How to install VirtualBox on an Apple Silicon Mac

If you don't want to spend money on something like Parallels Desktop to virtualize Windows or Linux on your Mac, VirtualBox is a great free alternative. The following article will show you how to install and set up VirtualBox on your Mac

Does VirtualBox support Apple Silicon Macs?

Virtualbox has native builds for Apple silicon Macs, but they are developer previews, which means there may be some bugs and performance issues. Also, will have to use a slightly older version because Oracle hasn't updated Apple's silicon version in quite some time.

However, it is still possible to run most major Linux distributions without a hitch. You won't encounter any major problems with normal use, although there are still shortcomings.

How to install VirtualBox on an Apple Silicon Mac

Follow these steps to download and install the native version of VirtualBox on any Apple Silicon Mac:

1. First, go to the VirtualBox Downloads page and scroll down to the VirtualBox 7.0.8 section . Then click the Developer preview for macOS / Arm64 (M1/M2) hosts button to download the Apple silicon version of the virtualized application. The Mac will download the DMG file to the Downloads folder .

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2. Open the DMG file and double-click VirtualBox.pkg to open the installer.

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3. Follow the on-screen instructions until setup is complete. Your Mac may ask for your password during this process. The VirtualBox installer may also offer to move the DMG file to Trash after the installation is complete.

Now, you have successfully installed VirtualBox on your Apple silicon Mac. You can use Spotlight Search, Launchpad, or the Applications folder to launch VirtualBox.

Set up your first virtual machine in VirtualBox

This article will show you how to set up your first virtual machine in VirtualBox for Mac. In this case, the article created a Linux virtual machine running Ubuntu.

Before starting, you need to download the ISO file for the operating system you want to install. If you also plan to start with Ubuntu, you can download it from the Ubuntu download page. Next, follow these steps:

1. To create your first virtual machine, open VirtualBox and click the New button .

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2. Next, provide a name for the VM, select a storage location and open the ISO file. If you are using a popular operating system like Ubuntu, VirtualBox will automatically detect it and fill in other details. If you want to configure settings such as user accounts on the guest operating system, check the box next to Skip Unattended Installation .

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3. If you selected Unattended Installation in the last step, you can now choose a username and password for the main account in the guest operating system.

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4. After providing login details for the operating system user account, the VM's resources such as RAM and processor can be selected by dragging the slider. Choose according to the tasks you plan to do with the operating system, but a good idea is to allocate half of your Mac's RAM and CPU cores to the VM.

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5. Next, you need to select the storage options for the VM. Refer to the basic requirements of the operating system and then consider the space needed on it to choose wisely. In the case of Ubuntu, the minimum recommended virtual storage is 25GB.

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6. VirtualBox will now display a summary of the entire configuration. So take this opportunity to double-check your choice before creating a VM. When you're ready, you can click Finish .

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7. VirtualBox may take a few minutes to complete the operating system installation. Once done, you can find the new VM on the VirtualBox sidebar menu. Now, select the VM and click the Start button to start the virtual machine.

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Congratulations! You have now created your first VM using VirtualBox on your Mac.

VirtualBox is sufficient if your VM needs are simple but don't rely on it for gaming or heavy workloads. While this is a great free option, it has limitations in support and features. So, if you plan to run intensive tasks, you should run your VM using Parallels Desktop or UTM.

David Pac

Update 11 May 2024