AppleID Login failing in virtualized OS

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)

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Posted by
PaloAltoPaul
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  • +1 for this, I really need this feature, it would speed up so much testing.

    —
    csaby

  • This is essential.

    —
    mattsh

  • +1 for this feature. I use VMs to test different developer technologies for which Store sign-in is required.

    —
    ruppa-ms

Apple Recommended

OK, so, lemme start with some facts:

  • Apple silicon macOS virtual machine don’t support Apple ID logins.

  • This has been true since the Virtualization framework was introduced in macOS 11.

  • It’s still true in macOS 14 (currently in beta).

  • This means that a number of important workflows don’t work in such VMs.

  • Apple has made no official announcement about whether this will change in the future.

Normally when you bump into a limitation like this I recommend that you file an enhancement request [1] describing how it’s causing problems. In this case that’s not necessary. We’ve had plenty of bugs about this already |-:

I will update this post if this situation changes in the future.

There’s been a lot of speculation as to why things are this way. I can’t answer Why? questions in general [2], and I’m certainly not going to comment on speculation. I will point out, however, that the bug reports filed about this have not been returned as behaves correctly.

I thought long and hard about the final disposition of this thread. I was quite tempted to lock it, because the signal-to-noise ratio is quite poor. However, I eventually decided to leave it open so you folks can chat amongst yourselves. Be aware, however, that I’ve unsubscribed, and thus I won’t see any of your posts.

If you have a technical question about Virtualization framework, please do start a new thread here on DevForums, tagging it with the Virtualization keyword. Before you do that, however, please review tips 1 through 3 in Quinn’s Top Ten DevForums Tips.

Share and Enjoy
—
Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"

[1] AKA a suggestion in Feedback Assistant. See Bug Reporting: How and Why? for more background on Apple’s bug reporting process.

[2] See tip 3 in Quinn’s Top Ten DevForums Tips.

Posted by
eskimo
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  • This is a frustrating, unnecessary limitation. My use case is to isolate development environments, and I was able to do this with macOS before.

    —
    michaelahlers

  • Thank you for clarifying this. At least I now know I wasn't screwing up in my UTM VMs. I will file a feature request; I'd like to be able to use VMs for additional TestFlight testing for apps with System Extensions.

    —
    Todd_at_Ennetix
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Replies

I'm working on a endpoint protection software and need a VM as a testing environment. being able to test with development beta is mandatory for me for discovering issues as early as possible.

Posted by
benchman_acc
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If you’re talking about current beta stuff, my answer is “I don’t know.” I’ll do some digging…

I got confirmation that the Apple ID story hasn’t changed (r. 102844895). It’s definitely a priority — partly based on the number of bugs that you folks have filed! — but, as always, I can’t make any promises about The Future™.

Share and Enjoy
—
Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"

Posted by
eskimo
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  • Quinn -

    Both Version 14.0 Developer Beta 3 (23A5286g last week) and Version 14.0 Public Beta (23A5286i this week) still have this problem. Is any progress towards fixing this problem now on the horizon? Beyond development use cases, having to rebuild your test VM every week or two to stay current is a pain in the tail and a waste of time that is short.

    —
    McTTRS
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Just found this issue because I was trying out macOS 14 in a VM, and noted that I couldn't log into either my account or my tester account. Fingers cross this is something sorted before the end of the macOS 14 beta cycle.

I wouldn't overly mind if it's only restricted to the Sandbox Testers accounts.

Posted by
tarasis
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/me tosses VM in trash

I wish I'd known this before setting up the VM. Sonoma isn't like previous OSes; I can't sacrifice an old machine to it. This means I won't be testing for several months.

I'm okay with that, but it's nice to contribute. 😀

Posted by
Tewha7
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Why bother listing reasons why Apple ID should work in VMs? It is never going to work and Apple has no intention to make it work. It's been broken for years.

Posted by
chrisalbertson
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@eskimo Hi! Thanks so much. What is this new download? Is it related to this problem? Do we install it on the VM or in the host? https://developer.apple.com/download/ Regardless, I tried on the host and the VM w/o success.

How do we update our VM running macOS 14 beta 1 to beta 2? Thanks!


Device Support for macOS 14 beta 2
Install Device Support for macOS 14 beta 2 if installing the macOS Seed in a virtual Machine fails on a host Mac.
Released
June 21, 2023 
Build
1700B21
Download Device Support Image

Device Support for macOS 14 beta 2
1700B21
Posted by
Bolsinga
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chrisalbertson wrote:

It is never going to work and Apple has no intention to make it work.

I’d appreciate you not posting extraordinary claims without solid evidence to back them up.

Bolsinga wrote:

What is this new download?

