Apple’s Virtualization framework

guest · Jul 28, 2022

VirtualBuddy and other apps make it pretty easy to run macOS on top of macOS.
July 27, 2022

One of the coolest power-user Mac features of the Apple Silicon era is Apple's Virtualization framework. Normally the purview of paid software like Parallels Desktop or VMWare Fusion, virtualization lets you run multiple operating systems on one Mac at the same time, which is useful for anyone who wants to run Linux on top of macOS, test an app they're developing in different versions of macOS, or take a look at the latest macOS Ventura beta without risking their main install.

Apple’s documentation and sample projects provide everything you need to get a simple VM up and running with no additional software required. Still, some independent developers have built simple, free apps on top of the Virtualization framework that provides a GUI for customizing settings and juggling multiple guest OSes.
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Getting ready to virtualize
My favorite for running macOS on top of macOS is VirtualBuddy, which streamlines the process of downloading the files you need to get a Monterey or Ventura virtual machine up and running. This is the app we’ll be using to set up our sample VM in this guide.

Another app worth looking into is UTM, which uses the Virtualization framework to run ARM operating systems on top of the ARM version of macOS but which also provides an easy-to-use front end for the QEMU emulation software.
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On the subject of Intel Macs, the Virtualization framework does support running Linux VMs on Intel Macs, but it explicitly requires an Apple Silicon Mac for running macOS on top of macOS.
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Rasheed187 · Jul 30, 2022

Wow, so you don't need any third party software anymore for this stuff? I suppose VMware and Parallels are not amused by this. On Windows 10/11 Pro you do have the Windows Sandbox, but that doesn't allow you to run other OSes.

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Apple’s Virtualization framework

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