ArcGIS Pro on M1 MacBooks

[BrianBaldwin]

UPDATE: 8/16/2021

Parallels Desktop 17 was just recently released, which has been "rebuilt and optimized to natively run on Apple M1 and Intel based Mac devices"

ORIGINAL POST

In November of 2020, Apple released a new processor for their computers called the M1. If you want to dive into it, you can read about the details here (https://www.apple.com/mac/m1/). 

The impact for users of ArcGIS Pro, is that there are currently no Windows virtual machine (VM) platforms that support this new processor (this is not the case for virtual desktop infrastructure or VDI platforms, which have been released and support M1). 

Below is a list of the current recommendations and options that are available to users that need to run ArcGIS Pro on a Mac.  

Intel MacBooks 

Users can still purchase MacBooks that contain the latest Intel processors. Virtual machines are supported on the majority of MacBooks that contain an Intel chip. When purchasing a laptop, just make sure that you are purchasing the Intel chip option if running Windows in a VM is critical for your work. 

Wait for VM Support 

There is currently no VM client that can be installed locally to support a Windows VM (as of this writing 3/3/2021). The 2 major vendor details for support are currently as follows: 

VMWare 

• There is currently no roadmap or technical preview of a VMWare product that will support M1 (as of this writing 3/3/2021).  
• Please refer to the VMWare website for the latest news/updates 

Parallels 

• There is currently a ‘technical preview’ that has been released to support Windows 10 ARM. The caveat here is that users would be relying on a VM ‘technical preview’, to load an OS ‘insider preview’ (Windows 10 ARM), to install ArcGIS Pro (not yet supported on Windows 10 ARM), so this isn’t an option yet. 

• For updates related to x86 Windows support on a M1 VM, or Windows ARM, please refer to the Parallels website for news/updates 

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) 

Virtual desktop infrastructure, or VDI for short, provides the ability to run applications like ArcGIS Pro over the internet and serve them through a browser. For schools or institutions that currently support VDI infrastructure (Citrix, VMWare Horizon, Parallels RAS, Amazon Workspaces, etc.), ArcGIS Pro is supported. Refer to your VDI vendor’s documentation to see what versions are current for installing on M1 MacBooks. For those that currently own an M1 MacBook and need to run ArcGIS Pro locally, this is currently the only option available. 

Summary 

The M1 processor is still relatively new (released November 2020) and VM platforms are certainly aware of the need to support Windows VM environments. For users that have already purchased an M1 MacBook, a VDI is currently the only option for running ArcGIS Pro. As vendors update their platforms to support VMs on the M1, we will work to keep you informed.   

While ArcGIS Pro is the workhorse for data management, map production, and analysis, there is also an ever-expanding list of functions that can be accomplished in ArcGIS Online (spatial analysis, joins, visualization, map production, etc.). For power users as well, the ability to run ArcGIS Notebooks with the ArcPy library inside of ArcGIS Online provides a wealth of advanced GIS functionality that could be run from any machine (or phone). 

[tbaker]

Great article Brian! This is a critical message for anyone considering using ArcGIS on an M1 Mac in the near future.  Thanks for putting this together.

[TonyViveiros1]

Thanks for the info @BrianBaldwin. How about esri developing a macOS version of ArcGIS Pro? Any possibility of that happening anytime soon?

[glester]

Hi Brian,

Thank you for writing this helpful post. I wanted to draw your attention to an announcement from Parallels today: that you can now run Windows 10 on Arm on Apple's M1 Macs. (See https://www.parallels.com/products/desktop/).

Could you please let me know if, in light of this, it is now possible to use ArcGIS Pro on an M1 MacBook (via Parallels)? 

Thank you so much!

[V_StuartFoote]

Nope!  Still just the ARM Insider Preview, no functional support of x86 based VMs.  As Brian notes above, ArcGIS Pro will not run on ARM (nor will ArcGIS Desktop (ArcMap, ArcCatalog).

<clip> (from https://www.parallels.com/products/desktop/resources/#requirements)

Supported Guest Operating Systems (Mac with Apple M1 chip):

Only ARM versions of operating systems are supported.

