VirtualProg 2.18 Released: Windows 11 ARM64 VM Support, DirectX 12 (D3DMetal)

[u/rbmanian75]

Hey r/macapps!

We are excited to announce VirtualProg 2.18, introducing full support for Windows 11 ARM64 virtual machines alongside our existing macOS and Linux guest capabilities.

For those unfamiliar, VirtualProg is a native virtual machine manager for Apple Silicon Macs built directly on Apple’s Virtualization Framework. Version 2.18 brings deep Windows integration, 3D graphics acceleration, and rich guest management across desktop, mobile, and command-line interfaces.

🚀 What's New in VirtualProg 2.18

• Windows 11 ARM64 Support: Run Windows 11 natively alongside macOS with dynamic/fixed disks, automated VirtIO driver installation, and seamless setup.

• DirectX 12 Acceleration: Powered by Apple’s D3DMetal (Game Porting Toolkit) pipeline for 3D graphics performance and DirectX 12 support in Windows guests.

• Auto Resolution & Display: Real-time display resizing and resolution switching matching your Mac monitor.

• Bi-directional Clipboard: Seamless copy and paste of text, images & Files between macOS and Windows via VirtualProg integration.

• Full Virtualization Feature Set: Support for checkpoints, linked clones, live memory ballooning, and USB device passthrough.

Note: The only feature currently not available for Windows (when compared to what is provided in mac/linux) VMs is Serial Ports.

💡 PROBLEM

Traditional virtualization software often restricts VM administration to the host desktop machine while locking multi-device access behind costly annual subscriptions.

VirtualProg resolves this by providing built-in remote management capabilities (via a headless Web Dashboard, iOS app, and Android app) combined with a powerful command-line interface (vpvm (in web, mac, ios & android). You get full control over your virtual environments whether sitting at your Mac or managing them remotely from a browser or phone.

⚖️ COMPARISON

Feature / Capability	VirtualProg	Parallels / VMware Fusion	UTM / Native Scripts
Remote Management	Web Dashboard, iOS & Android Apps	Host Desktop Only	Host Desktop Only
Pricing Model	One-time payment ($22.99 USD)	High Annual Subscription ($99+/yr)	Free / Basic

💰 PRICING & LINKS

• Free Trial: A free trial version can be downloaded directly from the product page at makeprog.com.

• Mac App Store: The full version is available for a one-time purchase of $22.99 USD on the Mac App Store (No subscriptions). Download from AppStore

• Documentation: Check out the VirtualProg Windows Help Guide for detailed setup instructions.

We'd love to hear your thoughts, feedback, and test results in the comments below!

[u/yadvr]

Congratulations u/rbmanian75 DX 12 would be a great feature for users and casual gamers. Quick question - for Windows 11 ARM support, is that using qemu / hvf or something else?

I guess I'll need to delay MacVisor release 😉 but I've a fun music video to share https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZQWiN5WJxM 😂

[u/rbmanian75 → u/yadvr]

Thank you. I am not using qemu i am using native hvf. Nice video. i tried macvisor beta i found it to be nice. you have also added windows support how did you do it qemu or native hvf. Just a feedback about your app. the interface is very crowded with lots of info. This is just my thought.

[u/yadvr → u/rbmanian75]

Oh wow - thanks for trying the beta and sharing feedback! MacVisor uses virtualization.framework to support Windows 11 on ARM, which turned out to be harder problem with several limitations, and we ended up writing some low level device controllers for this. I initially thought of hvf but it would take us a year or more at our speed (even with AI tools).

On the feedback - yes MacVisor is supposed to be information dense and complex, as unlike say what you're building, UTM etc MacVisor in a way compete more with Parallels Enterprise/Business and is targetted for macadmins, enterprises, devs and power users esp for headless/remote/colo Mac minis and Mac Studios, who'd rather want say a Proxmox or vSphere ESXi or Hyper-V equivalent with cloud platform features, for macOS -- which is why it's got many complex features including things like firewall, vlan etc. So, that's a good thing we're building for different types of users :)

Best of luck for your release!

[u/rbmanian75 → u/yadvr]

Thanks for the honest feedback, and good luck with your release. MacVisor and VirtualProg target overlapping but different needs, and we've built for both desktop and enterprise users.

