Original Message:
Sent: Mar 14, 2025 02:14 PM
From: Technogeezer
Subject: new(returning) Fusion user, cannot initiate RockyLinux8 VM install
You'll have to recompile your software to run under Rocky anyway on Apple Silicon. Binaries compiled for Intel won't work on Apple Silicon (which is an ARM CPU instruction set/architecture). Fusion also doesn't support the use of Rosetta on Linux VMs.
You might want to check out Oracle Linux 8 f you need that RHEL 8-compliant environment. Still need to recompile, though.
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- Paul (technogeezer)
vExpert 2025
Original Message:
Sent: Mar 14, 2025 01:43 PM
From: Roger Davis
Subject: new(returning) Fusion user, cannot initiate RockyLinux8 VM install
Much appreciated. Paul, I'm sure you just saved me hours of googling this morning!
My software is not yet RHEL9-ready, so I thought I'd ease into the (for me) wholly new M1/Fusion/Rocky experiment gradually with their RHEL8-compliant release. Guess not! No biggie, I was heading for Rocky9 anyway, now I'll just be getting there more quickly with a steeper adjustment curve.
Original Message:
Sent: Mar 14, 2025 12:16 PM
From: Technogeezer
Subject: new(returning) Fusion user, cannot initiate RockyLinux8 VM install
Rocky Linux 8 for aarch64/arm64 will not and cannot run in a VM on Apple Silicon Macs. The kernels included in those releases are compiled with a page size of 64 KB that is incompatible with Apple Silicon hardware. Nothing Fusion can do about that.
Use Rocky Linux 9 instead - and when you run through the installer, choose the 4K kernel option.
Or if you need a Rocky Linux 8 / RHEL 8 compatible environment, take a look at the latest release of Oracle Linux 8. Oracle Linux provides their own kernel which does run as a VM on Apple Silicon and is ABI compatible with RHEL 8.
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- Paul (technogeezer)
vExpert 2025
Original Message:
Sent: Mar 13, 2025 10:30 PM
From: Roger Davis
Subject: new(returning) Fusion user, cannot initiate RockyLinux8 VM install
Hi all,
I have used Fusion 12.x and earlier for years to successfully install Intel CentOS Linux 7 (and earlier) into Fusion VMs on Mac Intel hardware running 12.x Monterey and earlier versions of macOS. I am now trying to use Fusion Pro 13 for the very first time on an M1 Mac Studio running macOS 15.3 Sequoia. I have successfully installed Fusion onto this arm64 Mac but am now having trouble installing the arm64 Rocky Linux 8.10 (i.e., community equivalent to RHEL 8) into my first VM with Fusion 13.
I downloaded the RockyLinux 8.10 arm64 DVD ISO onto my Mac's hard drive, and drag-and-dropped that ISO into the right place when first creating the new VM. When I start the VM I see the expected Linux grub bootup screen showing the three choices (1) 'Install Rocky Linux 8.10,' (2) 'Test this media ...', and (3) 'Troubleshooting -->'. I can use my keyboard arrow keys to navigate to the desired 'Install Rocky Linux ...' choice, but when I then hit the keyboard RETURN key the VM window goes black for just a fraction of a second and then immediately reverts to that same initial grub bootup screen as if nothing had happened. There are no error messages displayed as far as I can tell.
Presumably there is some very simple and stupid operator error here but I'll be damned if I can figure out what it is. How can I get the RockyLinux 8 install procedure to properly commence when I make this selection and hit RETURN?