Create Ubuntu and Windows VMs with QEMU on Apple Silicon

QEMU_ON_M1.md

Running Linux and Windows on M1 with QEMU

30.11.2020: Updated with the new patchseries and instructions for Windows

02.12.2020: Added tweaks

08.12.2020: Updated with patchseries v4

31.01.2020: Updated with patchseries v6

07.03.2021: Updated instructions to apply patch cleanly

01.06.2021: Updated instructions for Xcode 12.4 and above

Building QEMU

• Clone QEMU and checkout version 5.2.0

git clone https://github.com/qemu/qemu
cd qemu
git checkout v5.2.0

• Apply the patchseries by Alexander Graf https://lore.kernel.org/qemu-devel/20210120224444.71840-1-agraf@csgraf.de/

curl https://patchwork.kernel.org/series/418581/mbox/ | git am --exclude=MAINTAINERS

• If you use Xcode 12.4 or above, you will need another patch to fix the QEMU build. Download xcode-12-4.patch from below and apply it using

git apply xcode-12-4.patch

• Install the ARM version of the brew package manager. The (recommended) installation via Rosetta will cause problems when building QEMU. Even if brew screams at you at every launch that this is not a supported configuration I had no major problems so far. You can follow this guide (see the "Multiple Homebrews" section).
• Install required packages for building:

brew install libffi gettext pkg-config autoconf automake pixman

• Run the following commands to build qemu:

mkdir build
cd build
../configure --target-list=aarch64-softmmu --disable-gnutls
make -j8
sudo make install

• For some reason, the qemu binary is modified during make install. You need to resign it with the correct entitlements, otherwise you will get an Unknown Error:

sudo codesign --entitlements /path/to/qemu/accel/hvf/entitlements.plist --force -s - `which qemu-system-aarch64`

Create Ubuntu VM

• Download Ubuntu Server for ARM https://ubuntu.com/download/server/arm
• Create a hard disk:

qemu-img create -f qcow2 disk.qcow2 10G

• Create an empty file for persisting UEFI variables:

dd if=/dev/zero conv=sync bs=1m count=64 of=ovmf_vars.fd

• Run qemu with the following command-line arguments:

qemu-system-aarch64 \
    -accel hvf \
    -m 2048 \
    -cpu cortex-a57 -M virt,highmem=off  \
    -drive file=/usr/local/share/qemu/edk2-aarch64-code.fd,if=pflash,format=raw,readonly=on \
    -drive file=ovmf_vars.fd,if=pflash,format=raw \
    -serial telnet::4444,server,nowait \
    -drive if=none,file=disk.qcow2,format=qcow2,id=hd0 \
    -device virtio-blk-device,drive=hd0,serial="dummyserial" \
    -device virtio-net-device,netdev=net0 \
    -netdev user,id=net0 \
    -vga none -device ramfb \
    -cdrom /path/to/ubuntu.iso \
    -device usb-ehci -device usb-kbd -device usb-mouse -usb \
    -monitor stdio

• You should be able to install Ubuntu as normal
• If you want a desktop environment, you can install it using sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop

Create Windows VM

• Download Windows for ARM from here
• Create an empty file for persisting UEFI variables:

dd if=/dev/zero conv=sync bs=1m count=64 of=ovmf_vars.fd

• For Windows, we need to replace the VirtIO block device with something that is supported natively by the OS. Otherwise, the command-line is almost unchanged
• You may want to pass multiple cores to the VM using -smp X:

qemu-system-aarch64 \
    -accel hvf \
    -m 2048 -smp 2 \
    -cpu cortex-a72 -M virt,highmem=off  \
    -drive file=/usr/local/share/qemu/edk2-aarch64-code.fd,if=pflash,format=raw,readonly=on \
    -drive file=ovmf_vars.fd,if=pflash,format=raw \
    -serial telnet::4444,server,nowait \
    -drive if=none,file=Windows10_InsiderPreview_Client_ARM64_en-us_20231.VHDX,format=vhdx,id=hd0,cache=writethrough \
    -device nvme,drive=hd0,serial="dummyserial" \
    -nic user,model=virtio \
    -vga none -device ramfb \
    -device usb-ehci -device usb-kbd -device usb-mouse -usb \
    -monitor stdio

Limitations

Networking on Windows

Windows does not support VirtIO network interfaces out of the box. To get it working, you need to install additional drivers. See this gist for a guide (be sure to use version 0.1.190 instead of 0.1.185)

Resolution

The resolution is set to 800x600 by default. To change it, hit Esc at the immediately after starting the VM, while you see the tianocore logo, to get into the OVMF config menu. Choose Device Manager -> OVMF Platform Configuration -> Change Preferred -> Select 1024x768 -> Commit Changes and Exit -> Esc -> Reset.

