Apple
We’ve written earlier than about Apple’s helpful virtualization framework in current variations of macOS, which permits customers of Apple Silicon Macs with ample RAM to simply arrange macOS and Linux digital machines utilizing plenty of light-weight third-party apps. That is helpful for anybody who wants to check software program in a number of macOS variations however doesn’t personal a fleet of Mac {hardware} or a number of boot partitions. (Intel Macs help the virtualization framework, too, however just for Linux VMs, making it much less helpful.)
However up till now, you haven’t been capable of signal into iCloud utilizing macOS on a VM. This made the characteristic much less helpful for builders or customers hoping to check iCloud options in macOS, or whose apps depend on some type of syncing with iCloud, or individuals who simply wished easy accessibility to their iCloud information from inside a VM.
This limitation goes away in macOS 15 Sequoia, in response to developer documentation that Apple launched yesterday. So long as your host working system is macOS 15 or newer and your visitor working system is macOS 15 or newer, VMs will now be capable of signal into and use iCloud and different Apple ID-related providers simply as they’d when operating straight on the {hardware}.
That is nonetheless limiting for builders, who may wish to run an older model of macOS on their {hardware} whereas nonetheless testing macOS 15 in a VM, or those that wish to do the reverse in order that they will extra simply help a number of variations of macOS with their apps. It additionally doesn’t apply to VMs which can be upgraded from an older model of macOS to Sequoia—it needs to be a brand-new VM created from a macOS 15 set up picture. But it surely’s a welcome change, and it’ll steadily get extra helpful as Apple releases extra macOS variations sooner or later that may benefit from it.
“While you create a VM in macOS 15 from a macOS 15 software program picture… Virtualization configures an identification for the VM that it derives from safety info within the host’s Safe Enclave,” Apple’s documentation reads. “Simply as particular person bodily units have distinct identities based mostly on their Safe Enclaves, this identification is distinct from different VMs.”
When you transfer that VM from one host to a different, a brand new distinct identification shall be created, and your iCloud account will presumably be logged out. This is identical factor that occurs for those who backup a replica of 1 Mac’s disk and restore it to a different Mac. A brand new identification can even be created if a second copy of a VM is launched on the identical machine.
Mac customers hoping to virtualize the Arm model of Home windows 10 or 11 will nonetheless must look to third-party merchandise for assist. Each Parallels and VMware supply virtualization merchandise which can be formally blessed by Microsoft as a option to run Home windows on Apple Silicon Macs, and Broadcom lately made VMware Fusion free for people.
