choose Operating System: Microsoft Windows > Windows 11 64-bit Arm;
    2. Choose Firmware: UEFI > check UEFI Secure Boot;
    3. Configuration: select Only the files needed to support a TPM are encrypted. (.nvram, .vmss, .vmem, .vmx, .vmsn), and enter an encryption password;
    4. Choose Virtual Disk: Create a new virtual disk; and
    5. Finish: Finish > (enter a filename) > Save.
  4. (If the VM auto-starts, shut it down by selecting Virtual Machine > Shut Down.)
    • (If asked to verify, click Shut Down.)
  5. Right-click the new VM from the Virtual Machines section, and select Settings....
    1. Select CD/DVD (SATA).
    2. Check the Connect CD/DVD Drive checkbox.
    3. Select Autodetect from the This CD/DVD drive is configured to use the following drop-down menu, and select Choose a disk or disk image....
    4. Find and select the .iso you created, and click Open.

4. Start the VM and complete Windows Server Setup

  1. Right-click the new VM from the Virtual Machines section, and click Start Up.
  2. When prompted, hit any key to boot from the .iso specified in step 3.5 above.
  3. Configure Windows Server as required:
    1. Select language settings;
    2. Select keyboard settings;
    3. Select setup option;
    4. Choose a licensing method (product key: MFY9F-XBN2F-TYFMP-CCV49-RMYVH);
    5. Accept the Applicable notices and license terms;
    6. Select location to install Windows Server; and
    7. click Install in Ready to install.
  4. After installation, at the Customize settings screen, enter a password for the built-in administrator account, and click Finish.

5. Fill your boots!

At this point, I recommend creating a snapshot of the VM by selecting Virtual Machine > Snapshots... > Take Snapshot, so that you can easily return to this fresh install at a later time, if desired.

Have fun!