Hey everyone!

Following my recent introduction of Vitreo, I’ve launched a dedicated beta testing portal.

https://beta.vitreo.dev/

For those who missed my earlier post, Vitreo is an independent Windows runtime for Apple Silicon that I’ve been developing for nearly four years.

It doesn’t use Wine or require a Windows virtual machine.

Instead, it implements its own Windows compatibility infrastructure, including:

• Custom x86/x64 execution engine.
• ARM64 JIT compilation.
• Windows PE loading.
• Windows API implementations.
• DirectX, Vulkan, and OpenGL support.
• Native macOS integration.

Where is development currently?

I’ve demonstrated several Windows applications running through Vitreo, including Steam, StarCraft, Satisfactory, Notepad++, and classic Windows applications.

Some applications are already functional, while others expose missing Windows APIs, graphics compatibility issues, or JIT performance bottlenecks.

The project is still experimental, and broad Windows compatibility remains a substantial engineering challenge.

Why a beta portal?

Until now, most testing has been limited to my own systems.

I’ve built a portal to start organizing external testing and collecting compatibility results.

The process is straightforward:

1. Create an account.
2. Request beta access, specifying your Mac hardware and the Windows applications you’d like to test.
3. Once approved, download available builds and verify their checksums.
4. Submit compatibility reports for applications you’ve tested.

Reports can document successful launches, partial functionality, or failures.

This should help prioritize missing functionality based on real-world application behavior.

What about the source code?

I still intend to open-source Vitreo once the implementation has undergone additional cleanup and refactoring.

For now, the beta program is focused on compatibility testing and feedback.

Interested?

https://beta.vitreo.dev/

Registration is available now. Build downloads will become available to approved testers as builds are published.

Hey everyone!

For a while now, I’ve been working on a project called Vitreo, and I’ve finally reached a point where I’m ready to start sharing what I’ve been building.

Vitreo is an independently developed Windows runtime for Apple Silicon Macs.

It’s not another Wine wrapper, a frontend for an existing compatibility layer, or a Windows virtual machine.

I’m building the runtime itself.

The goal is simple:

Windows software. At home on Mac.

What makes Vitreo different?

Vitreo implements its own components for executing Windows applications on Apple Silicon, including:

• A custom x86/x64 execution engine with ARM64 JIT compilation.
• A Windows PE executable loader.
• Independent Windows API implementations.
• DirectX and Vulkan graphics translation targeting Metal.
• Native macOS windowing, menus, and application integration.

That last part is something I’m particularly excited about.

I don’t just want Windows applications to run on a Mac. I want them to feel like they belong there.

Where supported, Windows applications use actual macOS windows, menus, and dialogs rather than being confined to a simulated Windows desktop.

Vitreo can also create macOS applications for supported installed Windows software, allowing you to place them directly in your Applications folder and launch them like other Mac apps.

Does it actually work?

Yes!

Vitreo has progressed beyond basic executable loading.

I’ve gotten traditional Windows desktop applications, classic games, and modern 3D software running through the runtime.

Some demanding modern 3D applications are now functionally working, with performance optimization being one of my primary areas of development.

There’s still a lot to accomplish, especially around compatibility, performance, and graphics correctness, but the progress has been significant.

Why build this instead of using Wine?

Wine and the projects built around it have accomplished some incredible things.

But I wanted to explore a different approach: building an independent Windows runtime specifically around Apple Silicon and the native macOS experience.

That means implementing the execution engine, Windows compatibility infrastructure, and native integration rather than depending on an existing Windows compatibility layer.

It’s an enormous engineering challenge, but that’s also what makes it interesting.

When can I try it?

Vitreo is currently in private development, and public builds aren’t available yet.

I’m working toward beta testing builds as development progresses.

I’ve launched a website explaining the project, architecture, and current development status:

https://vitreo.dev

I’d love to hear what the Mac gaming community thinks.

How can I fix this guys i tried restarting the vm but that does not seem work idk what's the problem

I cannot start the Reims-VGPU with it outputting error at Line 321, with the log said "WHPX: failed to enable nested virtualization, hr=80370302" "WHPX = Failed to Initialize WHPX, Invalid Argument" even though i have enabled the Windows Hypervisor Platform and WHPX is detected correctly in SystemInfo & Powershell command. just i can't enable Virtual Machine Platform cuz it's make Windows BSOD.

