Programming Radios on Windows 11 on ARM (Windows 11 On M1 Silicon Mac)

[OffRoaderX]

Has anyone had any luck getting any drivers/cables working while running Windows for ARM (aka Windows 11 on an M1 Mac in Parallels)? 

[MichaelLAX]

[deleted by Poster]

[MichaelLAX]

The quickest and easiest solution is to just continue to run Windows in Parallels on an older Intel Mac

[remainder of post deleted by Poster]

[SteveShannon]

Changing to a different processor doesn’t necessarily fix the fact that Microsoft adopted a different model for drivers with Win 11. 

[MichaelLAX]

[Deleted by Poster]

[SteveShannon]

6 hours ago, OffRoaderX said:

Has anyone had any luck getting any drivers/cables working while running Windows for ARM (aka Windows 11 on an M1 Mac in Parallels)? 

I’m sorry, but I haven’t. 

[OffRoaderX]

4 hours ago, MichaelLAX said:

The quickest and easiest solution is to just continue to run Windows in Parallels on an older Intel Mac

That is not a solution, nor an answer to my question.

Quick update for anyone following along: I've got most of the different manufacturer's software to run and after finding an installing the Si CP-210X ARM(64) driver for my (red Wouxun) cable(s) I am able to read and write all radios EXCEPT for my Motorola XTS2500, XTS5000, & XTL5000 - they need an FTDI ARM(64) driver that I have not yet been able to find/get working.

[wrtq652]

12 hours ago, OffRoaderX said:

Has anyone had any luck getting any drivers/cables working while running Windows for ARM (aka Windows 11 on an M1 Mac in Parallels)? 

Hi @OffRoaderX,
 

If your question is actually "How do I get drivers for my radio software to run on Windows 11 emulated in Parallels on MacOS with M1 hardware?", then you might be in for a bit of trial and error and I'm excited to know what you or someone else in our group can find!  If I read your question slightly differently, as "How do I get radio software which only runs on Windows (7/8/9/10/11) to work with drivers for radio software to run on may MacOS M1?" I may have an alternate solution from the open source emulation community.

I'm also curious, are you using the Windows 11 ARM preview or the x86 version of Windows 11 inside the Parallels Virtual Machine (VM) environment?

Issues with driver versions and binary compatability
If you're runing the ARM version of Windows 11, it stands to reason you'd need an ARM version of the driver.  If you're running an x86 version of Windows 11, its stands to reason you'd need an x86 version of the driver.

Trying an alternate solution:
For the alternate solution, have you considered using UTM (https://mac.getutm.app/) for the emulator on the M1 mac?  It uses QEMU under the covers which emulates x86 on the M1 ARMs. Is the parallels solution going thorugh Rosetta as a translator?  That may be a good question to help perform a situation apprasial on if the problem is driver related, guest operating system related, or x86 driver on ARM related.

According to Parallels, "To run Windows 11 and its applications on a Mac with Apple M Series Chip, you need to install Windows 11 on ARM that can run the majority of Intel-based Windows 11 applications by using a built-in emulator." (Parallels, 2022)

I could see where an x86 driver might not operate on the ARM version of Windows 11. 

If the goal is, "programming radios with Windows based software running on a Windows based Guest OS, on a MacOS host OS, running on Apple M1 hardware", the UTM approach may better meet your needs.

I've come across lots of issues with the cables on certain radios, for example the cable for the Radioddity DB-20G on Windows 11 has well documented driver issues, there is a developers version of Windows (10 day temporary license for x86 version of Windows 7, 8, 10 that may be of use) if you need that magical version of the prolific driver on x86 or if you need a version of windows old enough to run the driver you are using to temporaily identify the problem on.  There have been some issues where an older prolific driver may work, this is only known to work on x86 versions of Windows 7,8,9,10 (Duffy, 2022)

If you choose the alternate solution, or have any successes with the path you've chosen I'd like to hear about it!  Good luck!

 

References:

Parallels. (n.d.). KB parallels: About parallels desktop for mac with Apple M Series Chip. Virtual machines created on Intel-based Mac computers have  that is fundamentally . Retrieved November 19, 2022, from https://kb.parallels.com/125343

Duffy, O. (n.d.). Prolific PL-2303 problems. Retrieved November 19, 2022, from https://owenduffy.net/software/ATB/PL2303.htm

 

 

[nokones]

I'm running the Motorola CPS for my XTS1500, XTS2500, and XTS5000 portables, and XTL5000 mobiles; Kenwood software for the TK880K mobile; and Wouxun software for the KG1000G Plus mobile; and Midland software for the MTX500 mobile radio on a Windows 11 HP Laptop computer successfully.

[nokones]

Ah, copy. I do remember loading drivers for the Wouxun and I think the Midland and Kenwood programs for the cable compatibilities

[lougasp61]

Do not use prolific cables. Use FTDI cables. Buy Two Radios sells what is called a XLT Painless Programming Cable. This cable is $17.99, it is ab FTDI and will work.

[SeaProbe]

On 11/19/2022 at 8:41 AM, OffRoaderX said:

Has anyone had any luck getting any drivers/cables working while running Windows for ARM (aka Windows 11 on an M1 Mac in Parallels)? 

Yes, I got my BTECH PC03 FTDI cable working yesterday under Win11 ARM in Parallels on my Ventura Mac Mini M2. I did have to download the drivers and go through two driver updates (one for the USB cable, a second to create a virtual COM port) inside of Windows.

There is an installation guide, along with the driver downloads at https://ftdichip.com/drivers/vcp-drivers/

Note that the ARM64 version of Win11 does NOT do automatic installs; the installation guide clearly notes that and has a manual install set of instructions towards the end of the installation guide.

I have a Baofeng GM-15 Pro and used the Radioddity GM-30 CPS as suggested elsewhere. The thing is, it would work once, then freeze if I tried to use it again, and Icouldn't even quit the task. I eventually stumbled on the compatibility wizard in Win11 which set the CPS to "smart" emulation (or similar wording) mode, which seemed to fix the freezes.

Why can't we just have native USB-C for charging and for programming? Seriously…