In preparation for a remote job that is coming up, I decided to install a VM software and Windows 10. This means that I can use particular programs that are necessary to complete a job. Why not use this opportunity to showcase how to install Windows 10 on the MacBook Air M2 (Apple Silicon chip).

Steps:

MacOS

1. Download and install UTM onto the MacBook Air (git repository),
2. Download the Windows 10 .iso file from uupdump.net,
   • MacBook Air M2 chip is an AArch64 architecture, which means it is running an ARM architecture,
3. Install homebrew onto the MacBook Air using Terminal,
4. On the local computer, unzip the downloaded .zip file (from uupdump.net),
   • Install prerequisite software:
     • macOS requires [Homebrew](https://brew.sh) to install the prerequisite software. After Homebrew was installed, you can install the requirements using:
       bash
brew tap sidneys/homebrew
brew install cabextract wimlib cdrtools sidneys/homebrew/chntpw
   • Run uup_download_macos.sh from Terminal to generate the ISO,
5. Install qemu,
   • brew install qemu
   • Navigate to where the Windows VHDX  file is being stored (most probably the Downloads folder) and copy this into the next step <nameofwindowsarm>,
   • Run: qemu-img convert <nameofwindowsarm>.vhdx <nameofwindowsarm>.qcow2,
6. Download Spice Tools (this will be used in the Windows machine as a way to communicate peripherals between the Mac and Windows machines, once it is up and running),

UTM

7. Open (run) the UTM.app file on the MacBook Air,
8. Create a new Virtual Machine,
   • Information:
     • Name: Windows 10,
     • Style: Operating System,
   • System:
     • Architecture: ARM64
     • System: QEMU 5.2 ARM Virtual Machine (virt-5.2)
     • Memory:
       • 8GB Mac – 4GB for Virtual Machine
       • 16GB Mac – 8GB for Virtual Machine
   • Drives:
     • Import Drive > qemu-img convert <nameofwindowsarm>.vhdx <nameofwindowsarm>.qcow2 (from step 5.c)
     • Interface: NVMe
     • New Drive > Removable > Interface: USB > Create
       • Check Image Type is CD/DVD (ISO) Image
   • Save
   • At the bottom of the UTM, Windows 10 menu, click on CD/DVD > Browse > Select spice-guest-tools-0.164.4.iso (most probably in your Download folder),
   • Edit Selected VM > Network:
     • Network Mode: Bridged (Advanced)
     • Emulated Network Card: virtio-net-pci
9. Run the virtual machine,

Windows 10

10. Once you are into the machine and at the Desktop, open a new File Explorer window,
11. Click on the CD/DVD Drive,
12. Run the spice-guest-tools.exe file.

Now, you should be all sorted. After activating your Windows product key, if you choose to, you will have a fully operational Windows 10 VM on your Apple MacBook Air M2.