GuesthouseVM

Virtual machines on the Mac, with Apple's framework alone.

A library of machines, a creation wizard, settings, a console window and snapshots: the experience of a classic VM manager, built only on Apple's Virtualization framework.

Requires macOS 27 on a Mac with Apple silicon.

The GuesthouseVM library with a running Alpine Linux machine

What it does

Everything Apple's framework allows, without third-party code.

Virtualization.framework only

No QEMU, no third-party dependencies: machines run on Apple's hypervisor, fast and integrated with macOS.

Linux and other aarch64 systems

EFI boot from an ISO or a ready-made disk image (cloud images included), direct Linux kernel boot, a catalog with Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, Alpine and Rocky downloaded and verified by the app.

macOS guests

Installed from the latest restore image supported by your Mac or from a local IPSW file.

cloud-init first boot

User, password and SSH key written to a NoCloud seed disk the app generates: cloud images are ready in a minute.

Full console

Keyboard capture, Ctrl+Alt+Del, scaling, full screen, interactive serial console, ISO images inserted while running.

USB passthrough

USB sticks, readers and adapters of the Mac connected to the virtual machine, with macOS staying in control.

Snapshots and saved state

Instant snapshots on APFS, automatic ones before each start if you like; suspend and resume the machine.

Disks, network and folders

Raw and ASIF disks, resize and compact, NAT networking with the guest IP shown, shared folders, clipboard, Rosetta for x86_64 binaries.

Screenshots

The console with the Debian installer
The console with the Debian installer
The wizard with the image catalog
The wizard with the image catalog
Snapshots, automatic before each start if you like
Snapshots, automatic before each start if you like

How it works

No emulation

aarch64 machines use the Mac's hypervisor through Virtualization.framework, the same one Apple uses. No QEMU, no kernel extensions, no extra drivers.

Sandboxed app

GuesthouseVM runs in the macOS sandbox: it only touches the files you choose. Machines live in .ghvm packages you can move, clone and export.

Open formats

Raw or ASIF disks, standard ISO images, a readable JSON configuration. No proprietary format locks you in.

Open source

The source is published under the Apache 2.0 license: read it, build it, contribute.

Frequently asked questions

No. Virtualization.framework runs aarch64 systems only. With Rosetta, Linux guests can still run individual x86_64 programs.

Every Mac with Apple silicon running macOS 27 or later. Intel Macs are not supported.

Raw and ASIF disk images do. qcow2, VMDK, VHDX, VDI and .dmg files must be converted first: the app recognizes them and explains how.

The source is free (Apache 2.0). The Mac App Store version, signed and updated automatically, will be available on the terms shown on the store.