Logging in with my Apple ID anywhere in the system (feedback assistant, Xcode, iCloud, etc.) fails when running under virtualization. Is this a known 'issue'? (networking in general is working fine)

I m trying to identify if my launched process is running on a local mac machine(desktop/laptop) or a virtual macOS X instance like AWS EC2, Azure, MacStadium etc. I have followed this link which searched for its limited providers in the output, but I m not bound to any limited providers and looking for a general solution which is applicable to all the providers. Is there some hardware/network/virtualization-related information that can be used to identify if the process is launched on a virtual MacOS instance? OR is there some system Information that I can use to be sure that my process is running on a local machine?

Virtualization framework is a high-level API to create macOS and Linux virtual machines. Hypervisor is a low-level API to build virtualization solutions without the need for a kernel extension. If you’re interested in containers on the Mac, check out the Containerization package and its associated container tool. Virtualization: Forums subtopic: App & System Services > Core OS Forums tag: Virtualization Virtualization framework documentation Using iCloud with macOS virtual machines documentation article Use iCloud on a virtual machine support article Running macOS in a virtual machine on Apple silicon sample code Running Linux in a Virtual Machine sample code Running GUI Linux in a virtual machine on a Mac sample code Building macOS apps with Xcode 26 on macOS 26 VM forums thread — This thread describes how the development experience in VMs has improved recently, and one remaining issue that you might bump in to. Hypervisor: Forums subtopic: App & System Services > Core OS Forums tag: Hypervisor Hypervisor framework documentation Share and Enjoy — Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"

I’m using Virtualization.framework on Apple silicon with a Linux guest (VZGenericPlatformConfiguration + VZLinuxBootLoader). The VM is intentionally minimal: 2 vCPUs, 2 GiB RAM 1 virtio entropy device 2 virtio block devices (base read-only, scratch read-write) 1 virtio console with 2 ports, both isConsole = false no serial, network, sharing, socket, USB, audio, graphics, keyboard, pointing, balloon, or custom virtio devices no EFI variable store nested virtualization disabled On the normal success path the host does not call requestStop(). A destructive host stop is tracked separately and treated as failure. I need a supported way for the host to distinguish: a clean Linux guest shutdown intentionally issued by the guest after its application protocol and cleanup have completed, from an abnormal or independent shutdown path such as kernel panic, watchdog, thermal / hardware-protection shutdown, emergency shutdown, or another kernel/platform-triggered stop. guestDidStopVirtualMachine tells me that the guest stopped, but I cannot find a public contract that says which Linux/kernel/platform histories can produce that callback, nor a public shutdown reason/initiator value. My specific questions are: For VZGenericPlatformConfiguration + VZLinuxBootLoader, what is the documented complete guest-visible shutdown/reset event surface, including implicit platform events not represented by explicitly configured device arrays? What Linux-facing mechanism does VZVirtualMachine.requestStop() use in this configuration? Can guestDidStopVirtualMachine also be emitted after panic, watchdog, thermal/hardware-protection shutdown, emergency shutdown, or another guest-kernel/platform shutdown source? Are those abnormal cases guaranteed to arrive through virtualMachine(_:didStopWithError:) instead? If guestDidStopVirtualMachine can represent multiple terminal histories, is there any supported public API or documented guarantee that lets the host distinguish a clean guest system-off from the abnormal/platform-triggered cases? If not, is it correct to treat this distinction as unspecified by the public Virtualization.framework contract? I do not need private implementation details. A public/supported contract describing which terminal histories can produce each delegate callback would be enough. This matters because the host is fail-closed: it must accept PASS only after an application-level success condition and a clean guest shutdown. A successful runtime observation alone is not enough for the qualification. Environment: Apple silicon / arm64 macOS 26.6.2 (25G83) public Virtualization.framework APIs

On Apple silicon with macOS 26.6.2 (25G83), I am preparing a small synthetic VM using Swift and public Virtualization.framework APIs. Before invoking VZMacOSInstaller, I need to establish a hard aggregate allocation bound covering its temporary extraction data and relevant helper caches, not just the supplied restore image, guest disk and auxiliary-storage URLs. The application-owned artifacts would be placed inside a fixed-size, capped filesystem. Unknown installer scratch remains part of the byte budget. Sampling free space or cancelling after a threshold is crossed is not a substitute for filesystem enforcement in this design. No installer has been started for this trial; this is an API-design question, not a reproduced installation failure. Is there a supported mechanism to select or constrain the filesystem for all VZMacOSInstaller and relevant helper temporary writes? In particular, is there a documented binding between a caller's temporary directory and independently managed installer-service storage, or another supported aggregate quota design? If the public API cannot provide this guarantee, an explicit statement of that limitation would help. I am not seeking private parameters, managed-container relocation, disabled system protections, or undocumented sandbox overrides.

