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Linux Guests

There are two ways to create a Linux machine: Quick Create, from a ready-made image, and Installer Disc, from an ISO.

Guests must be built for ARM64 (also called aarch64). Rosetta runs x86-64 programs inside them.

Simple and Advanced#

The New Virtual Machine window asks as much as you want it to.

What it asks
Simple A distribution, setup scripts, and a password. SwiftVM decides the rest and shows what it decided
Advanced Everything: Quick Create or an installer disc, the name, hardware, and the account

The window opens on the one you used last. What you pick on one side is still picked when you switch to the other.

Quick Create#

Quick Create downloads a server image and sets it up on first start. There is no installer to click through, and the machine is ready in seconds once the image is on your Mac.

Distribution Name for swiftvm create
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS ubuntu-26.04
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS ubuntu-24.04
Debian 13 debian-13
Setting What it is
Setup Scripts None for a server. Add… picks what to set the machine up with on first start: a desktop, Docker, scripts of your own
User Name The account to create. Defaults to your Mac user name
Password For signing in on the console, and at a desktop's login screen. Optional for a server when your SSH key is installed
Sign in over SSH with my key Installs your SSH key, so ssh works without a password
Run x86-64 programs with Rosetta Shown when Rosetta is installed on your Mac

A Quick Create machine comes with:

Images are checked against the checksums their distribution publishes.

swiftvm create ubuntu-26.04 --name "Web Server" --cpus 2 --memory 4 --disk 32

Desktops and setup scripts#

A Quick Create machine can install a desktop by itself the first time it starts: GNOME, KDE Plasma, Xfce, or Cinnamon. Choose Add… next to Setup Scripts, click one, and set a password.

swiftvm create ubuntu-26.04 --script xfce --password 'a password'

The machine starts as a server, installs the desktop in about ten minutes, and restarts into its login screen. SwiftVM shows the step it is at.

A desktop is one kind of setup script, and a machine can have several: a desktop and then Docker, say. Write your own for anything else, and keep them in ~/.config/swiftvm/setup-scripts to have them in the list.

Installer Disc#

Use an installer disc for other distributions, or for a distribution's own desktop edition. It is under Advanced. Pick one of the offered downloads, choose Choose ISO File…, or drop an ISO on the New Virtual Machine window. The machine starts from the disc, and you install as you would on a real computer.

SwiftVM doesn't set these guests up, so afterwards you may want to:

  • Install the guest tools.
  • Install an SSH server and add your key. See SSH.

Rosetta#

With Rosetta, x86-64 Linux programs run in an ARM64 guest. Turn it on when you create a Quick Create machine, or later with Rosetta for x86-64 Programs in the machine's settings. It needs Rosetta installed on your Mac.

Secure Boot#

Secure Boot, in the machine's settings, only starts systems signed with Microsoft's UEFI keys, which most major distributions are. It is off by default.

Serial console#

The serial console reaches a Linux guest when its network or display isn't there.

  • Choose Open Serial Console in the machine's menu, or run swiftvm console <machine>. Press Ctrl+] to leave.
  • What the guest printed since it last started is in logs/console.log in the machine's package.
  • Quick Create machines also send their kernel's messages there, from their second start on. Ubuntu only lets errors through once it is up; Debian shows everything.

Good to know#

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