Path forward from Ventura 13.7.6f

[Bob Shaw]

Hi.

I am running Ventura 13.7.6 on an Intel iMac 27" 2020. 

I have VMware Fusion 13.5.2 and have guest Mac OS operating systems 10.14 Mojave, 10.11 El Capitan and 10.6.8 Snow Leopard as well as a Windows XP.

The only guest OS that is really critical is the 10.14 Mojave as it runs my accounting software. I have no interest in Windows.

As Ventura may soon lose updates what is my best way forward please?

Thanks, Bob

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Bob Shaw
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[Bob Shaw]

Any comments or am I the only one using Mac OS guests?

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Bob Shaw
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[Technogeezer]

I thought I'd responded to you a couple of days ago, but evidently didn't hit "Post". My apologies.

Let's examine this from a number of viewpoints:

MacOS:

You'll be able to upgrade that 27" Mac to Sonoma (14), Sequoia (15) (or Tahoe (26 - when its released).  I'd personally choose Sequoia as a) Tahoe isn't released yet, b) Sequoia is the current release, and c) no currently shipping version of Fusion is qualified to run on Tahoe -- remember it's beta quality right now, and Fusion released versions don't support beta versions of macOS. 

Note that:

• when Tahoe is released, Sonoma gets one more year of security updates (through late 2026) and Sequoia gets two more years of security updates (through late 2027).
• Tahoe will be the last version of macOS for Intel Macs, receiving security updates until 2028. 

Fusion:

If upgrading to Sequoia, you'll need to upgrade Fusion to 13.6.3. Fusion 13.5.x isn't tested or qualified to run on Sequoia. Even if you decide to upgrade to Sonoma, I'd still upgrade to Fusion 13.6.3.

Virtual Machines:

Your existing virtual machines will continue to run on upgraded macOS host and Fusion versions on Intel Macs. Just make sure that your VMs are powered off (not suspended) and backed up (copied to an external disk, not using Time Machine) before performing any upgrade of either Fusion or macOS. 

Your path forward has a serious dead end ahead when the last Intel Macs become unsupported. None of your virtual machines created on Intel Macs will run on Apple Silicon (M-series) Macs. 

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- Paul (technogeezer)
vExpert 2025
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[Bob Shaw]

Thanks. Very helpful (as always).

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Bob Shaw
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[William DeFelice]

Haven't tried using macOS as a guest OS, but may have to soon when I upgrade away from an older Intel-based Mac.

[Technogeezer]

@William DeFelice if your upgrade is to an Apple Silicon Mac, you won't be able to run macOS as a VM under Fusion.

 UTM (at no charge)  or Parallels (with a paid subscription)  will allow you to run macOS Monterey or later on Apple Silicon Macs with similar functionality. That's not surprising since they are both using Apple's high level virtualization frameworks.

Trying to run macOS Catalina or earlier on an Apple Silicon Mac under an Intel emulator such as UTM or QEMU is a science project. You may or may not get it to work. If you somehow do get it to work you may be disappointed with functionality, stability, and performance.

I'd recommend rethinking trying to run an old macOS version as a VM on a new Mac.  You may be better off trying to find replacements for any software holding you on an Intel Mac. Or else keep that old Intel Mac around until it breaks - while watching out for security issues along the way. 

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- Paul (technogeezer)
vExpert 2025
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[William DeFelice]

Thanks for the heads-up. It's only a small inconvenience to not be able to run macOS virtually on a replacement for an aging 2018 Intel Mini. I'll just keep it for that sort of thing. It's going to be on a private intranet so security isn't a big deal. Also have almost a dozen 2014 Intel Mini's so I could load those with older OSes, at least to the minimum it will run.

Thanks for the tip on UTM. I have an older, perpetual licensed version of Parallels which I might load on one of the machines should I need it.

[Bob Shaw]

Thanks for the information everyone. I also use RetroActive which only runs up to Sonoma so that is the objective. I run 3 guest Mac OS operating systems 10.14 Mojave, 10.11 El Capitan and 10.6.8 Snow Leopard as well as a Windows XP. I have never used Windows as a guest and probably never will. If I ever wanted to run Windows to me it is much easier to just buy a Windows machine and it comes with the latest Windows. The Mac guests however run lots of software which is expensive or impossible to replace like MYOB accounting, Aperture photos catalogue and test programmes for some equipment that is only 32 bit. I even run a copy of Dreamweaver from 2001 on 10.6.8 Snow Leopard! So thanks everyone. Testing about to commence and will keep the Intel machine.

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Bob Shaw
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