Docs · Guests

Linux guests

ARM64 Linux on either engine, shared folders, clipboard, and what Rosetta can and cannot do for you.

Linux is the best-supported guest and the default for 1vm create.

1vm create dev --guest linux --iso ~/Downloads/ubuntu-24.04-arm64.iso
1vm start dev

Run 1vm guide linux for the same facts printed against your actual Mac.

Which engine

Linux runs on Virtualization.framework by default, and that is the right choice for almost everyone: it is more mature, it supports shared folders and clipboard more completely, and it is the only path with Rosetta.

The 1VM engine can also run Linux, and does so through first-party device models with a direct kernel boot. It is at an earlier tier and is not the default. Choose it explicitly when you want that path:

1vm create dev --hypervisor native --kernel ./Image --initrd ./initramfs.img

What works

  • Any ARM64 Linux installer ISO, booted through EFI
  • virtio-block disk, virtio-net networking and virtio-gpu display, all of which modern kernels have in-box
  • Shared folders over virtiofs
  • Shared clipboard in both directions — this needs spice-vdagent in the guest, which desktop distributions ship
  • Rosetta for x86 Linux binaries, on Virtualization.framework, where the Mac supports it

What does not

  • x86 ISOs. The guest kernel must be ARM64.
  • A wholesale x86 userland. Rosetta translates instructions, not libraries. A dynamically linked x86 program still needs an x86 copy of everything it links against, and an ARM64 distribution does not ship that.

Rosetta

Rosetta is a Virtualization.framework feature, so it is unavailable on the 1VM engine. Enable it at create time and then do one setup pass inside the guest to mount the share and register the binfmt_misc handler:

1vm create dev --rosetta
1vm guide rosetta      # prints the in-guest commands

Shared folders and clipboard

1vm create dev --share projects:~/Projects
1vm create dev --share readonly:~/Data:ro
1vm create dev --clipboard

Both are also settable later:

1vm set dev sharedFolders.add tag=projects path=~/Projects
1vm set dev clipboardSharing true

Omarchy

Omarchy — Arch Linux with the Hyprland desktop — is a first-class route with a prebuilt ARM64 system bundled inside the app, so there is no ISO to find and no installer to sit through. See the full walkthrough.