Inventor on Apple Mac M1 processor under Parallels

[ny2la36]

Inventor on Apple Mac M1 processor under Parallels

Does anyone have suggestions and / or success on how to run  Autodesk Inventor or Fusion360 on my Apple Macbook Pro M1 which is running Parallels 17 ARM with Windows ARM installed ? thanks

[DhoffmannFFM3X]

I have the same question. I have tried both Windows 10 (Build 21390.1) and the latest Windows 11 for Arm Insider Preview. Inventor 2022 installs fine, although there is only an 64-bit x86 version available, not one compiled for ARM.

Trying to open files has them show up in the Recent Documents pane of the Inventor home screen, like so:

but the model files don’t actually open. Sometimes, when I try to go to the tab of an opened model file (which displays a blank window), I get this error:

[DhoffmannFFM3X]

Got it working!

The key was to make these changes to the default VM configuration:

Ta-da:

Unfortunately, panning, orbiting and zooming are still quite rough. I have another rabbit hole to go down toward making configuration changes, in order to improve graphics performance. The computer itself has plenty of capability. It’s just a matter of having the VM and guest OS use it more effectively.

[Stefanetter]

Hey Guys, How are the M1 systems running inventor?
I run a PC for inventor and reallllly would like to migrate everything over to my New Mac Mini M1, but I'm hesitant to do so because I can't be bothered dealing with the parallels side of it. if only they made it work for mac OS as well!

Anyway would love to know how its all running for you guys.

Regards Stefan

[Stefanetter]

Turns out I'm going away for 4 weeks! so I need to get Inventor on my Mac Mini asap

- Any do's & don'ts that you recommend
- Setup info
- Where to download what etc etc

Happy to send some money over PayPal for the inconvenience of listing everything.
Feel free to flick me an email otherwise if thats easier.

stefanetter@gmail.com

Thankyou
Regards Stefan

[CIPuyleart]

Yuk. I use the hell out of those two sharing functions between the virtual and physical machines.

[mmaherUN9QG]

I can confirm that this "fixes" the issue.  However I agree with the previous poster.  This solution makes the resulting product almost worthless for the application.  I might as well just buy a second PC, or switch CAD vendors entirely.  Not being able to share between VM and mac OS defeats the entire purpose of Parallels...

Is there any hope that this is a resolvable issue and will be fixed?  Last post was ~2 months ago.

[zack.jngs]

I think you can still copy and paste though right?

[zack.jngs]

Any update on improving the performance?

[nick.gaunt62]

Hi

So am i reading this correctly?

You have a MacBook M1 running Windows 11 ARM (via Parallels i assume) and Inventor 2022 works?

Does it not crash every time you select 'File' ? 

I tried the same setup with 2023 and it constantly crashed. I had managed to download 2023 via the 'Install Now' method and not the x3 file method.

Is your Windows version 11 10 ?

Tried downloading other versions of Inventor but only given the option of downloading via the x3 file method which simply did not work. It doesn't even indicate which of the files you 'execute'. Is it just the one or all three?

If you have a link to the exact point where you downloaded Inventor 2022 or can point me to the 'Install Now' download it would be appreciated; and your version of Windows 11

I'm starting to think buying the M1 was a big mistake, though in all other respects it is fine.

[bkimball]

I'm running Parallels v18 with Windows 11 Pro for ARM on an new M1 Max Macbook Pro and I'm having no luck with Inventor 2023.  I've tried installing with both the files from the Autodesk portal and the Autodesk Desktop app (after complete uninstalls).  Everything seems to install fine but when I start Inventor, it sits at the splash screen for a long time before finally popping up the license screen.  I click the option to enter my credentials and the window just closes without ever asking for the username and password.  It then just goes back to the Inventor splash screen and stays there for a long time until it finally quits or I kill it from Task Manager.  Task Manager never really shows it using much CPU or memory so I don't think it's getting very far in the process.  I've also tried setting my credentials in the Autodesk Desktop app but it doesn't help.  I've also tried disabling the sharing options from the earlier post without success.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! It sounds licensing related. Please install 2023.2 update (just available now) and see if it helps.

Many thanks!

[bkimball]

2023.2 didn't help.  It still stays on the splash screen for a few minutes before showing the license screen.  Clicked Sign in and that window closed and the splash screen closed a few minutes later without ever starting Inventor.

[m151390]

Hi! Installed Autodesk Inventor Pro 2023 on MacBook Pro M1 Max using Paralells with Windows 11. It works, but performance definitely isn't great. Rotating, zooming etc is really laggy. If someone has a solution to increase performance please let me know.

Also, there is a common problem with crashes upon opening models. If you has that, then try uninstalling Visual C++ Redistributable and installing latest ARM compatiable version. That's actually written in troubleshooting page but easily missed. Hope that helps someone

[bkimball]

Removing and installing the ARM version of C++ worked!  I was about to give up when I saw that post.  Thanks you!  I had already tried completely removing and reinstalling multiple times.  Hopefully Autodesk fixes that whenever 2024 comes out.  

[MadoreJacob]

Recently bought an M2 Pro and it's definitely sluggish, although I don't plan to do all that much Inventor when travelling (which is when I plan to use this computer), I still want it to be usable.

Any tips?

[ChrisMitchell01]

This performance issue has been investigate recently & may be a problem with the way that parallels reports the graphics hardware GPU back to Inventor. One test for this is to check what you have set under the Inventor Application Options, Hardware tab. If it shows there as using software graphics then that could be the issue.

You can try to address this by editing the C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Inventor 2024\Configuration\hardwarelibrarydm.xml file and change the “FeatureLevelLimit” under Parallels, “All Others” to 50.

Note that there may be several instances of the Parallels All Others entries to change to 50.

Then Inventor should try to use the hardware GPU. If it doesn't help then please revert the changes in the hardwarelibrarydm.xml file.

Hope this helps,
Chris

[MadoreJacob]

I didn't even play with the default settings and honestly, so far so good! Don't get me wrong, it's not my office desktop but all in all, no disappointment.

Not sure what all these forums are about scaring people not to run this setup, especially as a backup!

[leon.fechnerEA8VK]

Hello Chris, 

I've been searching for a solution for so long, for all the other desperate folks out there: I have the M3 max processor, and now Inventor runs just the way I imagined it.

Thank you so much for sharing!

[diego.cuevashJMMEE]

Thank you! I'm using an M3 on a MacBook Air an Inventor runs swiftly with that change of settings