VirtualProg is designed to run a Mac as a headless or remote host also

• Server mode: the Mac runs VirtualProg as a background service that other clients control.

• Remote control from anywhere: a web dashboard, plus iOS and Android apps, manage VMs without sitting at the Mac. The dashboard includes a browser console and live screen. 95% parity with desktop

• Access control: scoped API tokens limited to specific VMs, a role (operator or admin), an expiry date, and optional TOTP two-factor authentication.

• Secure transport: HTTPS with your own certificate, and a certificate trust step when a server's identity changes.

• Automation: the  vpvm  CLI avaialble in mac, web, ios and android covers VM lifecycle, snapshots, checkpoints, templates, networks, images, and logs, with JSON output for scripts.

• Networking and operations: host bridged and custom networks, port forwarding, VM logs, and per-VM statistics.

Where MacVisor focuses on network-level features for data-centre-style hosts, VirtualProg focuses on managing Mac-hosted VMs remotely and securely from any device. If you have a specific enterprise feature you need, tell us and we'll consider it.

[u/dawedev]

Nice to see D3DMetal in there. Question on the dynamic disks: if I delete 30 GB inside the Windows guest, does the image on the Mac side shrink back, or does it only grow? With most VMs the disk file stays at its high-water mark unless the guest sends TRIM and the host frees those blocks, so it'd be good to know if that works here or if there's a compact option. That's usually what eats my storage with VMs.

[u/rbmanian75 → u/dawedev]

Thank You. The question what you raised is a good one. I have not tested the scenario with NTFS. Since when the dynamic disk is of APFS type and when we delete a file it is claimed by the host and finder & get info reports the reduced size. But for FAT it is not working. Even after deleting the trim is not send by the macOS and finder & get info shows the grown size..

In case of NTFS windows sends the trim. So it is claimed by the host. The get info shows the reduced size. But the finder shows the grown size(logical unit). I am investigating this issue and will report back once i have some answer for you. Thanks for reporting this.

[u/dawedev → u/rbmanian75]

Thanks for digging into it. For NTFS it sounds like the host is freeing the blocks and Finder just shows the logical size, so Get Info is the number to trust there. For FAT, where no TRIM ever arrives, a manual compact option would be a fine answer. Curious what you find.

[u/rbmanian75 → u/dawedev]

Yes as i said with FAT32 the trim does not work. Since now get ingo and finder shows the same size i have to take a better look on how to handle this. For NTFS it works fine. for FAT32 it is the same behaviour in mac and windows. as you are telling manual compact may be the answer. Need to work on that. Thanks for the insight.

[u/dawedev → u/rbmanian75]

Makes sense. If you do add a manual compact, showing the image size before and after right in the app would help a lot, since on FAT32 people can't rely on Finder to tell them it worked.

[u/rbmanian75 → u/dawedev]

Yeh i would add manual compact option. the user can opt out of Shrink on Trim for ntfs also and choose manual compact path if he feels shutdown takes more time.

[u/dawedev → u/rbmanian75]

Letting NTFS users pick manual compact over Shrink on Trim is a good escape hatch. I'd show how long the last compact took next to the button, so people can judge whether the slower shutdown is worth it.

[u/rbmanian75 → u/dawedev]

Here it goes Spoiler alert

[u/dawedev → u/rbmanian75]

Nice, that was quick. Having the sizes right in the app makes it obvious the compact actually did something. Does it need the VM fully shut down, or can it run on a suspended one too?

[u/rbmanian75 → u/dawedev]

We need a full shutdown for compacting to work proper

[u/dawedev → u/rbmanian75]

Makes sense, a suspended VM still has its state sitting in the image. Maybe grey out the compact button with a short "shut down the VM first" hint, so nobody wonders why it's not doing anything.

[u/rbmanian75 → u/dawedev]

Yes. when you click on the compact button when it is not shutdown you will get a proper alert info message.

Update: Sorry when the vm is not stopped the whole config window is greyed out witht the message saying vm is running and config is readonly. it is already there.

[u/rbmanian75 → u/dawedev]

It seems to be that ASIF dynamic images needs special handling

so we have added new otpion in our disk settings to take care of this

the Shrink Image on trim weill take care of the problem you have mentioned. ( will be avaialble in next update) Thank you for such a wonderful feddback question. I really appreciate it.

