Apple has recently introduced the new MacBook Pro, iMac, and Mac mini equipped with the M4 chip, which offers significant performance enhancements, particularly for AI-related tasks. However, users have encountered challenges when attempting to operate virtual machines using older macOS versions on these latest machines.
M4 Macs and Virtual Machines
Researcher Csaba Fitzl (via Eclectic Light Company) has highlighted that the newest Macs featuring the M4 chip appear unable to run virtual machines using macOS versions prior to Ventura 13.4. This issue impacts all virtualization software available for macOS.
Reports indicate that attempting to launch a virtual machine on M4 Macs with macOS 13.3 or earlier results in a black screen, and the VM fails to boot. Users have experimented with modifying settings in the virtualization software and even tried rebooting the VM in Recovery mode, yet the outcome remains unchanged. In contrast, Macs powered by M1, M2, or M3 chips do not face this issue.
Unfortunately, the exact cause of this bug or incompatibility remains unclear.
Regrettably, since this bug prevents the VM from booting, there is no reliable means to access its logs to identify what might be going wrong. The host’s logs also show no signs of failure; it appears to initialize its Virtio and other support properly, without any errors. After that, the virtualization processes remain idle as they await the VM to start, which never occurs.
According to the researcher, it is believed that the bug likely affects the early stages of the kernel boot, necessitating Apple to issue new IPSW files for older macOS versions to ensure compatibility with M4 Macs. However, such an update is highly improbable.
Users relying on VMs with macOS versions prior to 13.4 should be cautious before upgrading to a new M4 Mac. Apple has not yet acknowledged this issue. Other Apple Silicon Macs can still operate VMs with macOS 12 Monterey or later (the minimum recommended version for these Macs is 12.4).
Additionally, macOS Sequoia has introduced several improvements for virtual machines, such as full support for logging into iCloud accounts, a feature that was previously unavailable on Mac VMs.
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