--- title: Running a Ubuntu VM on a Mac M1 « ipSpace.net blog description: Running Ubuntu VMs on Apple M1 Macs requires a different approach than the traditional VirtualBox/Vagrant combo, which doesn't support ARM. Multipass by... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/running-a-ubuntu-vm-on-a-mac-m1-ipspace-net-blog-rkhkyskqh twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Running a Ubuntu VM on a Mac M1 « ipSpace.net blog | daily.dev og:description: Running Ubuntu VMs on Apple M1 Macs requires a different approach than the traditional VirtualBox/Vagrant combo, which doesn't support ARM. Multipass by... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/running-a-ubuntu-vm-on-a-mac-m1-ipspace-net-blog-rkhkyskqh og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/rkHkysKqH.png og:image:alt: Running a Ubuntu VM on a Mac M1 « ipSpace.net blog og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Running a Ubuntu VM on a Mac M1 « ipSpace.net blog **[ipSpace.net Blog](https://daily.dev/sources/ipspace)** · 2 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Running Ubuntu VMs on Apple M1 Macs requires a different approach than the traditional VirtualBox/Vagrant combo, which doesn't support ARM. Multipass by Canonical offers a simple three-step solution: install via Homebrew, start the VM with `multipass start`, and connect with `multipass shell`. The resulting VM runs an ARM64 version of Ubuntu, as x86 emulation on M1 remains unsolved for practical use. Lima is mentioned as an alternative with potential x86 support. Comments also suggest UTM and Parallels Desktop as other options. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How do I run a Ubuntu VM on a Mac M1 without VirtualBox? Multipass by Canonical is a simple alternative for running Ubuntu VMs on Apple M1. Install it with `brew install --cask multipass`, start the default VM with `multipass start`, and connect with `multipass shell`. The VM runs an ARM64 build of Ubuntu, since x86 emulation on M1 is not practically solved. Your Mac home directory is mapped into the ubuntu user's Home folder automatically. _Developers setting up Ansible or Python sandboxes on M1 Macs track tool options like these on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Multipass: Fast, Scriptable Ubuntu VMs for Modern DevOps](https://daily.dev/posts/multipass-fast-scriptable-ubuntu-vms-for-modern-devops-deu5e0nte) · The New Stack · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [How to use Ubuntu on Windows](https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-use-ubuntu-on-windows-clxtaqdv7) · Ubuntu · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [How fast is a macOS VM, and how small could it be?](https://daily.dev/posts/how-fast-is-a-macos-vm-and-how-small-could-it-be--esm6xyulh) · Hacker News · 2 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#infrastructure](https://daily.dev/tags/infrastructure), [#ubuntu](https://daily.dev/tags/ubuntu), [#ansible](https://daily.dev/tags/ansible) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/running-a-ubuntu-vm-on-a-mac-m1-ipspace-net-blog-rkhkyskqh) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Running a Ubuntu VM on a Mac M1 « ipSpace.net blog","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/running-a-ubuntu-vm-on-a-mac-m1-ipspace-net-blog-rkhkyskqh","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/running-a-ubuntu-vm-on-a-mac-m1-ipspace-net-blog-rkhkyskqh"},"datePublished":"2026-08-11T08:52:08.320Z","dateModified":"2026-08-11T08:58:46.856Z","description":"Running Ubuntu VMs on Apple M1 Macs requires a different approach than the traditional VirtualBox/Vagrant combo, which doesn't support ARM. 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