VMware ditches plans to support EXSi on 2019 Mac Pro

Virtualization specialist VMware no longer has plans to support Apple's 2019 Mac Pro, the company said last week, dashing the hopes of system administrators eager to run ESXi on the high-end workstation.

Announced in a post to its official blog, VMware blamed the shift in strategy on COVID-19 and Apple's transition to Apple Silicon.

"Due to various challenges of COVID-19 and the recent announcement from Apple on their transition away from x86 to Apple Silicon, VMware will no longer pursue hardware certification for the Apple 2019 Mac Pro 7,1 for ESXi," the company said.

Customers who require access to VMware's latest macOS virtualization platform are limited to the 2018 Mac Mini and 2013 "trash can" Mac Pro.

As noted by The Register, Apple allows users to run macOS virtual machines, but only on Mac hardware.

The publication offers a bit of background on VMware's decision, saying employees note an internal process that requires them to bid on funding for projects. Resources could be scarce for an Intel Mac Pro as Apple and VMware shift focus to M-series processors.

Administrators looking for comparable solutions have few options, as the current-generation Mac Pro offers considerably more power for virtualization tasks than either Mac mini or the previous Mac Pro. While not equivalent to local VMs, Amazon's native Mac instances for AWS, a service powered by Mac minis, is a decent option.

11 Comments

libertyforall 1417 comments · 16 Years

About 3 years ago

Bait & switch

chasm 3592 comments · 10 Years

I think they’re being a bit silly, but of course I don’t know how many 2019 Mac Pros are out there, so it is hard to guess what percentage of those might require this service.

Given that we know the Mac Pro will soon be upgraded to Apple Silicon, VMWare is probably just being prudent, anticipating that there will be a “super cycle” of Mx Mac Pros when they are announced. They did not rule out certifying those future MPs.

rob53 3307 comments · 13 Years

chasm said:

I think they’re being a bit silly, but of course I don’t know how many 2019 Mac Pros are out there, so it is hard to guess what percentage of those might require this service.

Given that we know the Mac Pro will soon be upgraded to Apple Silicon, VMWare is probably just being prudent, anticipating that there will be a “super cycle” of Mx Mac Pros when they are announced. They did not rule out certifying those future MPs.

Has anyone heard anything from VMWare as to whether they will ever support M-series Macs? They haven't been that great about supporting Macs period.

I can't keep up with who actually own VMWare at the moment. Dell was supposed to spin it off but the VMWare website timeline still says Dell owns it. If Dell still owns it I can see why they could care less about anything dealing with Macs.

bakerzdosen 185 comments · 16 Years

rob53 said:

chasm said:

I think they’re being a bit silly, but of course I don’t know how many 2019 Mac Pros are out there, so it is hard to guess what percentage of those might require this service.

Given that we know the Mac Pro will soon be upgraded to Apple Silicon, VMWare is probably just being prudent, anticipating that there will be a “super cycle” of Mx Mac Pros when they are announced. They did not rule out certifying those future MPs.

Has anyone heard anything from VMWare as to whether they will ever support M-series Macs? They haven't been that great about supporting Macs period.

I can't keep up with who actually own VMWare at the moment. Dell was supposed to spin it off but the VMWare website timeline still says Dell owns it. If Dell still owns it I can see why they could care less about anything dealing with Macs.

Dell still owns it, but the VMWare employees I've spoken with are still expecting a spinoff.

And I doubt they'll announce anything with regards to M-series until things are a bit more settled, say, end of 2022 (my guess.)

rcfa 1123 comments · 17 Years

So, is the product not running, or just not “certified” i.e. not tested as nausea?

I know from other software that runs just fine on a particular platform without being “certified”…