problem installing centos or fedora in vmware fusion on Apple sillicon

[has1]

Hi,

The installation for cenos or fedora hangs at "EFI stub: Exiting boot services and installing virtual address map."

Can anyone tell me how to fix this.

Thanks.

[Technogeezer]

I’m assuming you are trying to install the latest Fedora or CentOS Stream releases. 

Changes were made by the Linux kernel maintainers to fix a security issue, and those fixes are being widely distributed as security updates by almost all distributions, including CentOS and Fedora. The change renders the kernel un bootable on the Tech Preview. Unless you can find an installer that contains a kernel built before March 2022, you will have to wait until VMware addresses the problem. There is no other workaround to this issue as it’s a problem with the Tech Preview. 

VMware has hinted that something may be coming next month. We’re all keeping our fingers crossed that it addresses the issue. 

Please take the time to search the forum next time - this question has been answered many times here and in the unofficial tips and techniques document https://communities.vmware.com/t5/Fusion-for-Apple-Silicon-Tech/Tips-Techniques-Gotchas-for-the-Tech...

[ozsmacd]

I'm surprised that we haven't seen a clear update from VMware on this important topic, as it basically renders the Preview useless for many people, and asking people to run Linux VMs where the kernels need to remain un-patched isn't  a great situation.

Many users of this forum are helping each other, and that is great, but it would be great if VMware provided guidance and a few updates along the way.

PS - My apologies if I've missed any communications, I promise I have looked.

[ColoradoMarmot]

They've indicated something is coming in June - best guess is at WWDC.

[Technogeezer]

VMware rarely comments on when bugs are getting fixed or contents of future releases. That’s sometimes frustrating when dealing with showstoppers like this. Although to be fair, this is a tech preview and not a fully supported release. On the flip side, not addressing the bug grinds any testing to a halt, so it ends up hurting VMware too. 

I am also keeping fingers crossed for an updated and enhanced tech preview release “real soon now”. 

[adaptiveoptics]

I love VMware and am happy to pay for it. I'm happy to wait for a "production" version as well, even when I have to work an extra bit to protect how it is compromising my systems because they won't update it with a known fix.

But I won't sit in the dark much longer.

I've never even tried it before, but I know people who use it and love it - and I've decided I'm giving them until June 6 to shed some light or I'll be dropping it for Parallels. And I tend to not look back once started down a path.

I absolutely love VMware and the Fusion product. But I'm almost convinced that is not enough reason to remain hobbled and exposed without any knowledge of what's coming and when the target time might be. Even from a "preview" which is really the only thing they have to offer currently for this market.

[has1]

Hi Technogeezer,

Has vmware released a new version of the tech preview this month? I don't see anything new yet and I want to get my Linux VM's up and running on this M1 Max.

[Technogeezer]

Latest hints from VMware say a July refresh of the Tech Preview. 

[has1]

Ok, my m1 max is going to waste until they release that tech preview. Im having the same issue in UTM. What version of CentOS do I need to get to use with this current tech preview

[Technogeezer]

You need CentOS 9 Stream or later, Fedora, or RHEL 9. RHEL 8 and associated downstream releases such as Rocky Linux 8 or CentOS 8 will not work, as their kernels are compiled with a 64 KB page size that Apple Silicon CPUs do not support. Same goes for RHEL 7. 
An updated Tech Preview will not change this, as the underlying issue is a hardware restriction. 

[Technogeezer]

FYI I was able to install the latest CentOS 9 Stream in a UTM virtual machine without issue.

[has1]

DoI need the vmware tech preview installer from before march 2022 as well? Where can I find the older installer?

[ColoradoMarmot]

No, use the latest installer for the tech preview.

[Technogeezer]

There have been only two releases of the Tech Preview, one in September-ish 2021, and an updated one in early March 2022 that addresses expired license keys and some minor issues. Neither fix the Linux kernel boot issue.

The linux installation media is the piece that has to be before March 2022 (which is when many distros started to include the updated kernels because of security implications). Ubuntu 20.04.4 LTS is relatively easy to find, and there are instructions in the unofficial tips and techniques document here: https://communities.vmware.com/t5/Fusion-for-Apple-Silicon-Tech/Tips-Techniques-Gotchas-for-the-Tech... that will help you get it going. The document also has a link for the Debian 11.2 installer