Big Sur and Virtual Machines

Wondered if anyone that has gotten Big Sur installed experienced any issues with Virtual Machines (Virtual Box, Parallels, VMWare, etc.)? After the macOS 10.15.6 update caused macOS to crash that had VM running on it, I am a bit cautious.

Posted on Nov 13, 2020 3:05 AM

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20 replies

rh10023 Author

Level 1

39 points

Nov 17, 2020 4:16 AM in response to rh10023

Based on a couple comments on whether the VM App even runs on Big Sur. I decided to check the VM app website. I checked virtualbox.org, there isn't an official statement on compatibility with Big Sur. Checking in the forums, there are lots of problems with getting the latest version to run. I haven't checked VMWare yet. Looks I need to wait a bit before upgrading my MacMini that I use as kind of "home lab".

I run four VM through Virtualbox, and run Docker for an Apache Guacamole container. (Noticed a couple people making note of the number of VMs and asking.)

Nov 27, 2020 5:16 AM in response to emerson124

Tip Emerson.

When you know Apple are going to do any big update. Here are the steps i have to carry out to try and avoid issues.

I open my VMware and make sure it working.
I then shut it down (Not sleep mode!) Fully close off, shutting Off!
I then save my VMware backup.
Now update Apple.

I just know from past issues when i have put my VMware in sleep mode and then carried out Big Apple update it can crash

The last step is to check with your VMware if there are any known issues caused by apple preventing the VMware to work. You might need to reinstall any new updates from your VMware.

dialabrain

Level 10

137,349 points

Nov 13, 2020 6:11 AM in response to rh10023

I can only tell you I never had a problem. Of course I only run one VM at a time on iMacs with 32GBs of RAM.

Nov 27, 2020 6:18 AM in response to emerson124

Umm how is Apple meant to fix VM when it’s not there product it’s VM that needs to update there coding to work with big sur it’s nothing to do with apple

Khal D

Level 1

4 points

Nov 27, 2020 6:23 AM in response to Bazzakuda

Bazzakuda,

Because it was working just fine before the Big Sur update. That means they did something that broke the functionality.

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Big Sur and Virtual Machines