VMWare fusion tech preview freezing on mac m1

[RayanJ]

Hi. I was looking for a virtual machine to use kali linux inside of VM on host (mac m1 2020) machine. So I chose to use VMWare fusion. By the way, while using the VMware fusion tech preview, my kali VM has freezed after reboot mac m1.

I attach the status of my vmware fusion.

Mac OS: Monterey 12.3 (21E230) (latest update)

VMWare fusion version:  Player Version e.x.p (19431034)

I think this tech preview version is an experimental virtual machine. Is this correct? If it is, which VM can I choose to use Kali on mac m1?

Is any VMs for mac m1? Only the option = Parallels?

[Technogeezer]

Can you give a bit more detail on what happened when you say "freezed after reboot Mac m1"? 

What rebooted? The Mac? The VM? Did the Mac crash while this VM was operational and then you rebooted?

Is the VM you show in this screen shot actually up and running (I see the CPU chart in the upper right of the screen, is that moving or is the entire screen frozen? Is there any CPU utilization stats you have from the macOS side of things?

Have you tried to shut down (first choice) the VM? If that didn't work, did you try Power Off?

[uy1]

Hi there, having similar issue at my side (M1 silicon with fusion 19431034). vm freeze at the installation screen, after selecting the grub option. error message says 'EFI stub error: kernel imaged not align with 64k boundary' 

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[rhaleblianbeta]

That's what I get in many cases when running into this:

https://communities.vmware.com/t5/Fusion-for-Apple-Silicon-Tech/Fedora-35-kernel-5-16-14-will-not-bo...

Those alignment messages are non-fatal and AFAICT are not related to the true problem as stated above.  You'll get them even when you boot successfully.

A kernel of the family in question are already in a number of distributions of Ubuntu.

I found that 64-bit Arm Server 21.10 starts out with an older kernel that won't do this, so it will reboot after installation.
You'll then eventually get a newer kernel installed, I set the boot loader to still select the original kernel.

[uy1]

so is there anything I can do to resolve this issue ? the machine sits there and does nothing.

the iso I'm trying to install, is the latest ubuntu version fir arm (https://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily-live/current/ - jammy-desktop-arm64.iso)

Regards

[rhaleblianbeta]

The jammy dailies will be no good.  I can speak from experience.
I just posted a new topic about one particular version of Ubuntu that can work.
https://communities.vmware.com/t5/Fusion-for-Apple-Silicon-Tech/Ubuntu-hanging-on-boot-up-Try-Ubuntu...

If you try it, let us know how it goes.

[uy1]

have created a new machine with the iso you mentioned - install process was passed, but now it hang during startup.

the below screen happen after the grub selection, btw the same happen to me with the previous version - ubuntu-20.04.4-live-server-arm64

[rhaleblianbeta]

Darn, that's what you'll get with this kernel problem.
Are you able to get into the bootloader menu?  I believe you hit Shift or Esc at startup to get in.
If you can, note the kernel version numbers it lets you choose.

I can take a moment to try the current download ISO to see if it was replaced.  @Technogeezer mentioned that the new kernels have security fixes, so it could have happened.

[uy1]

there is only one option at the menu - version 5.13.0.37

psb

[rhaleblianbeta]

Yep, today's image gets stuck for me in the same place.
Since this a "live" style installation ISO, it could easily have become bricked just today.
So, sadly, I posted too soon.
I can only think of there being a full release ISO older than yesterday somewhere...

[rhaleblianbeta]

> version 5.13.0.37

Yeah we got screwed, sorry for leading you on.  I didn't think about this being a live style ISO.  The kernel used changed.

See the attached image for what is working for me (5.13.0-19).

[uy1]

all good - do you happen to recall the iso filename ? 

managed to install and run the 21.04-server, but I'm looking for the desktop image

[Technogeezer]

@uy1 If you do find one please let all of us know. Many of us have tried with no success. Canonical doesn't seem to distribute an ISO for Ubuntu Desktop on ARM other than the Jammy pre-release builds or a pre-packaged one for a Raspberry Pi. 

[rhaleblianbeta]

> do you happen to recall the iso filename

It was the name of the ISO you used.  It's a Live CD ISO, so the results you get depend on what the network installation gives you.
This is why it worked for me in the past and failed for you later.

I thought that all ARM Server distributions were Live CDs, but if you got one to work I may have been misinformed...

[v1c3]

The same is happening with the current arm64-kali-linux-5 kernel. My workaround is to boot an older kernel. According to a collegue this is not happening with parallels. I expect its a problem of VMware and not the current kernels.

[ColoradoMarmot]

No, it happened with both.  Parallels has issued a patch that allows it to work again (but they still haven't fixed the problems with regular crashes).

[Technogeezer]

@ColoradoMarmot have you heard anything from VMware on this, as I certainly have not. I know this is a tech preview/prerelease software but what's the point of having software for test when nothing runs on it (which is quickly becoming true).

[ColoradoMarmot]

@Mikero Any word on a fix for the kernel issue?  Terrible timing with the updated tech preview....

[Mikero]

It's been escalated, basically. 
Also thanks @Technogeezer  for your email, that was helpful and we got it in front of the right folks.

[ColoradoMarmot]

Thanks - I never thought I'd miss Windows stability 😉