The language in the new EULA seems to indicate we can get permission to run more than 2 VMs on a single host. "(iii) except as otherwise provided in writing, signed, or issued by an authorized representative of Apple, to install, use and run up to two (2) additional copies or instances of the Apple Software, or any prior macOS or OS X operating system software or subsequent release of the Apple Software, within virtual operating system environments on each Apple-branded computer you own or control that is already running the Apple Software, for purposes of: (a) software development; (b) testing during software development; (c) using macOS Server; or (d) personal, non-commercial use." This is important because we often have use-cases that require running docker containers and other Virtualization tools along-side of two VMs on the host and obviously cant. What's the steps we can take to get written permission for this? Thank you!

I have so far been unable to enrol a macOS 27 beta VM in to Jamf since initial beta release. Is this by design? I can’t find any documentation or posts on apple developer forums about this anywhere. My agentic coding session has done some probing around in the VM and it thinks something is going wrong with Secure Keychain within the VM. Everybody on my team is observing the same behaviour as this, and I’ve had it happening across two different laptops (one of them which is, itself, running the latest macOS 27 Beta, and the other which I created a Beta VM by installing Tahoe in the VM, logging in to iCloud, and enabling Beta channel updates) The only thing we’ve found we can do so far is to join to Jamf in Tahoe first, but the problem I have there is, often times the option for Beta channel updates just doesn’t present itself in System Settings -> Software Update after signing in to iCloud, and I don’t know why it sometimes does but often doesn’t. Logs from agentic coding session below: The core log evidence This is the whole causal chain, from the 27 guest's unified log, inside 370 microseconds. Innermost failure first: 05:24:04.967316 apsd: (CryptoTokenKit) [com.apple.CryptoTokenKit:sepkey] <sepk:* kid=0000000000000000>: (apsd) unable to generate key: error e00002e2(-536870174) ACL=<SecAccessControlRef: dk;ock(true);odel(true);osgn(true);oa(true);okd(true)> 05:24:04.967433 apsd: (Security) [com.apple.security:seckey] SecKeyCreateRandomKey_ios failed: NSOSStatusErrorDomain Code=-25308 "Failed to generate keypair" (errSecInteractionNotAllowed / Interaction is not allowed with the Security Server.) 05:24:04.967574 apsd: (DeviceIdentity) com.apple.MobileActivation.ErrorDomain Code=-1 "Failed to create reference key." 05:24:04.967600 apsd: [com.apple.apsd:courier] APSBAAClientIdentityProvider failed to obtain a BAA cert, error: com.apple.MobileActivation.ErrorDomain Code=-1 "Failed to create reference key." 05:24:04.967686 apsd: [com.apple.apsd:courier] <APSCourierConnectionManager; production>: Stream error occurred for : APSErrorDomain Code=1 "Told not to connect after fetching server bag: (null) - closing stream" Read bottom-up: Secure Enclave key generation fails, so MobileActivation cannot create the reference key, so apsd cannot obtain its BAA device-identity certificate, so APNs tells it not to connect. kid=0000000000000000 means there is no key id at all. Then every courier line reports Connected on 0 interfaces, and mdmclient sets its PushWakeTopics only to get Connection Invalid for service com.apple.apsd and tear down. The command to regenerate it: log show --predicate 'process == "apsd"' --last 60m --info | grep -iE 'BAA|unable to generate key|server bag'. New control, collected just now mac26 happened to be running, so I got the comparison. macOS 26.6 (25G72) guest, same host, same network, 3 days uptime: BAA_FAILURES: 0 SEPKEY_FAILURES: 0 APNS_SOCKETS: 192.168.64.8.52286 -> 17.57.146.7.443 ESTABLISHED 192.168.64.8.52285 -> 17.253.77.203.443 ESTABLISHED (+ 3 more into 17.0.0.0/8) No BAA or courier complaints at all over 6 hours, and live connections into Apple's network. So a virtualised guest per se is fine; the 27 guest specifically cannot mint the key. The physical host, also on macOS 27.0, likewise logged zero of both failures over 3 hours.

