Skip to content

Instantly share code, notes, and snippets.

@tadhgboyle

tadhgboyle/x86-m1.md

Last active February 17, 2025 10:44
Show Gist options
  • Save tadhgboyle/a0c859b7d7c0a258593dc00cdc5006cc to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.
Save tadhgboyle/a0c859b7d7c0a258593dc00cdc5006cc to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.
Download ZIP
running x86_64 `.ova` VMs on an m1 mac
Raw
x86-m1.md

  • install homebrew if you have not already

    • /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

  • install qemu

    • brew install qemu

  • extract the .ova file

    • tar -xvf /path/to/ova

  • convert the .ova file to a .qcow2 file

    • qemu-img convert -O qcow2 /path/to/vdmk /path/to/output/qcow2
    • make sure you have the .qcow2 extension in the output path
    • there is no output until the processing is complete. it might take up to 5 minutes

  • download utm

  • make a new virtual machine in utm

    • click the + icon on the top menu and then "start from scratch"
    • go to the "drives" tab and click "import drive", then select the .qcow2 we just made
    • in some cases you might have to disable uefi booting
      • click on "system", then "advanced settings", and then unselect "uefi booting"
    • by default, preformance is awful. to fix this you should give at least 6gb of RAM, 6 cores and enable mulicore mode
    • click "save"

  • start the virtual machine and enjoy x86_64 emulation on your m1 mac!

@TeddyBareX
Copy link

Hey @sadn1ck I tried what @tadhgboyle said and extracted the ova file, but I got two vdmk files. One was part 1 and the other was part 2. What should I do?

Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment