M4 Mac Models Cannot Run macOS Virtual Machines on Versions Pre-macOS Ventura 13.4

Apple has announced new Mac models with M4 chips in a few weeks. Overall, while the reviews were pretty good, it was discovered that the new M4 Mac models were unable to run virtual machines, especially with older versions of macOS below macOS Ventura 13.4. Although developers and users highlight this problem, it is not yet clear whether the company will fix the problem.

Eclectic Light Company’den Howard Oakley’nin to in-depth analysis Based on this, security researcher Csaba Fitzl brought the issue to light. It also affects important virtualization software such as UTM, making it impossible to run it on the latest models.

The restriction is imposed during the initial kernel boot process, and Activity Monitor shows only one active virtual core even though multiple cores are available. This gives us more explanation about the error occurring in the initial stage, even before the virtual machine can initialize the kernels. While the issue is only present on M4 Macs, all older variants, including M1, M2, and M3 Macs, can successfully run virtual machines of macOS Monterey and older versions.

There are many users and developers who want to use older macOS versions for testing and compatibility purposes. Unfortunately, these people should not rush to use a Mac with an M4 chip. Apple will need to publish IPSW files for older macOS versions for support.

Source: www.technopat.net