I am unable to install Oracle Box Virtual Machine on my Microsoft Surface Pro X. Is there a trusted VM that will run on an ARM processor?

Question

I have tried using the compatibility troubleshooter but it still brings the same error message "This app can't run on this device". I have tried using VMWare Player instead as a workaround however it brings the same issue. So is there a trusted VM that will allow me to use VM's on my Surface Pro X? I am running Windows 11 Version 22H2 for arm64-based system.

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Answer 1

Yeah, so far the third-party hypervisor developers haven't added support for ARM on Windows. Without knowing what you're trying to run, you might want to look into Hyper-V. Windows 11 on ARM includes it for running WSL and WSA, but apparently it's possible to use it to run VMs even on ARM PCs (of course you have to use an ARM compatible OS in the VM as well).

If you have Windows 11 Pro, instructions here.

If you have Windows 11 Home, it's still possible to enable it.

Disclamer: I have Windows Home on my Pro X, but I have not tried the above. I just use WSL to run Ubuntu, and it's pretty awesome. I haven't personally had the need to do anything more complicated myself, so it really depends what you're trying to do.

Good luck!

Answer 2

Yeah, I'm surprised at the lack of options for an ARM processing setup tbh. A lot of the threads on OracleBox and VMPlayer or Reddit etc don't seem to end in a resolution, so your information is actually very helpful. I have a really good VM setup on my PC, but I adore my Surface Pro and when I'm away its what I use and take with me so I was essentially looking for a similar kind of setup on it, just didn't realise how difficult it would actually be to sort out. Essentially what I am looking to run is a Kali VM or similar and add a Metasploitable VM as well. I am new to this kind of thing though tbh and have been studying some related topics and was looking to use the VM's to learn and test with Linux OS in depth but in a controlled environment really, however, I didn't even think about WSL, so I may just look into that option instead tbh as it may save me any more headaches, and I'm sure it's on the Windows store now as an App as well but I may be wrong. Thanks for the advice though Dom very much appreciated sir.

Answer 3

Ahh, cool. Yeah, while hopefully the hypervisor situation with ARM processors will improve eventually, it appears you should be able to do both of what you describe with WSL just based on a quick search. And yes, WSL is now a store app, though the old way of installing it also still works.

Good luck, and have fun with that!