Run a macOS VM on Apple silicon from a double-click with Vimy – The Eclectic Mild Firm
Working a light-weight macOS VM on an Apple silicon Mac shouldn’t be a heavyweight activity. Whereas there are occasions once you wish to change the variety of cores it makes use of, which folders it shares, and different settings, a lot of the time we simply wish to run it the identical as earlier than. I’m delighted to supply a very light-weight app to just do that: Vimy.
As an app, Vimy usually runs in 4 light-weight threads taking nearly no CPU and round 35 MB of reminiscence. Its solely management is the Open command, whether or not you open your VM by double-clicking it within the Finder, dragging it to Vimy within the Dock, or utilizing its menu command. It’s that clear and easy.
Vimy helps two VM bundle codecs: the usual .bundle launched by Apple and utilized in all variations of Viable, and the brand new customized .vimi format launched in Viable 1.0.9 earlier this week. Internally they’re an identical, however utilizing the .vimi format makes it simpler for it to be double-clickable. To set that up, transfer the Vimy app to /Functions or one other commonplace folder on your apps, the place the Finder and LaunchServices can see it. Create a .vimi VM bundle, both by saving one from Viable or altering the extension on an present .bundle VM to .vimi.
Then choose that .vimi VM bundle within the Finder and Get Data on it. Within the Open with part there, open the popup menu and set Vimy as its default app. Then click on on the Change All button to set all .vimi bundles to be opened by Vimy.
Though you could possibly do the identical for .bundle VM bundles, that extension is used for different functions, and will lead to some surprises if you happen to had been to attempt opening different varieties of bundle in Vimy.
Vimy doesn’t require that you’ve beforehand saved a VM’s settings inside its bundle, so works with present VM bundles. If it could actually’t discover a settings property checklist contained in the bundle, it is going to run that VM with its fallback defaults of:
- variety of CPU cores used = 4
- measurement of reminiscence allotted = 6 GiB
- to not enter Restoration mode, however to run in regular consumer mode
- show measurement = 1600 x 1000
- show HiDPI for use when out there
- show ppi = 254
- on Sonoma, AutoDisplay enabled
- folder sharing enabled, with the Customized shared folder because the consumer’s Dwelling folder
- passthrough keyboard enabled
- NAT community tackle = d6:a7:58:8e:78:d4 (Apple’s default).
Whereas Viable 1.0.9 mechanically writes settings property lists contained in the VM bundles it opens, whether or not they’re .bundle or .vimi sort, you can even write your personal, and Vimy’s Zip archive offers the data that will help you achieve this. These settings information aren’t managed by cfprefsd, so you may change them with none worry of dropping these adjustments.
Vimy’s first beta is model 0.4, out there now from right here: vimy04
from Downloads above, and from its Product Page.
I hope you discover it helpful, and that it spares you from having to barter Viable everytime you wish to run a macOS VM.