• Windows 10 on ARM Insider Preview
  Windows on ARM can run most of the regular Windows x86 applications. You can download the Parallels Desktop trial and install the application you need. If it doesn't work, let us know at Parallels Forum.
• Ubuntu 20.10, 20.04
• Fedora Workstation 33-1.2
• Debian GNU/Linux 10.7
• Kali Linux 2021.1

<clip>

[BrianBaldwin]

@TonyViveiros1- nope. :see_no_evil_monkey:

[LinusLevey]

Hi @BrianBaldwin 

Any updates with regards to Parallels and support for arc pro on a VM? Looking to get an M1 MacBook soon and wondering if it’ll work. My university has virtual desktop infrastructure so I have that as a backup but would prefer running parallels.

[BrianBaldwin]

@LinusLevey- Nothing yet - wish I had some good news - but nothing yet related to VM's.

[MarcelSt-Germain]

Maybe I'm out of line but, it's not so simple.

Virtualizing with parallel or vm ware is not enough.  Now, parallel can run natively in M1 but, virtualization, if I'm not mistaken, do not allow running software made for another processor that is emulator functions.

So yes, you could run window ARM in parallel to have a second operating system on the Mac M1 but, ONLY ARM compiled software will run outside emulators.  Emulation is not perfect and slow the process.  So do the windows Intel emulator do the job?  What I read about it is acceptable for a simple program but for complex software like ArcGIS Pro, is a long shot.

See no news about ESRI compiling for ARM since window is not officially offer for arms at the moment.

Maybe someone who has purchased a Mac M1 will make a try and post benchmark.

So, for M1 user I saw, for now, only two solutions.

1 - Use a PC and control it with Remote Desktop like I do. If your organization is on ESRI only product.

2- Buy a native Mac software and wait for the arm version for GIS use in Mac if you only need a good GIS program.  For now they can run via Rosetta but the work is in the process to make it native support https://support.cluetrust.com/hc/en-us/articles/360060048953-Apple-Silicon-Macs-and-ClueTrust-produc...

[fstring]

Hi all. Just want to comment that I've been successfully using ArcGIS Pro in Windows 10 ARM Preview on an Apple Macbook Air with M1 chip for a couple months. It works great.

My use case is primarily development of toolboxes and scripts supporting integration with my company's APIs. I also have a need to use the Enterprise SDK but Visual Studio is not yet supported on Windows 10 ARM. I haven't done much heavy spatial analysis or any cartography.

Both the M1 chip and Windows ARM are surprisingly good. I've been really happy with this configuration. I've also got an Ubuntu 20.04 ARM VM available that works just as well.

My only regret is getting 8GB RAM. Would recommend 16GB, which is the current max supported by the M1 chip. 64GB will be supported on the rumored M1X or M2 set for late this year or next.

https://imgur.com/a/7DgfN9Q 

Parallels 16.5.0

Big Sur 11.3

Windows 10 ARM Build 21286

ArcGIS Pro 2.7.2

[MarcelSt-Germain]

Hi, have you tested the speed of this solution on M1 against similar Intel computer? Since windows have to translate Intel coding in arm coding do the power of M1 compensate for this emulation.

[fstring]

@MarcelSt-GermainI haven't done any hard benchmarking. I also don't have an Intel-powered Mac to compare against, which would be the closest apples-to-apples comparison available. I'd be happy to compare times for a workflow against a non-Mac laptop with Intel CPU running Windows natively but that will be so divergent a comparison that it's probably irrelevant in this context.

I can tell you that in my normal workflows and development, I haven't noticed any overhead at all. Not even in the slightest. If you're concerned about sluggishness and responsiveness in the application or extended geoprocessing run times, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

It goes without saying, though, you'll be on your own in terms of support. That doesn't matter for me but if you're an IT manager evaluating solutions for your GIS group, you definitely want to wait until these components mature.

[PeterKnoop]

@fstring if you have the time, it would be great to see the results shared here from running the ArcGIS Pro Performance Analysis Tool (PAT) on your M1 setup. I'm personally interested in how it does on the graphics related tests.  (If you have not used PAT yet, please see the recent blog post for more information: Announcing the ArcGIS Pro Performance Assessment Tool (PAT).) 

