Recently, Apple introduced new models of MacBook Pro, iMac, and Mac mini equipped with the M4 chip, offering significant performance enhancements, particularly for AI-related tasks. Nevertheless, users are encountering challenges when attempting to run virtual machines using older macOS versions on these latest devices.
M4 Macs and Virtual Machines
Researcher Csaba Fitzl (via Eclectic Light Company) has highlighted that the latest M4 Macs are not capable of running virtual machines with macOS versions earlier than Ventura 13.4. This issue seems to affect all virtualization software available for Mac users.
According to reports, attempting to initiate a virtual machine on M4 Macs with macOS 13.3 or earlier leads to a black screen and the VM fails to boot. Numerous users have experimented with various settings within the virtualization software and attempted to boot the VM in Recovery mode, but to no avail. In contrast, Macs with M1, M2, or M3 chips do not experience these issues.
Unfortunately, the root cause of the problem remains unclear.
Sadly, since this bug prevents the VM from booting, there is no dependable way to access its log files to pinpoint the issue. Additionally, there is no indication of the failure in the host’s logs: the host appears to initialize its Virtio and other support normally, without any errors. After this point, the virtualization processes on the host become inactive while they await the VM to start, which never occurs.
The researcher suggests that the bug likely impacts an early phase of the kernel boot process, which would necessitate Apple to distribute new IPSW files for older macOS versions to enable compatibility with M4 Macs. However, this is deemed unlikely to occur.
Those utilizing VMs with macOS versions earlier than 13.4 should be cautious before upgrading to a new M4 Mac. Apple has not yet publicly acknowledged this issue. Meanwhile, other Apple Silicon models can run VMs with macOS 12 Monterey or newer, with macOS 12.4 being the minimum recommended version for these devices.
In related news, macOS Sequoia has introduced several enhancements for virtual machines, including full support for logging into iCloud accounts, a feature that was previously unavailable on Mac VMs.
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