Hi, I am trying to use AAUSBAccessoryManager with mac os 27 to connect host usb device to guest vm. here is my code // // USBPassthroughManager.swift // VirtualProg import AccessoryAccess import Foundation import IOKit @available(macOS 27.0, *) class USBPassthroughManager: NSObject, ObservableObject, AAUSBAccessoryListener { static let shared = USBPassthroughManager() @Published var availableDevices: [AAUSBAccessory] = [] func startListening() async { do { let existing = try await AAUSBAccessoryManager.shared .registerListener(self, matchingCriteria: []) await MainActor.run { self.availableDevices = existing } } catch { LogManager.shared.log(vmName: AppConstants.logGeneral, type: .error, message: "USB passthrough listener failed: \(error.localizedDescription)") } } func usbAccessoryDidConnect(_ usbAccessory: AAUSBAccessory) { DispatchQueue.main.async { guard !self.availableDevices.contains(where: { $0.registryID == usbAccessory.registryID }) else { return } self.availableDevices.append(usbAccessory) print(self.displayName(for: usbAccessory)) } } The usb icon in status bar menu is displayed and i can select the the usb device to connect to my app. the usb device is connected to my app. it is shown in the status bar. but usbAccessoryDidConnect is not firing. i have the entitlement com.apple.developer.accessory-access.usb in the capabilities. i get this in the xcode console start failed ((iokit/common) not permitted) for plugin for .......... and also disconnect is also not firing. Not sure what i am doing wrong. How can i determine the name of the USB Device from AAUSBAccessory. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

Hi everyone, We're running Xcode/Swift CI builds inside macOS VMs (Tart / Apple Virtualization Framework) on a 32-core Apple Silicon host. While investigating VM build performance, we noticed a consistent pattern: assigning 24 vCPUs to the VM produces faster overall build times than assigning 26-30 vCPUs, despite the host still showing idle CPU capacity. With higher vCPU allocations, the build starts by utilizing the CPUs well, but later stages show a noticeable drop in CPU utilization and overall build throughput. In contrast, the 24-vCPU configuration maintains more stable CPU usage and completes the workload faster. This was observed repeatedly with the same Xcode/Swift workload. The result seems counterintuitive because the VM is not exhausting the available host CPU resources. Our testing identified 24 vCPUs as the current sweet spot, even though the host provides 32 physical cores. Has anyone observed similar behavior? Some questions I have: Do Xcode builds stop scaling efficiently beyond a certain vCPU count? Are there known scheduler or virtualization effects when assigning nearly all host cores to a macOS VM? Is there a commonly recommended practice to leave a number of host cores unassigned, even when the host appears mostly idle?

This post applies to Apple Virtualization framework feature to setup a user account during VM setup (VZMacGuestProvisioningOptions) introduced in macOS 27: Issue: Creating a user via VZMacGuestProvisioningOptions during VM setup, results in a user which is not returned by CSidentityQueryExecute(). Same code executed on a macOS 26 VM or a macOS 27 VM where the user was created by hand within the VM (so without VZMacGuestProvisioningOptions) returns the user. How to reproduce: Create an VM via the Apple Virtualization framework and use the VZMacGuestProvisioningOptions to create the user during VM setup. I actually used Virtual Buddy and Tart to do this. Then run the following code: internal enum MyLogger { static let info = Logger(subsystem: Bundle.main.bundleIdentifier!, category: "Utils-\(getuid())") } public struct Identity { public let posixUID: id_t public let posixName: String init?(posixUID: id_t, posixName: String) { self.posixUID = posixUID self.posixName = posixName } } class Utils { public static func userIdentities() -> [Identity] { let defaultAuthority = CSGetLocalIdentityAuthority().takeUnretainedValue() let query = CSIdentityQueryCreate(nil, kCSIdentityClassUser, defaultAuthority).takeRetainedValue() guard CSIdentityQueryExecute(query, 0, nil), let identities = CSIdentityQueryCopyResults(query).takeRetainedValue() as? [CSIdentity] else { return [] } for ident in identities { MyLogger.info.log("CSIdentity: \(ident.hashValue, privacy: .public)") } let idents = identities .compactMap { Identity( posixUID: CSIdentityGetPosixID($0), posixName: CSIdentityGetPosixName($0).takeUnretainedValue() as String ) } .sorted { $0.posixName.localizedStandardCompare($1.posixName) == .orderedAscending } for ident in idents { MyLogger.info.log("Identity: \(ident.posixName, privacy: .public), \(ident.posixUID, privacy: .public)") } return idents } } Expected behavior: The code returns the user account created via VZMacGuestProvisioningOptions. Actual behavior: I get no user account When you test the same on a macOS 27 VM where the user is created via the traditional way (Setup assistant), the app shows the account. This also applies to all additional user accounts created after VM setup via System Settings.app. The bug also still exists on a VM created with macOS 27 beta 4. Is anybody having the same issue? Is that a bug in macOS 27? I already created a Feedback for this: FB23716201

Hi, I was trying to run a macOS VM under a launchd daemon as part of a requirement. The parent daemon spawns a macOS VM under root user. Sometimes this is fine, but sometimes I'm getting a security error from VZ library : Unable to access security information. The virtual machine encountered a security error. In system logs, I was able to see this : ctkd: unable to generate key: error e00002e2 for com.apple.Virtualization.VirtualMachine with SepKey ACL I think this indicates Virtualization.framework asked CryptoTokenKit/Secure Enclave to create a key, and the security subsystem rejected it in the current execution context. Is it possible to run VM this way ? If yes, what am I missing ?