[MarcelSt-Germain]

Hi, thank for the reply,
What I have in mind is speed not with Mac but with arcgis pro in a regular Intel Pc since it’s, even with a i7 3770 3,4 - 3,9 Ghz 24 Go of ram it’s slow for my task.

[fstring]

@PeterKnoopThanks for pointing out this tool! I've downloaded it and installed the add-in. Will run the full test suite later today when I can leave my laptop unattended.

[BrianBaldwin]

@fstring- Thanks very much for the post and the details of the setup. Very curious to see what the results are from the PAT test.

[fstring]

Following up with the level 1 and 2 PAT results. I'll have to modify the batch file to complete level 3 as ArcGIS Pro installs x64 conda and it looks like I'll need to use a standalone x64 powershell instance to execute it. conda init will not work in an arm64 cli.

For level 1, this configuration was within range at the low end. For level 2, it was out of range by a couple minutes.

If your common workflow is dealing with heavy 3D scenes, you definitely want to steer clear of this setup and probably weren't in the market for it in the first place. I watched CPU and RAM while the tests ran and could see that memory was a bottleneck and, for the M1 Macs, that impacts graphics performance too. Spring for the 16GB RAM Mac if you go this route.

Since my first message, I've updated to ArcGIS Pro 2.8.0 and installed Visual Studio with Enterprise SDK. Installs fine and I'll kick the tires today to see if there's any bugs.

Level 1:

05/28/2021 02:41 STDOUT   INFO     =====ProBookmarkRendering (Portland) successful=====
05/28/2021 02:41 STDOUT   INFO     ProBookmarkRendering (Portland) Elapsed Time (sec): 181.15
05/28/2021 02:41 STDOUT   INFO     =====ProAnalysis successful=====
05/28/2021 02:41 STDOUT   INFO     ProAnalysis Elapsed Time (sec): 9.878
05/28/2021 02:41 STDOUT   INFO     ==========
05/28/2021 02:41 STDOUT   INFO     Total Elapsed Time (minutes): 3.184

 Level 2:

05/28/2021 02:16 STDOUT   INFO     =====ProStartup successful=====
05/28/2021 02:16 STDOUT   INFO     ProStartup Elapsed Time (sec): 63.936
05/28/2021 02:31 STDOUT   INFO     =====ProBookmarkRendering (Philly3D) successful=====
05/28/2021 02:31 STDOUT   INFO     ProBookmarkRendering (Philly3D) Elapsed Time (sec): 873.936
05/28/2021 02:34 STDOUT   INFO     =====ProEditing successful=====
05/28/2021 02:34 STDOUT   INFO     ProEditing Elapsed Time (sec): 162.857
05/28/2021 02:34 STDOUT   INFO     =====ProProjection successful=====
05/28/2021 02:34 STDOUT   INFO     ProProjection Elapsed Time (sec): 15.251
05/28/2021 02:34 STDOUT   INFO     =====ProXYTableToPoint successful=====
05/28/2021 02:34 STDOUT   INFO     ProXYTableToPoint Elapsed Time (sec): 11.587
05/28/2021 02:34 STDOUT   INFO     ==========
05/28/2021 02:34 STDOUT   INFO     Total Elapsed Time (minutes): 18.793

System info report:

Platform Type:
 Windows
Platform Version:
 10.0.21286
CPU Type:
 ARMv8 (64-bit) Family 8 Model 0 Revision   0, Apple
RAM:
 4 GB
GPU:
 Parallels Display Adapter (WDDM)  
 

[SeanAdlai]

ArcGIS Pro and Desktop runs on Apple M1 using ...

Parallels + Windows Insider preview ARM 64
See
https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-pro-questions/arcgis-pro-amp-desktop-on-apple-m1/m-p/1063294#M4...

[Ratul_Debnath]

Could anyone please tell me can I run heavy spatial analysis smoothly on a 13.3-inch MacBook Pro Apple M1 Chip with 8‑Core CPU 8‑Core GPU - Space Gray (16 GB/1 TB) using  parallels + Windows Insider preview ARM 64?

I am truly confused and need suggestions. Thanks in advance. 