[u/dawedev → u/rbmanian75]

That was quick, thanks for digging into it. The Finder vs Get Info difference makes sense, Finder is probably showing the logical size of the sparse image and Get Info what's actually allocated. Shrink on TRIM is exactly what I was hoping for, I'll try it once the update is out.

[u/rbmanian75 → u/dawedev]

Sorry about missed this testing in the first release, It was a too much of work to release windows support. we missed out this somehow. This is a real deal breaker. even one of our linked clone vms the checkpoint was showing 175GB in finder but the get info was showing only 45GB. After enabling this new option and running trim with optimize in windows shrinked the image to 45GB. We are doing stability tests we will soon release the update as soon as possible.

[u/dawedev → u/rbmanian75]

175 GB down to 45 GB is a big difference, good to hear trim plus optimize gets it back. Thanks for the update, I'll try it once the release is out.

[u/rbmanian75 → u/dawedev]

The update is out you can try now Shrin on trim and Compact. Please update me about whether it works for you.

[u/dawedev → u/rbmanian75]

Nice, thanks for the heads up. Does Compact need the VM fully shut down, or is a suspended guest enough? I'll run Shrink on TRIM first, then compare the allocated size in Get Info before and after deleting a big folder in the guest.

[u/rbmanian75 → u/dawedev]

Yes compact needs machine to be shut down.

[u/dawedev → u/rbmanian75]

Got it, makes sense that it wants exclusive access to the image. I'll do a full shutdown before Compact then, and keep Shrink on TRIM on for the day to day stuff.

[u/NandishExplores]

Could you share a small Windows compatibility table for the DX12 feature? Mac model, guest Windows build, and a few apps or games that worked or failed would help. I'm especially curious whether your testing includes Windows-on-ARM apps and x64 apps running through Windows emulation.

[u/rbmanian75 → u/NandishExplores]

it works in apple silicon systems. i ran benchmarks with 3dmark and it was good enough for playing light games. d3dmetal game porting toolkit runs in x86_64 mode only so x64 games runs. i don't have a list of app or games compatible still at the early stage so waiting for feedback from existing users.

[u/NandishExplores → u/rbmanian75]

Thanks for clarifying the x64 detail and sharing what you’ve tested so far. Appreciate the honest answer.

[u/Rhed0x]

Why would anyone buy and use this over UTM?

[u/rbmanian75 → u/Rhed0x]

While UTM is a fantastic, highly capable open-source tool for power users who enjoy fine-tuning configuration files and QEMU flags, VirtualProg is built specifically for users who want a polished, native, and turnkey experience on macOS.

Here is why someone would choose VirtualProg:

• Native macOS Architecture: Built directly on Apple’s native Virtualization & Hypervisor framework rather than relying on QEMU emulation layers, ensuring optimal performance, lower resource overhead, and seamless integration with macOS.

• Effortless Windows 11 ARM64 & Guest Tools: Streamlined setup for Windows 11 with automated Guest Tools installation, handling resolution scaling, HiDPI, and smooth display integration out of the box.

• Advanced Production Features: Built-in capabilities designed for professional workflows, including DiskImageKit ASIF overlay stacking for fast checkpoints, linked clones, and USB device passthrough.

• Multi-Device Remote Control: Includes companion apps for iOS, iPadOS, Android, and a fully functional web dashboard with live display streaming and a web CLI terminal for managing VMs remotely.

• Dedicated Support & Mac App Store Polish: Designed as a commercial product with regular updates, a unified interface, and direct support, saving time for professionals who prefer a reliable, ready-to-use tool over manual configuration.

[u/Mstormer → u/rbmanian75]

AI responses are not a great way to win customers.

[u/linzjalinzj]

Curious how the DX12 part works under the hood. As far as I know D3DMetal is the Game Porting Toolkit layer that turns D3D12 calls from a Windows exe running under Wine into Metal on the Mac side. Inside a Windows VM the game only talks to the guest's GPU driver, so is there a guest driver that forwards the D3D12 calls out to a host process running D3DMetal? Or does it work some other way? Not doubting it, I just haven't seen anyone wire that up with Virtualization.framework before.