Spec :

Asus Prime B550M-K ARGB

Ryzen 3 3100 4C 8T 3.9GHz

2x8GB DDR4 2666

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050

NVMe Gen 3 512G

Windows 11 Pro 23H2 (one year old installed).

For the first time ever, run Intel versions of macOS Mojave, macOS Catalina, and macOS Big Sur on Apple silicon with Metal and OpenGL acceleration. This marks an exciting new milestone in the preservation of the history of Mac.

https://github.com/nfzerox/VirtualIntelMacOnAppleSilicon

Has anyone has success getting an iPhone to pass thru to a QEMU VM?

I'm trying to pass it from Windows to a Tahoe (WHPx) guest and it can see it in the device tree but it doesn't show up in Finder or Photos.

I'm using UsbDk latest.

Thanks! :)

I run a cluster of Apple Mac M1/M2 Minis and Studios for development use. They all run Fedora Asahi Linux and they work really well. I mainly use them as headless servers for software dev work.

I've recently been working on some iOS projects, which naturally need Mac OS/XCode to do the builds. CI runners on Github and hosted Mac OS machines in general are very expensive - a used Mac Mini is now dirt cheap. Mac OS, however, is not a great headless server OS and running CI jobs should ideally be done with ephemeral storage to keep things clean and predictable.

I therefore really wanted a way of running my Mac OS CI jobs under Linux on my existing M-series Apple hardware inside VMs.

I guided a combination AI agents into investigating the shortcomings of steelbrain's alpha/experimental work. Things like partial/slow GPU support, VM boot failures (required a virtual clock), memory ballooning, etc. and ultimately reverse engineered, improved efficiency of and production-readied steelbrain's work. This involved a lot of testing, a lot of benchmarking, a few kernel panics.

Mac OS VMs now run efficiently and with GPU acceleration under Fedora Asahi Linux. You can find the work here: https://github.com/aquarat/apple-macos-arm64-vm-guest

I've been using them as runners for my Forgejo CI system, but this work should be easily extendable to Github Actions and beyond.

Initial image generation still needs a Mac OS machine. There are graphs 😆

For Tahoe

I installed Tahoe directly on Windows.

Note: Once Tahoe is installed and you reach the desktop, you may only see the wallpaper. To fix this, boot into macOS Recovery, open Terminal, and run the following commands:

cd "/Volumes/Macintosh HD - Data/Library/Preferences"
defaults write .GlobalPreferences METAL_ERROR_MODE -int 5
chmod 644 .GlobalPreferences.plist
reboot

For Ventura

I installed Ventura on Linux, copied it to Windows, and then asked an AI agent to fix it.

I used this build not ported by me though and modified the launcher:

https://github.com/tqmane/reims-vgpu/tree/windows-native-tahoe

I fixed the boot issue on my AMD system both for tahoe and ventura by making the following change to start.ps1:

'-name', 'reims-windows', '-machine', 'q35', '-accel', $(if ($DiagnosticTcg) { 'tcg' } else { 'whpx,hyperv=off,intercept-msr-gp=on' }),

Am I the first?

https://github.com/steelbrain/reims-vgpu/issues/32

If I run Linux on Virtual Box in the MacBook how much of it does MacBook see and what it seas? I know that it sees that VPN or Tor traffic is moving out of the MacBook but does it also see what is on the screen and can it scan/read files when the machine is running?

EndeveourOS, I tried to install macOS VM a lot times with different ways in macOS KVM

In 1 time this worked, just offline install and everything in guide, then macOS emullation is worked, this was macOS ventura, then updated to macOS tahoe, go to login screen but after entering password, there was kernel panic or error

I tried to install with offline install, doing everything in guide and installing right pkg but either error in manifest or error durning install of OS (where there progress bar) or other errors

I know that macOS emulation is more harder and there errors but I just want to install simple without head and CPTSD problems with them where there often will be errors or no way of succeeding, I just want to simple install and get this worked

I tried to install online, and progress bar go to full but idk what happened then a lot minutes later, this is still going on, I am using VPN, online install don't working