VM on external SSD

[tony359]

Hi all,

I'm trying to run a macOS VM on an external SSD on my Mac Mini M4. I'm using VirtualBuddy but it fails to work, apparently the virtualisation in macOS doesn't like the external SSD.

My internal SSD is the 256GB base one so I really don't have space for a VM. Is there an alternative/workaround to this issue?

Thanks!

 

[chrfr]

Hi all,

I'm trying to run a macOS VM on an external SSD on my Mac Mini M4. I'm using VirtualBuddy but it fails to work, apparently the virtualisation in macOS doesn't like the external SSD.

My internal SSD is the 256GB base one so I really don't have space for a VM. Is there an alternative/workaround to this issue?

Thanks!

I’ve had no issues running virtual machines stored on external disks with VirtualBuddy. Exactly what do you mean by “doesn’t like”?

 

[throAU]

Check the SSD is formatted as Apple file system

 

[tony359]

Check the SSD is formatted as Apple file system

it's not unfortunately and it's intentional. It's NTFS as it's shared with Windows.

Is that my issue?

The error I am getting is attached. Sorry, it's very small.

 

[chrfr]

it's not unfortunately and it's intentional. It's NTFS as it's shared with Windows.

Is that my issue?

The error I am getting is attached. Sorry, it's very small.

You almost certainly need to use an APFS volume. I know that VirtualBuddy relies on some APFS features for VM handling. Since the virtual machines cannot do anything on a Windows computer, perhaps it makes sense to add an APFS partition specifically for them.

 

[tony359]

thanks.

Would that be the same for any other VM available?

little update: I tried creating a small VM on my internal SSD and it crashes the same way when I click NEXT at the language selection. Fair enough, my internal SSD is now at 83% but I thought I could still run things until - say - 90%?

 

[bogdanw]

What macOS version are you trying to run? 15.4 has some problems with virtual machines.

I run VMs with UTM and VirtualBuddy on an external SSD, the partition is formatted as HFS+.

In theory, it should work on any filesystem macOS can write on, as the app creates an APFS image (.img) where macOS is installed.

NTFS is problematic, as macOS doesn’t write on it by default, but ExFAT could work and it is writable from Windows and macOS.

 

[tony359]

I tried 15.5.

I use my SSD with Davinci Resolve and they do not recommend exFAT for the database. A warning dialogue pops up if exFAT is being used.
So the SSD is formatted NTFS as it is primarily used on Windows - hence I bought Paragon NTFS for Mac.

To be honest I don't need a VM very often, it's only for testing stuff. If it's difficult, I think the fastest way would be to create a VM in Windows 🙂

I'm trying VirtualBox now.