Please start a new thread for this. This thread is already long enough )-:

Share and Enjoy
—
Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"

Posted by
eskimo
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@eskimo Thanks for the information regarding this. I appreciate the efforts you and your team have been putting into this per your post of a couple weeks ago. That said, I'd like to offer my .02:

I've noticed that the macOS 14 beta system seems to be tied to an Apple ID; I was running Sonoma beta 1 in a VM and wasn't able to upgrade it to beta 2 without manually downloading the IPSW and re-building the VM. I do get the requests for updated betas on my host Mac (13 inch M1 MBP), but I'm a bit hesitant to actually run the beta on the host -- namely because I've got a thesis going, and would understandably like to wait until it's over before I go updating.

It is also notable because I wasn't able to use a Mac VM as part of my thesis research and instead moved a fair amount to Windows and Linux VMs that don't have issues with accessing functionality. For example, it would have been nice to see how HomeKit in Ventura and Sonoma played with the lab network, but I was fundamentally unable to do this with a VM.

Posted by
rzeznijn
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This has been frustrating me since the day I got my Apple Silicon Mac. I need virtual environments to build and debug my application under new OSes. I vastly prefer doing that under a VM rather than having to boot from a partition or use a dedicated machine.

Help us, Apple; you're our only hope.

Posted by
AzironaZack
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  • Totally agree!

    I could not understand, WHY Apple does it!

    —
    pmoerke
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I've just encountered this limitation after downloading macOS Sonoma 14 Beta 5 and spending some time debugging it. We basically need to test under Sonoma and having no possibility of using AppleIds is quite limiting...then I wonder, why to allow to use VMs for it? what's the purpose of having it?

I hope Apple takes this into consideration. We really need this.

Sam.

Posted by
SamPaladin
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I have a particular use case which falls outside of development, specifically: I have a client who wants to use multiple iPhones to do multi-camera recording and monitor the video from ALL of the cameras in real-time. It's easy to use screen mirroring to mirror one phone to their laptop, but it's not possible to mirror multiple screens onto the same machine (obviously). Running multiple VMs to act as AirPlay receivers would work perfectly for this -- except that the VMs would have to be signed in to the same Apple ID to be able to mirror the display, and I can't sign in to any Apple ID at all.

If there is some other workaround, I'd be pleased to hear it.

Posted by
joemcmahon
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I don’t know how to upvote as I tried and doesn’t seem to work but can we fix this and nested virtualization for the love of all that is worthwhile In this world?

Posted by
seusemfim
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OK, so, lemme start with some facts:

  • Apple silicon macOS virtual machine don’t support Apple ID logins.

  • This has been true since the Virtualization framework was introduced in macOS 11.

  • It’s still true in macOS 14 (currently in beta).

  • This means that a number of important workflows don’t work in such VMs.

  • Apple has made no official announcement about whether this will change in the future.

Normally when you bump into a limitation like this I recommend that you file an enhancement request [1] describing how it’s causing problems. In this case that’s not necessary. We’ve had plenty of bugs about this already |-:

I will update this post if this situation changes in the future.

There’s been a lot of speculation as to why things are this way. I can’t answer Why? questions in general [2], and I’m certainly not going to comment on speculation. I will point out, however, that the bug reports filed about this have not been returned as behaves correctly.

I thought long and hard about the final disposition of this thread. I was quite tempted to lock it, because the signal-to-noise ratio is quite poor. However, I eventually decided to leave it open so you folks can chat amongst yourselves. Be aware, however, that I’ve unsubscribed, and thus I won’t see any of your posts.

If you have a technical question about Virtualization framework, please do start a new thread here on DevForums, tagging it with the Virtualization keyword. Before you do that, however, please review tips 1 through 3 in Quinn’s Top Ten DevForums Tips.

Share and Enjoy
—
Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"

[1] AKA a suggestion in Feedback Assistant. See Bug Reporting: How and Why? for more background on Apple’s bug reporting process.

[2] See tip 3 in Quinn’s Top Ten DevForums Tips.

Posted by
eskimo
Up vote reply of eskimo Down vote reply of eskimo
Post marked as Apple Recommended

  • This is a frustrating, unnecessary limitation. My use case is to isolate development environments, and I was able to do this with macOS before.

    —
    michaelahlers

  • Thank you for clarifying this. At least I now know I wasn't screwing up in my UTM VMs. I will file a feature request; I'd like to be able to use VMs for additional TestFlight testing for apps with System Extensions.

    —
    Todd_at_Ennetix
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+1 on Fix.

Posted by
bharold
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If we run in x86_64 using Rosetta, it works?

Posted by
prsolucoes
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