Tweaks

Port Forwarding

Proper NAT networking is currently not possible with QEMU due to the lack of tap devices in macOS Big Sur. If you just want to be able to connect to a port on the VM (e.g. for SSH or RDP), you can configure QEMU to forward a local port to the VM:

    -nic user,model=virtio,hostfwd=tcp:127.0.0.1:3389-0.0.0.0:3389 \

In this case the port for RDP is forwarded so that I can connect to the VM at localhost:3389. The same for Ubuntu/SSH:

    -netdev user,id=net0,hostfwd=tcp:127.0.0.1:2222-0.0.0.0:22 \

Disk Snapshots

Some users experience a random filesystem corruptions when booting Windows which can be avoided with the cache=writethrough for the hard drive. You can also perform disk snapshots to save the state of the hard disk at a certain point in time and restore it later. To do this, shut the VM down and create a new disk with your original image as the backing file:

qemu-img create -b Windows10_InsiderPreview_Client_ARM64_en-us_20231.VHDX -F vhdx -f qcow2 disk.qcow2

Now, adjust the -drive parameter so that QEMU boots from your new image:

    -drive if=none,file=disk.qcow2,format=qcow2,id=hd0,cache=writethrough \

If something goes wrong you can now delete disk.qcow2 and recreate it using the same commmand to back to the original state.

xcode-12-4.patch

diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index bcbbec71a1..8b75085fa5 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ x := $(shell rm -rf meson-private meson-info meson-logs)
 endif
 
 # 1. ensure config-host.mak is up-to-date
-config-host.mak: $(SRC_PATH)/configure $(SRC_PATH)/pc-bios $(SRC_PATH)/VERSION
+config-host.mak: $(SRC_PATH)/configure $(SRC_PATH)/pc-bios $(SRC_PATH)/QEMU_VERSION
 	@echo config-host.mak is out-of-date, running configure
 	@if test -f meson-private/coredata.dat; then \
 	  ./config.status --skip-meson; \
@@ -204,7 +204,7 @@ clean: recurse-clean
 	rm -f TAGS cscope.* *.pod *~ */*~
 	rm -f fsdev/*.pod scsi/*.pod
 
-VERSION = $(shell cat $(SRC_PATH)/VERSION)
+VERSION = $(shell cat $(SRC_PATH)/QEMU_VERSION)
 
 dist: qemu-$(VERSION).tar.bz2
 
diff --git a/QEMU_VERSION b/QEMU_VERSION
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..5214c0b8b9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/QEMU_VERSION
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+5.2.0
diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
deleted file mode 100644
index 5214c0b8b9..0000000000
--- a/VERSION
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-5.2.0
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 2dc66ae930..a8f8a02b3f 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 project('qemu', ['c'], meson_version: '>=0.55.0',
         default_options: ['warning_level=1', 'c_std=gnu99', 'cpp_std=gnu++11', 'b_colorout=auto'] +
                          (meson.version().version_compare('>=0.56.0') ? [ 'b_staticpic=false' ] : []),
-        version: run_command('head', meson.source_root() / 'VERSION').stdout().strip())
+        version: run_command('head', meson.source_root() / 'QEMU_VERSION').stdout().strip())
 
 not_found = dependency('', required: false)
 if meson.version().version_compare('>=0.56.0')

$ uname -a
Darwin Brandons-MacBook-Air.local 21.2.0 Darwin Kernel Version 21.2.0: Sun Nov 28 20:29:10 PST 2021; root:xnu-8019.61.5~1/RELEASE_ARM64_T8101 arm64

$ qemu-system-aarch64 --version # from brew
QEMU emulator version 6.2.0
Copyright (c) 2003-2021 Fabrice Bellard and the QEMU Project developers

qemu-system-aarch64 \
    -accel hvf \
    -m 2048 -smp 2 \
    -cpu cortex-a72 -M virt,highmem=off  \
    -drive file=/opt/homebrew/share/qemu/edk2-aarch64-code.fd,if=pflash,format=raw,readonly=on \
    -drive file=/tmp/ovmf_vars.fd,if=pflash,format=raw \
    -serial telnet::4444,server,nowait \
    -drive file=~/Downloads/Windows11_InsiderPreview_Client_ARM64_en-us_22523.VHDX,if=none,format=vhdx,id=hd0,cache=writethrough \
    -device nvme,drive=hd0,serial="dummyserial" \
    -nic user,model=virtio \
    -vga none -device ramfb \
    -device usb-ehci -device usb-kbd -device usb-mouse -usb \
    -monitor stdio

Stuck on this TianoCore loading screen.

@brandonros I was stuck at the same place. I realized I was trying to load an old x86 .iso. Switching to Fedora in aarch64 worked.

Hi,

I am not able to run the qemu on my MacBook Pro (13-inch, M1, 2020).
When I tried to run qemu command always fails. I created the two previous disk mentioned on the guide.

Any idea?

Regards,

@kassiansun I tried the 6.1 homebrew release on my M1 Macbook Air and cannot get networking working with -netdev user,id=net0,hostfwd=tcp:127.0.0.1:2222-0.0.0.0:22 \

Maybe it is too late, but recently I had the same issue; to solve it, I use:

-net nic,model=rtl8139 \
-net user,hostfwd=tcp::2222-:22 \

@brandonros I was stuck at the same place. I realized I was trying to load an old x86 .iso. Switching to Fedora in aarch64 worked.

I face the same problem, but don't know what you exactly mean by this: what exactly do I have to do, in order to make it work. Can you elaborate? :)

@brandonros I was stuck at the same place. I realized I was trying to load an old x86 .iso. Switching to Fedora in aarch64 worked.

I face the same problem, but don't know what you exactly mean by this: what exactly do I have to do, in order to make it work. Can you elaborate? :)

I simply had to pick the right ISO-image. I had picked one for x86, and not ARM (aarch64).