[CarlosBarahona]

@Ratul_Debnath My understanding of the above, and following the topic in a few seminars is: without access to some type of remote infrastructure to run on, you will not be able to use ArcGIS from an M1 Mac, even with parallels and Windows ARM at this time. From the comments above, there is no roadmap to bring this as a supported platform. Your best bet would be to seek access to a VDI or RDP environment where you can remotely run, but access locally.
Please bear in mind, the above is "supported" environments. As others have said, some things might work. There's significant overlap between the M1 and the x64 instruction set, so some things might even work well, but basically if you aren't meeting the software requirements (including the processor architecture), compiled software will be emulated and you're going to have a bad time. 

[Ratul_Debnath]

@CarlosBarahona  Thanks for your reply and suggestion.

Just curious do you have any recommendations for intel MacBook Pro (32 GB/1 TB) where I can by boot camp, run windows and use Arc GIS? I would appreciate your help. 

[SeanAdlai]

Hello Ratul
Great questions.

- The M1for long-term prospects -  Right performance but Risky
The 8GB iMac performed within range. 16GB Macbook Pro test had Parallels issue.
Will let you know when I try a 16GB iMac.
BUT - A number of users make the valid point of at least waiting to see Microsoft's commitment ... etc.

- MacBook Pro 32 GB for heavy spatial analysis
I have actually tried with VMWare (Not bootcamp). Fast machine, but bad on GPU intensive tasks.
Last I checked, neither VMWare nor Parallels took full advantage of GPU on Mac running windows.

Your best bet is convincing Apple that ESRI can be a worthy partner to make their maps better :-).

Hope that helps.

[CarlosBarahona]

@Ratul_Debnath Personally, and keep in mind that I'm a total Apple fan boy in every other part of my life, don't think it's worth it the wasted resources sharing in a virtualized environment. Bootcamp can be worth it, but do not skimp on space. Even consider an additional external drive.

I think you were asking where to buy Bootcamp? Bootcamp is roughly a feature built into OSX to enable dual boot to Windows. Really you'll just need to consider buying a Windows license. Mainly, I'd just recommend you get it from a reputable distributor.

Other points would just to make sure to install all the drivers in this process. The power of Pro is really in optimization, using GPU and 64 bit processing. If you neglect these, you're in for a bad time.

That all said, in all honesty, I personally would still recommend a PC to work with ArcGIS. If it's feasible, it's worth it to avoid the hassle at this point in time.

[LionelHenry_EsriFrance]

Just installed Parallels Desktop 7 on Macbook Air M1 (16gb memory). ArcGIS Pro 2.8 works well, even with 3D scenes. So good so far

[SeanAdlai]

Awesome Lionel!

I think I need to get moving on doing that as well.

[Jon-PaulOliva]

@fstring or anyone else with experience of Win11 ARM & ArcGIS.  I can get most everything working with a few exceptions:

1) On the lastest 10.8.2 Build of ArcMap, the 64-bit background geoprocessing add-on will not install properly due to a "ArcGIS Desktop Background Geoprocessing requires Microsoft Visual Studio C++ 2015-2019 Redistributable (x64) 14.22.27821 or greater to proceed"..  Installing the latest ARM64 or X64 package from MS does not solve the issue, has anyone encountered this issue and found a way to complete the installation?

2) I cannot install the ArcGIS License Manager 2021.1 (or 2021.0).  Earlier versions WILL install but will not authorize the product in a concurrent use license situation due to reported version incompatibility of the (older) FlexLM servicing component.  This seems like a FlexLM issue.  When I try to install the newest version of the license manager I get a similar installation error "ArcGIS License Manager 2021.1 requires Microsoft Visual Studio C++ 2015-2019 Redistributable (x64) 14.27.29016 or greater to proceed". 

[JonathanHallam1]

I currently have a MacBook pro 2017 i5 16GB ram

looking to get a MacBook pro  2021 with M1

will arcgis pro work?
currently have parallels, but can be slow to use 

What specs do I need CPU and GPU and how much Ram?

want this laptop to last and be suitable for many years 

[MarcelSt-Germain]

Hi,

Like said before, the report said it’s working. Do everything work fine, that’s the question. Look at the posts, you see reports on speed and it looks good. For me it is a question of the risk you want to take. Does Microsoft release an official arm windows? Since ArcGis Pro in not compiled for arms, it’s run inside the windows emulator. Does Microsoft emulator accept every esrie command or some are missing or badly implemented, who knows.

If you need it to study Pro, you can do it. But for me, if you need it to do real works, not sure.

So if you're Intel Mac work well, the advice for you, stick with it until at least an official release of windows for arms before changing it. I suspect, with all rumours, that we will see news about it in the current of 2022.

If you need tho change your Mac an work mostly on it but really need to do professional work with Pro, the best advice I can give you is to do, like me, enjoy your Mac but use a real PC for Pro links with Remote Desktop.

Hope that’s helping you decide.

Maybe 2022 we will see official windows arm and why not, an arm version of Pro from Esri (doubtful )

[JonathanHallam1]

@MarcelSt-Germain @SeanAdlai 

Thanks for reply.

My intel Macbook Pro - 2.3Ghz i5 16GB RAM hasn't worked great with ArcGIS Pro for at least a year if not longer, to the point been using QGIS and uploading to AGOL more for my apps and online maps.

I think its a combination of my laptop getting older and ArcGIS Pro, worked fine in past. Had Mac since 2015 and wouldn't change, still have my university windows laptop but don't think that could handle ArcGIS Pro, at Uni only ArcMap only existed.

I am looking to get a MacBook Pro 2021 M1 32GB RAM, 10 Core CPU and 16 core GPU.
My Macbook can struggle with regular tasks non windows.

I have always used ESRI since started uni GIS degree. I set up my own side business Woodhall Mapping Solutions a few years back, as well as my daily job. Used just Parallels on Windows with ArcGIS Pro and AGOL for everything, then found got slower in last year and 2 running ArcGIS Pro on Parallels, sometimes wouldn't even load, which led me to use QGIS to do desktop stuff then upload to AGOL for online & mobile things.

Trying to get laptop powerful enough that will last for a few years, preferable to run ArcGIS Pro on Windows & Mac sametime so VM. Could do bootcamp, new laptop will be 512GB not 128 so more room to split. 

Intel is being phased out of apple so getting M1, already waited a year for better designed MacBook Pro.

[MarcelSt-Germain]

Hi, if you use it, like you said, for real works it’s something to think about. If you do not need to travel with it, a cheap PC tower could be the solution or, maybe some virtual computer you could rent can do the job.

Qgis work well but have you check Mac gis software, since Esri doesn’t care about us. Look at https://www.macgis.comfor cartographica since an M1 version is on the workbench. Try it at the beginning and look fine. Unfortunately, everything at work is windows Esri team so...

[Readamap]

I use Arcgis Pro on a MacBook Air M1 with Parallels. Installing Windows 11 ARM Insider preview and Arcgis Pro was super easy. No issues or workarounds currently. 

[SeanAdlai]

Awesome @Readamap!

not sure where Microsoft is going with the whole ARM Support thing but it’s smooth running for now for me too.

happy it worked out.

[SeanAdlai]

Hello @JonathanHallam1 

I agree - the intel Macs do not utilize the graphics card on them in a way to make ArcGIS run efficiently, especially Pro that is very GPU hungry.

I say try the M1, while you remain aware of MS seems to be “watching ARM”. But having moved ARM support to Windows 11 may signal their long term commitment - in my opinion.

Enjoy the M1 :).

[SeanAdlai]

Hello @Jon-PaulOliva .

Thats a good note you’re making on ArcMap.

I have not tried - Windows 11 as yet on the M1 and I didn’t plan on try long ArcMap with Windows 11 since support is winding down for ArcMap, but if I do I will let you know.

Have you had an opportunity to try the ArcPro install on the M1 Windows 11? I know that moving your workflow to ArcPro will take some effort, but since it’s inevitable, I recommend heading in that direction now.

[curtvprice]

A year has gone by. Is there an update on M1 support plans?

I'm all good for a while because I can run Pro and ArcMap adequately on my 2013 black can (lots of RAM, multithreaded 8 CPUs. Though for real processing (and any 3D) I do use a Windows box.

