Virtualize Linux on a Mac

Overview

Use VZVirtualMachineConfiguration to create a configuration that represents a specific Linux platform with the devices you want to use with your virtual machine (VM) — like VZVirtioSoundDeviceConfiguration or VZUSBKeyboardConfiguration.

You use this configuration to load a Linux kernel image from disk that — using VZLinuxBootLoader — runs in a VZVirtualMachine that you control.

For more information about running a Linux guest, including how to download kernel and RAM disk images, see Creating and Running a Linux Virtual Machine. For more information about running GUI Linux virtual machines, see Running GUI Linux in a virtual machine on a Mac.

Topics

Configurations

• VZVirtualMachineConfiguration
• VZVirtualMachineStartOptions
• VZGenericPlatformConfiguration
• VZPlatformConfiguration

Boot loaders

• VZBootLoader
• VZLinuxBootLoader
• VZEFIBootLoader
• VZEFIVariableStore

See Also

Virtual machine setup

• Running macOS in a virtual machine on Apple silicon
• Running Linux in a Virtual Machine
• Running GUI Linux in a virtual machine on a Mac
• Installing macOS on a Virtual Machine
• Creating and Running a Linux Virtual Machine
• Virtualize macOS on a Mac
• Running Intel Binaries in Linux VMs with Rosetta
• Accelerating the performance of Rosetta