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Parallels or QEMU/UTM (or?)

C

coldt

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 19, 2022
7
1
Hello,

I've just got a new MacBook Pro (M2) and first thing I think
is to install a virtual machine (to then run MacOS inside the VM).
What is better: Parallels or QEMU/UTM? Is there a difference in
the likelihood of compromise, now or over the
next years (e.g. via a supply-chain attack)? Thanks!

(Background: The VM setup would be to have one VM without
any new apps being installed, only text-based email,
maybe Safari with Javascript disabled, and the other VM
used for webbrowsing, conferencing, etc, with a shared data
directory and (would be nice!) copy-paste between the VMs.)

Any advice is appreciated! Thanks a lot!

Coldt
 
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Parallels. UTM is unstable at best. Not sure you'll like MacOS in a VM though, a bit slow and full screen transitions don't work well for me. But that's just my experience, I'd certainly like to hear how it works out for you!
 
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Big thanks for your thoughts! But...

At https://kb.parallels.com/125561, there's a list of Parallels
limitations: "shared folders and snapshots are not supported for now.
Apart from that it is currently not possible ... to register with Apple ID."
Without shared folders, I guess it will be clumsy to share any data?!
Also, while Parallels installed OK, creating a VM by simply following
the advice at kb.parallels.com just failed; will retry, though.

Kind Regards
Coldt
 
Dear All, Thanks for the helpful advice!!

Looking at other sites on the Web, VMware does not receive so many likes, e.g. in this forum (in January), or here. Moreover, I just saw the heading "VMware Releases Critical Patches for Workstation and Fusion Software", although of course, no system is 100% and it's also good that software is patched.

@bobcomer: May I ask you for more details -re- "UTM is unstable at best."? [attribution corrected April 28]

@ All: did anyone succeed in installing Parallels on the newest MacBook, running MacOS Ventura 13.x ?

All your help is deeply appreciated!
Coldt
 
Last edited:
coldt said:
May I ask you for more details -re- "UTM is unstable at best."?
Click to expand...
It was me that said that and I meant it literally, it crashes often. Some OS's don't work at all under it and the ones that do, it crashes the whole VM, not the OS in the VM.
 
Running a MacOS guest system does not work very well. Why not just buy a second Mac Mini? I just bought a used 2014 Mac for $150. It is MUCH better than a slow and buggy VM-based instance. The old Mini runs headless.

The reason you have a VM is to run a DIFFERENT OS like Linux or the ARM version of Windows.

There are three VM system work looking at, VMware Fusion, Parallels and Virtual Box by Oracle. VMware has a free version you can use. and Virtual Box is open source. Try those.

But be warned that macos is a VM never runs well. And why do this? Maybe you are a developer and need to test with many different versions of MacOS? But if you do this in VMs the tests are not representative of your users.
 
Thanks for the comments! My rationale for VMs is that I believe that I can avoid malware much better; I plan to run one VM with no additional apps installed (only text-based email; all valuable data are accessible by this VM only) and another VM with Acrobat, Chrome, zoom, etc, and a shared directory between both VMs. Makes sense? Alternatives? I'm happy indeed about any expert advice!
 
coldt said:
Thanks for the comments! My rationale for VMs is that I believe that I can avoid malware much better; I plan to run one VM with no additional apps installed (only text-based email; all valuable data are accessible by this VM only) and another VM with Acrobat, Chrome, zoom, etc, and a shared directory between both VMs. Makes sense? Alternatives? I'm happy indeed about any expert advice!
Click to expand...
VM's have never been fast enough for me to go totally that way, I'm not a patient person, but if there's a known risk with a certain site or I need to test a downloaded executable, darned right I do it in a VM, and do a snapshot right before so I can easily restore.

But for normal stuff, performance might wear you down Mac OS without signing in to iCloud would be as good as anything else for the job...
 
coldt said:
Thanks for the comments! My rationale for VMs is that I believe that I can avoid malware much better; I plan to run one VM with no additional apps installed (only text-based email; all valuable data are accessible by this VM only) and another VM with Acrobat, Chrome, zoom, etc, and a shared directory between both VMs. Makes sense? Alternatives? I'm happy indeed about any expert advice!
Click to expand...
A VM is no different from a real physical computer. It is not clear why having more than one computer can help.

Also, when was the last time you have an issue with Malware on your Mac? Usually, people who think they have such issues are mistaken.

If you MUST do this then the easy solution is to run a Linux or UNIX system in the VM. Not MacOS.
 
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