Shutting down ArcMap will be a challenge for Esri - ArcMap is a great app and works so well for existing workflows for many users, so IMHO the main thing that will kill ArcMap is nothing Esri is doing: Python 2.7 security concerns.

[BrianBaldwin]

@RyanDanzey - Any updates you are aware of for M1 and Pro?

[RyanDanzey]

This is still not a supported method.

[Jon-PaulOliva]

I've tested Pro in Parallels on Windows 11 extensively at this point and have had no issues.  Still not supported but ESRI is ESRI so I'm not holding my breath on that.

[BruceCuthbert]

Is there anyone at Esri we can contact to help raise awareness to get something done to allow Esri on M1 using Parallels.  Parallels seem to be willing...

Does Esri have anyone working on this?

perhaps a topic for the upcoming UC??

[curtvprice]

I am sure this will be addressed by Jack's EsriUC Q&A this year as this is a hot topic. Looking for the document coming out in early July. Also, I recommend attending the EsriUC in person or (free) online and there will be opportunities to connect directly with the product leads!

[ChrissyRothgeb]

I'm a bit confused... I have ArcGIS Pro 2.9 running on my M1 Mac mini and it seems to be fine. Please note - I am a systems admin, not a GIS professional, so I don't have any workflows I can run to test it properly, but it does install and open without complaint.

Granted, ArcGIS Pro is not a native macOS app nor ARM program, but the compatibility layer seems to work well for x86 programs.

Was there anything in particular you are unable to do with ArcGIS Pro on Apple Silicon/ARM at this time? Just curious... we're still looking for solutions for our Mac students. Thank you!

[curtvprice]

@ChrissyRothgeb many comments up thread that it works, but if Esri doesn't support it, I wouldn't not expect high performance (expected anyway, as this is emulation), and no guarantee Esri can help you if you run into OS related problems. Retired or non supported doesn't mean it won't work - I still can run ArcInfo (9.3 - 2008 release) on my Win 10 laptop! ArcInfo Workstation Guidance  

[ChrissyRothgeb]

Ah... gotcha. Well, that'll teach me to TL;DR a thread and respond! Thank you!

[BruceCuthbert]

Thanks Chrissy. This is very helpful to know you have it working. 

[EmilianoPetrelli]

Hi, I just wanna share with you this screen video taken with an ArcGIS Pro installed on Windows 11 (arm) using Parallels on my MacBookPro M1.

Performance are better then my Intel i7 (8th generation) specially for 3D visualization.

I'm taking this test cause my company choose to switch to apple hardware.

As a developer, I know that is not a supported environment (yet), but after this couple of week of testing I was able to develop, debug and release in the same way as with my window environment

[BrianBaldwin]

@EmilianoPetrelli - Thanks for the video - the performance certainly looks impressive!

[PeterKnoop]

@EmilianoPetrelli would you be able to share the specs for your MacBook? And, how much CPU and memory did you give the Parallels Windows 11 VM? Thanks!

[EmilianoPetrelli]

Hi @PeterKnoop shure!

Here my environment:

- CPU: M1

- RAM: 16GB

- HD: 512 Gb

The amount of RAM of the VM is 6 GB (max 3GB for Video) and 4CPU (default settings). When VM starts the total consumption of RAM on the MacBook is about 13,5 GB (with some basic apps open like Microsoft Teams, browser and Outlook).

I think should be better to have a machine with 32 Gb and 1Tb of HD if you ha ve to use the VM very often (ex: working with data, modelling GeoDB, create Geoprocessing, ecc), while is enough if your needs is to write code and debug.

[pbergamo]

great job @EmilianoPetrelli !!!

[GregorioPezzoli]

Hey!

I have a MacBook Pro with M1 pro. I installed Parallel 17 with Microsoft ARC. But during the installation of ArcGis Pro and CityEngine I have these error messages. 

 

Does anyone know how to resolve the issue? Visual C++ and Desktop Runtime, I already downloaded and installed these.

Parallel is still the trial version, but I don't think it can be a problem.

Many thanks 🙂

[curtvprice]

Did your installs work? Check in add/remove programs (and versions).