Has macOS become a useless platform for virtualization?

[Mr. Dee]

So, I've had a frustrating weekend. Decided to setup a Linux VM in two different hypervisors - VirtualBox naturally since its free. Didn't work as seen in the screenshot below. The issue was not specific to Linux itself, which I initially thought it was. The problem affects existing Windows VMs, too. Eventually, I tried using a commercial hypervisor, VMWare Fusion 11.0.1 and I encountered similar errors.

Before we discuss solutions, yes, I tried all of them, which in itself is cumbersome, spctl blah, blah, allow through privacy, recovery mode terminal magic, you name it. I even enabled root to see if it would resolve the issue and try the same commands, they do not work. So, what's going on here? Has virtual machines just become a casualty since 10.14 on macOS? Is the OS so locked down now you can't even run things like these anymore?

Whats worse is, the developers have not provided any concrete solutions. They are more set on selling you the latest version. VirtualBox is basically hollow when it comes to any kind of support.

My only other device is my M1 MacBook Pro and I am going to give it a try with Parallels Desktop Preview. I still like to tinker with other operating systems, but if this a reality of the Mac going forward, I might have to make an expensive decision and pickup maybe a Dell XPS Developer Edition so I can have a little freedom. I've noticed even Windows itself has not been a great platform for third party hypervisors either, it's either Hyper-V or you will have disable secure boot just to get something like VirtualBox or VMware to work.

QEMU I tried, but after the amount of command line operations, I just gave up. Now I have all this home-brew crap that's probably eating up space.

 

[Slartibart]

gentlepersons,

Regarding virtualbox: did you allow under "System Preferences" => "Security & Privacy" and in the "General Tab" the installation of software coming from "Oracle America, Inc."? After that you have to reinstall virtualbox.

 

[Stephen.R]

I have been using Macs to both build and run Linux VMs using all three (Vbox, Vmware and Parallels) for several years. Never any permanent issues - sometimes the odd bug when a new major version comes out, but usually it's related to guest tools (I'm looking at you Parallels).

I haven't upgraded to Big Sur yet (was going to jump when .1 came out, then too busy with work, now .2 seems around the corner). I haven't checked on the VBox scenario but I know both Parallels and VMWare will continue to run.

So rather than saying "Before we discuss solutions", maybe just discuss the solutions.

One service I provide to clients is dev tooling advice/setup/support - Windows and Linux hosts aren't bastions of perfect results every time, and I've spent far more time chasing weird show stopper issues on those platforms than I have with macOS.

 

[Mr. Dee]

gentlepersons,

Regarding virtualbox: did you allow under "System Preferences" => "Security & Privacy" and in the "General Tab" the installation of software coming from "Oracle America, Inc."? After that you have to reinstall virtualbox.

Doesn’t give me this option and trust me I tried every way.

 

[leman]

Never encountered any virtualization issues under Mojave... did yiu try reinstalling the hypervisor to make sure the kernel extensions are correctly registered? Big Sur has a hypervisor built into the OS, so once third party apps catch up, virtualization in macOS should be one more straightforward. Unsure about the limitations of the Apple-provided solution though.

 

[Furka]

I am on Mojave on a iMac27 from 2.019. My issue on VirtualBox is the graphics hardware acceleration. Without it it's completely unusable.

 

[chrfr]

I tried using a commercial hypervisor, VMWare Fusion 11.0.1

Fusion 11.0.1 is way out of date. For Fusion 11, version 11.5.7 is current, and if you're on Catalina or newer, try 12.1.0. VMware has a document about the error you're seeing there: https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/80467
In short, you probably didn't allow the extensions Fusion needs to run. I use Fusion on Catalina and Big Sur all the time to virtualize macOS, Linux, and Windows.

 

[Mr. Dee]

Fusion 11.0.1 is way out of date. For Fusion 11, version 11.5.7 is current, and if you're on Catalina or newer, try 12.1.0. VMware has a document about the error you're seeing there: https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/80467
In short, you probably didn't allow the extensions Fusion needs to run. I use Fusion on Catalina and Big Sur all the time to virtualize macOS, Linux, and Windows.

On Mojave, will update to see if it makes a difference.

 

[dotck]

I had the very same issue with Mojave 10.14.5. Uninstalling VMware and reinstalling didn't work, it simply did not ask to allow loading the kernel extension in the Security section of the System Preferences. I fixed it by reinstalling Mojave on top of the existing volume (after removing VMware and installing it after the fresh OS installation).

 

[Mr. Dee]

Will give that a try this evening

 

[Mr. Dee]

I had the very same issue with Mojave 10.14.5. Uninstalling VMware and reinstalling didn't work, it simply did not ask to allow loading the kernel extension in the Security section of the System Preferences. I fixed it by reinstalling Mojave on top of the existing volume (after removing VMware and installing it after the fresh OS installation).

Fantastic, removing VMware then reinstalling Mojave from recovery fixed the problem. Thank you, thank you! 🙏