Good VM for testing apps and stuff?

[Astrohunter]

Hi,

I want some good VM to run Mac OS sandboxed on Mac OS to test my apps, scripts etc.

What modern programs are good for this?

Thanks

 

[Mike Boreham]

I use UTM. I started off hosting GG in Tahoe but GG was so good I reversed this and now keep a Tahoe VM in GG.
Biggest problem is Apple won’t let you sign into App Store on any VM. I can drag apps from the host to the VM to work around this. At least we can now sign into iCloud on VMs.

 

[Astrohunter]

I use UTM. I started off hosting GG in Tahoe but GG was so good I reversed this and now keep a Tahoe VM in GG.
Biggest problem is Apple won’t let you sign into App Store on any VM. I can drag apps from the host to the VM to work around this. At least we can now sign into iCloud on VMs.

Sorry I don't understand you, what is GG?
And if GG was good why revert to UTM?

I've tried UTM in the past with mixed results lol

 

[Mike Boreham]

Sorry I don't understand you, what is GG?
And if GG was good why revert to UTM?

I've tried UTM in the past with mixed results lol

GG is Golden Gate macOS27 betas

I started running macOS27 in a UTM Virtual Machine with Tahoe as host, then switched this around.

The only other virtual machine apps I have experience of are Parallels (good but expensive) and Viable (OK but I preferred UTM).

I looked into VMware Fusion and failed. Forget details of message but ChatGPT response to the message I got was "VMware Fusion 26H1 on an M3 MacBook Air (Apple Silicon) does not support macOS guest virtual machines". Confirmed by a VMware expert in another forum.

 

[bogdanw]

If you have an Intel Mac, use VMware Fusion Pro. It is free.
For an Apple Silicon Mac, I prefer VirtualBuddy https://github.com/insidegui/VirtualBuddy/releases/latest

 

[Astrohunter]

If you have an Intel Mac, use VMware Fusion Pro. It is free.
For an Apple Silicon Mac, I prefer VirtualBuddy https://github.com/insidegui/VirtualBuddy/releases/latest

I'm on ARM.
I might give VB a go, can you sandbox it properly and for example have only one shared dir?
Or can the OS inside the VM access all files on your Mac?

 

[bogdanw]

I'm on ARM.
I might give VB a go, can you sandbox it properly and for example have only one shared dir?
Or can the OS inside the VM access all files on your Mac?

It doesn't have access to anything by default. You have to configure it and you can select the folder to be read only.

 

[Mike Boreham]

If you have an Intel Mac, use VMware Fusion Pro. It is free.
For an Apple Silicon Mac, I prefer VirtualBuddy https://github.com/insidegui/VirtualBuddy/releases/latest

@bogdanw, I see that Virtualbuddy can open UTM virtual machines, so might give it a go.
Is there a standout feature that you prefer about Virtualbuddy?
Thanks

 

[bogdanw]

Is there a standout feature that you prefer about Virtualbuddy?

The main advantage of VirtualBuddy for me is setting the location of VMs on an external drive.

 

[capamac]

Been using UTM to run macOS, NetBSD, Debian, etc. on my M1 Air w/ Sequoia. Pretty good. Free.

 

[Mike Boreham]

The main advantage of VirtualBuddy for me is setting the location of VMs on an external drive.

Thanks. That is quite straightforward in UTM. Mine are all on an external Thunderbolt drive.

 

[bogdanw]

Thanks. That is quite straightforward in UTM. Mine are all on an external Thunderbolt drive.

Last time I tried UTM, it was creating them on the internal drive, then moving them to the external.

 

[Mike Boreham]

Last time I tried UTM, it was creating them on the internal drive, then moving them to the external.

Yes it does initially create the VM on the internal. I move them to the external before installing, so only moving a small file. If VirtualBuddy creates the VM initially on the external that is good.

Can VirtualBuddy resize an existing VM? (which UTM can’t).

 

[Astrohunter]

I could never get UTM to work when trying it with Linux distros, couldn’t get the “guest” tools to work, they have ready to use configs or something on their website, had issues with those too.

But that was a few years ago.

In both VM programs when it comes to Mac OS in VM do you need to configure anything so you can resize window and change resolution etc?

I want something that doesn’t require a lot of configuration and can easily duplicate a VM, or if a script messes something up then be able to rollback etc.