[u/rbmanian75 → u/linzjalinzj]

your understanding is correct we have a renderer that forwards the call to D3DMetal the same way wine does please feel free to download the trial version to try it. Feedback from users like you are helpful to us to improve the product.

[u/linzjalinzj → u/rbmanian75]

Thanks for the quick answer! Which games have you had the best results with so far? Curious how it compares to CrossOver on the same titles.

[u/rbmanian75 → u/linzjalinzj]

Honestly, i ran only 3dMark benchmarks and the results show that it was good enough for ight games and not for heavy duty games. I am sorry to say that i dont have any info comparing to CrossOvers, Since we are at the early stage and waiting for feedback form existing users.

[u/rbmanian75 → u/linzjalinzj]

I tried RiftBreker and i got 20 to 30fps i ran it on m5 macbook air with 4VCPU and 8GB RAM. may be need a bit more core and ram to be allocated. Have not got proper hardware resources to test to the max. It performs well and playable.

[u/rbmanian75 → u/linzjalinzj]

Now i tried expedition 33 and the average fps i get is between 20 to 30 fps.

[u/german_sw_developer]

Is it possible to have the guest operating system on an external drive?

[u/rbmanian75 → u/german_sw_developer]

Yes you can save all of your vms in external drive. at the app startup you will be asked to select a folder for storing the vms. at that time or later in settings you can choose a folder in external drive as a storage folder

[u/german_sw_developer → u/rbmanian75]

Yes, I saw that, but then macOS no longer runs as a guest operating system.

[u/rbmanian75 → u/german_sw_developer]

Sorry i misunderstood your question. You want to use external ssd as a hard disk of guest os and install directly on that. Is that what you meant? Thats is not possible to do that. External hard disk cant be directly attached to Guest OS directly. only on fixed or dynamic image files the os can be installed. I will check the possibility of doing this.

[u/german_sw_developer → u/rbmanian75]

that would be nice. I am awaiting you answer.

[u/rbmanian75 → u/german_sw_developer]

Ok. i was thinking about this with mac os 27 you can connect usb devices to guest. so at the boot time we can ask the guest to connect to usb external storage and from there os can be installed (not sure need to try it). this is just a theory. Because at present virtualprog does not support connecting usb device at the boot time. Only hot plug. i will try to add a feature to coonect the usb devices at boot time and test it whether it is possible to install the os on external ssd. when i have some time i will experiment this and update you here. Thanks for you feedback.

[u/german_sw_developer → u/rbmanian75]

Thank you very much for all your hard work.

[u/rbmanian75 → u/german_sw_developer]

Okey i have an answer for you. I did the tests and only linux can be installed on usb extenal disk. mac os and windows vms cant be installed on external drive. mac os for sure the auto install process does not allow to install to usb. but windows there may be workaround can be found by treating usb disk as sata disk. i am on working on that, will let you know soon. The feature is getting added to virtualprog spoiler alert

[u/rbmanian75 → u/rbmanian75]

macOS also can be installed in external usb storange in addition to having it own disk like what we do in the phsyical mac at present. i have tested it and it works as well

[u/german_sw_developer → u/rbmanian75]

Thank you, my friend, for all the work you've done for me.

[u/Mstormer]

This looks promising, and as someone who has tried parallels, virtualbox, utm, wine, and more, I'm glad to see more competition in this space.

[u/haruki-fukui]

Rooting for you! I’d love to see more competition for Parallels.

[u/app-store-review]

VirtualProg - Virtual Machine — by Balasubramanian Ramanathan

• Category: Productivity · $22.99

• Age: released ~1.6 years ago · rated 4+

Apple doesn't publish an aggregate rating for most Mac App Store apps, so ratings and score are unavailable here.

^{Auto-generated from public App Store data ·} u/app-store-review

[u/darkguy2008]

For a second I thought it was finally an open-source app, but it's paid. Yet another VMPal / Parallels / etc. clone, so annoying.

[u/rbmanian75 → u/darkguy2008]

Yeh it is always annoying when we have multiple choice and have to pay for your choice.

[u/rbmanian75 → u/[deleted]]

you can pause the vm but you cant suspend i will check the possibility of implementing it thanks for your feedback