4 ms·

If I recall, VMWare Fusion and Parallels can run macOS VMs with little or no speed hit, under Big Sur. Big Sur added GPU virtualization support so VMs aren’t sl

If I recall, VMWare Fusion and Parallels can run macOS VMs with little or no speed hit, under Big Sur. Big Sur added GPU virtualization support so VMs aren’t slow, previous macOS versions lacked this.

0x426577617265 6y ago
Fusion doesn’t work on M1s.
- coopreme 6y ago
  I’ve been looking for this for a while, not sure when or if it will get done. X86 emulation on an M1… I wonder if there will be a massive hit
  - aidos 6y ago
    Been dealing with this this week. It’s about a 40x performance hit to run x86 via qemu in our estimates.
    - my123 6y ago
      Qemu isn’t representative of anything else perf-wise. You may want to use user-mode emulation too.
      - aidos 6y ago
        I don’t entirely understand your comment (actively looking for solutions for these issues so all info is good). My initial attempt at getting a running system was to install an x86 VM via qemu / utm. It worked but was about 1 /4 speed of my old MacBook. Round 2 was to an arm64 VM via qemu / utm (utm is using qemu here, but I guess it’s almost running purely on the M1?). That’s blazing fast but I don’t have everything I need compiled for it. So I’m recompiling what I can and whatever I can’t I’m then using qemu user mode within the arm VM to run the x86 binaries. The VM itself is really fast, the x86 code, obviously isn’t, but I’ve at least minimised the times I need the emulation. Not sure of a better approach, but as I say, definitely open to hearing what else I can do.
        my123 6y ago
        You should try running an Arm64 OS and then using ExaGear (Linux VM) or just run your x86_64 app (Windows). Forget about full system emulation, especially with Qemu’s approach which doesn’t leverage the host MMU. Emulating an MMU alone is very costly perf-wise. That means that you should use an arm64 OS and then use an x86 compat layer on it. For Qemu’s user mode emulation, it doesn’t exactly provide good performance either. But it is still much better than full system emulation.
        aidos 6y ago
        Isn’t that what I’m doing? Mac OS is arm64, with an arm64 Ubuntu VM, then I’m running qemu in that for specific single x86 processes. To clarify, I’m using UTM to run the VM, so it’s using qemu - but it looks like that doesn’t give you a performance cost in itself.
        my123 6y ago
        Yes that’s what you do, you might want to look at options other than Qemu though for more performance. (I assumed FSE from your 40x worse perf figure, which is a very bad case)
- kitsunesoba 6y ago
  Ahh, so it’s just Parallels then. Don’t yet own an M1 Mac myself, but saw Parallels had made the jump an assumed VMWare followed.
AzN1337c0d3r 6y ago
IMO the graphics performance when running macOS Big Sur VMs under Fusion is better but still atrocious. Not anything like a native experience. Not sure about Parallels.
- Qerub 6y ago
  3D acceleration is not enabled by default for macOS Big Sur in VMware Fusion because it's not considered stable yet. It's possible to activate by tweaking the vmx file: https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/81657 https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/81657 In Parallels it's on by default but you need to allocate a lot of RAM to the VM: https://kb.parallels.com/en/125105#section6 https://kb.parallels.com/en/125105#section6
alsetmusic 6y ago
Just tested Parallels latest beta on M1 and it couldn’t find an OS on a Big Sur ISO that I’d just created. Doesn’t appear to support virtualizing macOS on M1 yet.
- sscotth 6y ago
  Correct. Pinned tracking thread: https://forum.parallels.com/threads/big-sur-installation.351864/ https://forum.parallels.com/threads/big-sur-installation.351...
- erwincoumans 6y ago
  Parallels only supports arm images on M1, such as Ubuntu arm and Windows arm. No MacOS arm image as client.
erwincoumans 6y ago
Yes, Parallels runs great for Ubuntu arm on M1, both headless terminal and X11, since December 2020.

0x426577617265 6y ago

Fusion doesn’t work on M1s.

coopreme 6y ago
I’ve been looking for this for a while, not sure when or if it will get done. X86 emulation on an M1… I wonder if there will be a massive hit
- aidos 6y ago
  Been dealing with this this week. It’s about a 40x performance hit to run x86 via qemu in our estimates.
  - my123 6y ago
    Qemu isn’t representative of anything else perf-wise. You may want to use user-mode emulation too.
    - aidos 6y ago
      I don’t entirely understand your comment (actively looking for solutions for these issues so all info is good). My initial attempt at getting a running system was to install an x86 VM via qemu / utm. It worked but was about 1 /4 speed of my old MacBook. Round 2 was to an arm64 VM via qemu / utm (utm is using qemu here, but I guess it’s almost running purely on the M1?). That’s blazing fast but I don’t have everything I need compiled for it. So I’m recompiling what I can and whatever I can’t I’m then using qemu user mode within the arm VM to run the x86 binaries. The VM itself is really fast, the x86 code, obviously isn’t, but I’ve at least minimised the times I need the emulation. Not sure of a better approach, but as I say, definitely open to hearing what else I can do.
      - my123 6y ago
        You should try running an Arm64 OS and then using ExaGear (Linux VM) or just run your x86_64 app (Windows). Forget about full system emulation, especially with Qemu’s approach which doesn’t leverage the host MMU. Emulating an MMU alone is very costly perf-wise. That means that you should use an arm64 OS and then use an x86 compat layer on it. For Qemu’s user mode emulation, it doesn’t exactly provide good performance either. But it is still much better than full system emulation.
        aidos 6y ago
        Isn’t that what I’m doing? Mac OS is arm64, with an arm64 Ubuntu VM, then I’m running qemu in that for specific single x86 processes. To clarify, I’m using UTM to run the VM, so it’s using qemu - but it looks like that doesn’t give you a performance cost in itself.
        my123 6y ago
        Yes that’s what you do, you might want to look at options other than Qemu though for more performance. (I assumed FSE from your 40x worse perf figure, which is a very bad case)
kitsunesoba 6y ago
Ahh, so it’s just Parallels then. Don’t yet own an M1 Mac myself, but saw Parallels had made the jump an assumed VMWare followed.

AzN1337c0d3r 6y ago

IMO the graphics performance when running macOS Big Sur VMs under Fusion is better but still atrocious. Not anything like a native experience. Not sure about Parallels.

Qerub 6y ago
3D acceleration is not enabled by default for macOS Big Sur in VMware Fusion because it's not considered stable yet. It's possible to activate by tweaking the vmx file: https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/81657 https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/81657 In Parallels it's on by default but you need to allocate a lot of RAM to the VM: https://kb.parallels.com/en/125105#section6 https://kb.parallels.com/en/125105#section6

alsetmusic 6y ago

Just tested Parallels latest beta on M1 and it couldn’t find an OS on a Big Sur ISO that I’d just created. Doesn’t appear to support virtualizing macOS on M1 yet.

sscotth 6y ago
Correct. Pinned tracking thread: https://forum.parallels.com/threads/big-sur-installation.351864/ https://forum.parallels.com/threads/big-sur-installation.351...
erwincoumans 6y ago
Parallels only supports arm images on M1, such as Ubuntu arm and Windows arm. No MacOS arm image as client.

erwincoumans 6y ago

Yes, Parallels runs great for Ubuntu arm on M1, both headless terminal and X11, since December 2020.