Run Linux Vm On Mac
With the newly released M1 Macs, there have been lots of questions about being able to run other operating systems on it, particularly from developers that are used to running Window or Linux in Virtual Machines using virtualization on their Intel Macs. So what challenges do the M1 Macs bring in this regard?
If you are new to all this, it is important to understand the parts involved. First there are virtual machines, which act as virtual computers running on a main or host computer. Second, there are the instruction sets for the computer and OS. These virtual computers run an operating system (OS) of some kind and in most cases this OS has to have the same instruction set as the host computer. This allows the instruction to be passed through the VM to the CPU and allows for good performance. Which is what makes it so easy to run Windows 10 x86 on an Intel Mac — they both are using Intel CPUs with the same instruction sets.
But what if the instruction sets differ as they do with Intel and M1 Macs? Obviously you can no longer pass an x86 instruction to an M1 chip and expect anything to happen. So some translation or emulation needs to happen. This is typically much, much slower.
In general this is what Apple is doing with Rosetta 2 on Big Sur to allow your x86 Mac apps to run on an M1 Mac. They do an entire app translation on first launch (and also re-do it at times) and then run the translated app. This is a great technique but it doesn’t really work at a virtual machine level. And in fact, Apple specifically says that Rosetta 2 cannot be used with virtualization software.
It is better to use a static MAC address for Linux running on Hyper-V especially if your Linux VM needs to be migrated between Hyper-V hosts. Right click your VM name and click Settings. In the Settings window, select your network adapter, and expand the network adapter options by clicking the + icon. The Virtualization framework provides high-level APIs for creating and managing virtual machines on Apple silicon and Intel-based Mac computers. Use this framework to boot and run a Linux-based operating system in a custom environment that you define. Run the “autorun.sh” shell script in the Guest Additions directory. Sudo sh autorun.sh. Let the script install the VirtualBox Guest Additions into your VM. When the process is done, reboot the VM. Increase cores in VM. Casual virtual box users who set up a Linux VM do not think about CPU cores.
That’s the bad news. But there are options on the horizon.
Emulation
The first option is OS-level emulation. What would happen here is that emulation software (say, QEMU, a popular open-source emulator and virtualizer) would translate x86 instructions to ARM instructions (usually on-the-fly) so that an x86 operating system could run on an M1 Mac. In theory this would allow Windows 10 x86 for example to run as a (virtual computer) on an M1 Mac.
Technically this is more than a theory since it has been done before. You may remember it was possible to run Windows 98 x86 on a PowerPC Mac back in the day using software such as Connectix Virtual PC. The downside to this approach is that it can be quite slow. Fortunately the M1 Macs are proving to be very speedy and might be able make this technique acceptable for casual use. I expect the QEMU project will be updated to eventually allow emulation of x86 operating systems on M1 Macs.
OS Vendors
You might remember in the WWDC 2020 keynote Apple showed Linux running as a virtual machine with Parallels on an M1 Mac. This demo was actually running an ARM Linux distro in that virtual machine. Since it was not an x86 distro, its usefulness depends on its ability to run the apps you need. If you wanted to run an x86 Linux app then it would not work on an ARM distro.
However, the OS vendors are working on this. Much like what Apple did with Rosetta 2, they can add OS-level support to translate individual apps from x86 to ARM, thus allowing them to work in a virtual machine. I haven’t heard of progress on this front with Linux, but I expect there will be some convoluted way to do it at some point.
Microsoft does have an ARM version of Windows, but right now it is only licensed for OEM use to include with a computer, so virtualizing it is not yet an option. And even if you could virtualize ARM Windows on your M1 Mac, it also is only useful to you if it can run the apps you want.
Currently ARM Windows has a translator that lets it run 32-bit x86 apps, but performance is poor, especially when compared to what Apple has done with Rosetta 2 in Big Sur. Microsoft has said they are working on adding the ability to run 64-bit x86 apps on ARM Windows, but that feature is not ready yet and performance is unknown.
I expect virtualizers such as Parallels, VMware and VirtualBox will all eventually have versions that run on M1 Macs and can run ARM operating systems, although perhaps just Linux to start. I don’t expect them to include emulators in their products.
Mac cataclysm download. Update (2020-4-14): Parallels has just released 16.5 with support for running Windows for ARM on M1 Macs.
When Microsoft adds 64-bit x86 translation and has it working at a decent speed and if it decides to make ARM Windows available for use in virtual machines then you would also be able to run Windows on an M1 Mac and run common Windows apps. But for now, we wait.
Update (2020-12-08): Some progress continues to be made on this. Here are some rough instructions on how to get Windows ARM running in a VM (UTM running on QEMU).
Other Options
Mac Os Vm On Linux
Another option is the CodeWeavers product that is based on the WINE open-source project. This project essentially provides a translated Windows API that allows some Windows apps to run on a Mac. It does not run Windows itself, only apps, and only a small subset at that.
But because it translates the apps to essentially a Mac x86 app, they are a candidate for Rosetta 2 on Big Sur to translate. That’s a lot of levels of translation, but in the end you end up with a Windows app running on an M1 Mac.
CodeWeavers recently posted some information about their early testing of this.
Wrap Up
With all this said, if you require the ability to run an x86 version of Windows or Linux, then an M1 Mac cannot be your sole machine at this time. You’ll either want to also have an Intel Mac to run those in virtual machines or get dedicated separate hardware for them.
Run Linux Vm On Mac Free
And if you want to make your own native apps for M1 Macs, Xojo now has the ability to create native apps for M1 Macs.
We’ve outlined how to run Linux on Mac® and how easy it is to get started!
Linux is an incredibly versatile operating system that has been designed to run on a wide range of devices—from mobile devices, to desktop computers, and even servers. Due to the open-source nature that ensures code has active community support, Linux is widely loved by developers. Think of Linux as an operating system “of the people, by the people, for the people.” (Yes, we just quoted the Gettysburg Address to enable readers to understand Linux as a whole.)
Users online have expressed a desire to run Linux on their Mac computer without rebooting. This is where Parallels Desktop® for Mac enters as a solution. Virtualization of Linux is a powerful and easy installation process that allows for an interruption-free environment.
Parallels Desktop provides several popular distributions of Linux for free directly in the product itself. Additionally, Parallels Desktop users can download .ISO files of and install other Linux distributions (for example: Kali Linux & use Vagrant to download and setup Linux environments like a pro!)
The free included systems are shown below. There’s no need to take any additional steps to find the right Linux distribution for you. We’ve made it very easy to run Linux on Mac!
Ubuntu: One of the most popular open-source softwares; based on the Debian GNU/Linux distribution.
Fedora: Formerly Fedora Core. Based on the Linux kernel, developed by the community-supported Fedora project, and sponsored by Red Hat.
CentOS: Provides a stable, predictable, manageable, and reproducible platform.
Debian GNU/Linux: A popular Unix-like operating system that is composed entirely of free software, which is utilized for personal computers and network servers.
Run Linux On Mac
Linux Mint: An easy-to-use free distribution that requires little maintenance and goes with full multimedia support.
Android: A Linux-based operating system for mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablet PCs.
All of these Linux distributions are free and easy to install as a virtual machine on your Mac through Parallels Desktop. Linux distributions can be located under the “Free Systems” options available to users within the Installation Assistant when creating a new virtual machine. See the full list of free systems below:
Linux Vm For Mac
Get started with Linux on Mac with Parallels Desktop and try a free 14-day trial now.