Hi all, I'm running 2 macOS VMs on a bare-metal Mac (host is also macOS). I'm seeing inconsistent iMessage sign-in behavior depending on the Apple ID type and whether it's bare metal or virtualized: Managed Apple ID (ABM-issued): signs into iMessage fine on the bare-metal host. Same Managed Apple ID: fails to sign into iMessage inside the VM on the same physical machine. Personal/basic Apple ID: signs in fine in the VM without issue. Has anyone run into this specific combination — MAID working on bare metal but not inside a VM, while a personal ID works fine in both?

I am unable to sign into my Apple account on a Golden Gate b1 VM. Thus, I'm unable to switch to the beta channel and upgrade this VM to the latest beta Golden Gate seed. The error I get is: Verification Failed An unknown error occurred. I've looked in Console.app for any clues and no luck so far. Is this a known issue and is there a workaround?

In the past I was always able to install every major macOS version on an external drive so that I can test my apps. But now I'm unable to install macOS Tahoe 26 on an external drive. Actually, as far as I'm aware, there are not even official links to macOS 26 installers, but only instructions on how to update to macOS 26 from an existing macOS installation. So I thought I'd install macOS 15 on a separate drive and then update to macOS 26, but whenever I run the macOS 15 installer, tell it to install on the external drive, and reboot after the setup process completes, my MacBook just boots into my main macOS partition as if nothing happened. 3 months ago I somehow managed to install macOS Tahoe beta 1 on an external drive, I don't remember how (but I don't think it was anything crazy); booting into that beta 1 partition and trying to update doesn't work either, as my MacBook again boots into my main macOS partition. I already asked help about the update problem one month ago here, but nobody replied. Could someone at Apple please provide instructions on how one is supposed to install macOS 26 on an external drive (if possible before it becomes available to the public)? Are we supposed to buy a separate Mac for every macOS version that we want to test our apps on?

Trying to virtualize macOS 27 on a 26.6 host failed at 77% install progress, even with Xcode 27 beta installed. But worked fine on a macOS 27 host. Are there any tricks to use a 26 host? Thanks!

When trying to update from beta 2 to beta 3 and from beta 3 to the revised beta 3 build, softwareupdate failed at the personalization step. This was because a USB-C accessory passed through to a VM via Virtualization.framework was holding the USB-C controller. This blocked I²C access to the AppleTypeCRetimer chip during the preflight personalization phase. In the unified log, this appears as: AppleTypeCRetimerIICDeviceHandle readRegister: Read result 0xe00002d5 AppleHPMLibRT13Interface: HPM is NOT in ADFU, modeData=0x20505041 [SPI] MSUParsedToleratedFailureForStep | step:update_usbcretimer → FAILURE MSUPreflightUpdate | FAILURE → "failed to copy firmware identity" 0xe00002d5 = IOKit I²C device not responding 0x20505041 = "APP " — HPM stuck in application mode, can't enter ADFU (firmware update mode) Without retimer firmware identity, the SFR installer can't complete personalization I was able to work around this by physically unplugging the passed through device (which is suboptimal for a headless server in a rack). Feedback ID: FB23772773 Hardware: Mac16,9 (Apple Silicon) Update: macOS 27 Beta 3 (26A5378j → 26A5378n), full OTA via Software Update Failure: SUMacControllerErrorPreflightPersonalizeFailed (7723) → MSU_ERR_PERSONALIZATION_FAILURE (2) → "failed to copy firmware identity" (1259)

