Run an Ubuntu VM on an Apple M1 Mac

The simplest way to run an Ubuntu Linux virtual machine on a new Apple M1 chip macOS machine is to use Multipass.

First, install Multipass:

$ brew install --cask multipass

There should be a primary VM instance available already.

To start the primary Ubuntu instance:

$ multipass start

It should show:

Starting primary

Show running instances:

$ multipass list

The output should be similar to:

Name    State   IPv4         Image
primary Running 192.168.64.2 Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

Now we can SSH into the VM using:

$ multipass shell

You should see a prompt for the shell inside the Ubuntu VM:

ubuntu@primary:~$

Your Ubuntu VM is now ready to use!

Additionally, to mount a directory to access files from the host machine inside the VM, see this post:

Mount a Host Machine Directory Inside a Multipass VM

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