When running a macOS virtual machine using Virtualization.framework, I am encountering a reproducible issue where the kernel’s internal VM slot counter (hv_apple_isa_vm_quota) is not decremented after a guest-initiated shutdown. This leads to subsequent VM launches failing with VZErrorVirtualMachineLimitExceeded, even though no active VMs appear to be running. Steps to Reproduce: Create a valid VZVirtualMachineConfiguration for a macOS guest Initialize and start a VZVirtualMachine instance Inside the guest macOS, perform a normal shutdown (Apple menu → Shut Down) Wait until VZVirtualMachine.state becomes .stopped Attempt to start the same VZVirtualMachine instance again Expected Behavior: The VM should restart successfully.
The kernel should release the VM slot once the guest shuts down, allowing a new VM instance to start without requiring any host-side intervention. Actual Behavior: start() fails with: Domain: VZErrorDomain Code: 6 (VZErrorVirtualMachineLimitExceeded) Description: “The number of virtual machines exceeds the limit. The maximum supported number of active virtual machines has been reached.” Despite the VM reporting .stopped, the system continues to behave as if a slot is still allocated. Workarounds Tested: The following approaches did not resolve the issue: Releasing and recreating the VZVirtualMachine instance Introducing delays (5s, 30s, 60s) before restarting Terminating all processes related to Virtualization.framework The only reliable recovery is a full macOS host reboot, which resets the VM quota state. Environment: macOS 26.5 (Tahoe) Apple Silicon: M4 Max Virtualization.framework (system-provided) Impact: This issue makes reliable VM lifecycle management difficult for applications relying on Virtualization.framework (e.g., UTM and similar tools). In automated environments (CI/CD, testing pipelines), it can cause persistent VM launch failures and require full host reboots, interrupting all workloads. Suspected Issue: It appears the kernel VM slot counter (hv_apple_isa_vm_quota) is not consistently decremented when a VM exits via guest-initiated shutdown, despite the VZVirtualMachine transitioning to .stopped. This suggests a race condition or missing cleanup path in the shutdown lifecycle handling. Request: Could you confirm whether this is a known issue or expected behavior, and whether there is a recommended API-level workaround to ensure VM slot cleanup after guest shutdown?

Filed a feedback on this: FB23038153 I am unable to install a new Sequoia 15.6.1 (latest available .ipsw) on a Tahoe 26.5.1 host using a Virtualization.framework-based VM app. I’ve tried both Tart and VirtualBuddy. Both get to 90% of the installation, then fail with this error: Error Domain=VZErrorDomain Code=10007 "Installation failed." UserInfo={NSLocalizedFailure=An error occurred during installation., NSLocalizedFailureReason=Installation failed., NSUnderlyingError=0xc2ac2e280 {Error Domain=com.apple.MobileDevice.MobileRestore Code=-1 "AMRestorePerformRestoreModeRestoreWithError failed with error: 11" UserInfo={NSLocalizedDescription=AMRestorePerformRestoreModeRestoreWithError failed with error: 11, NSLocalizedFailureReason=An unknown error occurred during installation.}}} I have tried re-installing MobileDevice.pkg from both Xcode 27 beta 1 and Xcode 26.5.0. I’ve rebooted my Mac. I get the same result each time. I’ve also tried using an older Sequoia restore image (15.4.1), same result. Installing a Tahoe guest works fine.

I work for a company which develops as part of our product suite a System Extension implementing an Endpoint Security client. Our local developer workflow for testing and validating changes is to build locally with Developer certificates (not a legitimate/production Developer ID certificate) and deploy local builds in to a VM, where to get the System Extension to load and be accepted we need to disable SIP & AMFI. macOS 27 VM is refusing to allow me to disable SIP. Is there an alternate approach we can use for this workflow to allow macOS VMs to accept our software when signing with a (same teamID, but different certificate to the provisioningprofile) developer certificate for local validation?

Hi, I installed Xcode 27 beta 2 and now I can't create any VMs using Virtualization. I tried uninstalling the beta Xcode and re-installing the Xcode 26, but it's still failing. I was able to create VMs using ipsws before I installed Xcode 27, so I'm certain it's the cause. Is there a way to fully uninstall everything having to do with Xcode from the machine without having to re-install my entire macOS?

I am using Virtualization framework for running Golden Gate VM in swift ui window with VZVirtualMachineView. i have set the automaticallyReconfiguresDisplay to true. but when i resize the window the resolution of Golden Gate does not change automatically to fit the window. This works fine for Tahoe. Golden Gate is not respecting the automaticallyReconfiguresDisplay. Any help in fixing this bug would be very helpful to me. Thanks in advance

VM are quite interesting options in a BYOD environment but im not able to enforce a proper segregation between VM and Host. Examples: If the VM is MDM enrolled the Host can access the VM Disk quite easily If the Host is managed a VM can be used to bypass Network security Is a mdm enrolled VM a scenario you have on your roadmap?

Hi, I would like to dipslay resource monitoring graph of CPU, Memory & Network of a running VM with Virtuization Framework. How can i do it with Swift? Is there a way we can do it without the need of guest agents.