What's New in Version 1.6.2

This release addresses an issue preventing successfully-restored macOS virtual machines from being launched. If you have machines stuck in that state, check out this link for a workaround.

Full Changelog: https://github.com/insidegui/VirtualBuddy/compare/1.6.1...1.6.2

What's New in Version 1.6.1

• Attempting to close a virtual machine window with the machine in the paused state now correctly asks for confirmation and stops the machine if confirmed (thanks @dcoeurjo for reporting)
• Addresses an issue that caused newly-created Linux virtual machines to fail to start when the boot image had just been downloaded (thanks @sundresh for implementing)

Full Changelog: https://github.com/insidegui/VirtualBuddy/compare/1.6...1.6.1

What's New in Version 1.6

📣 VirtualBuddy Beta Now Available

Beta versions will include new features and fixes, including better support for hosts running beta versions of macOS, such as macOS Sequoia.

If you're running a host on macOS Sequoia beta, I recommend joining the VirtualBuddy beta, which can be done in the app's settings.

Custom Names for Virtual Machine Snapshots

Virtual machine snapshots can now have a custom name assigned to them on creation.

Implemented by @buddax2 in https://github.com/insidegui/VirtualBuddy/pull/375.

Special Thanks

Special thanks to @p-linnane for helping to keep the macOS versions catalog always up to date.

New Contributors

• @buddax2 made their first contribution in https://github.com/insidegui/VirtualBuddy/pull/375

Full Changelog: https://github.com/insidegui/VirtualBuddy/compare/1.5...1.6

New in VirtualBuddy 2.0 Beta 1

This first beta release addresses minor issues for hosts running the macOS Sequoia beta.

What's Changed

📣 VirtualBuddy Beta Now Available

Beta versions will include new features and fixes, including better support for hosts running beta versions of macOS, such as macOS Sequoia.

If you're running a host on macOS Sequoia beta, I recommend joining the VirtualBuddy beta, which can be done in the app's settings.

Custom Names for Virtual Machine Snapshots

Virtual machine snapshots can now have a custom name assigned to them on creation.

Implemented by @buddax2 in https://github.com/insidegui/VirtualBuddy/pull/375.

Special Thanks

Special thanks to @p-linnane for helping to keep the macOS versions catalog always up to date.

New Contributors

• @buddax2 made their first contribution in https://github.com/insidegui/VirtualBuddy/pull/375

Full Changelog: https://github.com/insidegui/VirtualBuddy/compare/1.5...1.6

What's Changed

• Adds support for virtual machine state restoration ¹
• There's a new "Library" item in the "Window" menu to open the library window
• Editing the name of a new managed disk image now works as expected
• Linux guests now use cached mode for block storage devices, addressing a corruption issue that could occur when doing heavy I/O operations (by @jamestut in https://github.com/insidegui/VirtualBuddy/pull/332)
• Improved virtual machine screenshot performance and reliability
• Addresses a bug that prevented spaces from being inserted into the name of Virtual Machine when editing in the library window
• Addresses an issue where rapidly renaming the same virtual machine multiple times could cause the name displayed in the library to no longer match the name that's on the filesystem
• Fixed some memory leaks

¹ State restoration requires the host to be running macOS 14 or later and a macOS guest. Once a state has been saved, I recommend always starting up from a saved state, otherwise you may encounter VM corruption (this is a limitation of Apple's Virtualization API).

Full Changelog: https://github.com/insidegui/VirtualBuddy/compare/1.4.1...1.5

What's Changed

What's Changed in Version 1.4

Note: this is the last release of VirtualBuddy to support macOS 12, future releases will require macOS 13 or later.

• Basic automation support is now available with the virtualbuddy URL scheme (learn more)
• Interrupted virtual machine installs can now be restored by opening the virtual machine from the library screen
• Adds basic controls to the virtual machine window toolbar
• Adds support for Rosetta on Linux guests (learn more)
• Copy and paste support is now enabled for Linux guests
• Improves handling of virtual machine screenshots
• Open/save panels now correctly remember the last used directory
• Linux virtual machines will no longer display an install recovery alert
• Addresses an issue that caused communication between VirtualBuddy and the guest app on macOS to stop working after restarting a virtual machine
• Addresses an issue that could cause the virtual machine setup to skip the configuration step in some cases
• Addresses several memory leaks

Full Changelog: https://github.com/insidegui/VirtualBuddy/compare/1.3.2...1.4

What's Changed

Note: this is the last release of VirtualBuddy to support macOS 12, future releases will require macOS 13 or later.

• Basic automation support is now available with the virtualbuddy URL scheme (learn more)
• Interrupted virtual machine installs can now be restored by opening the virtual machine from the library screen
• Adds basic controls to the virtual machine window toolbar
• Adds support for Rosetta on Linux guests (learn more)
• Copy and paste support is now enabled for Linux guests
• Improves handling of virtual machine screenshots
• Open/save panels now correctly remember the last used directory
• Linux virtual machines will no longer display an install recovery alert
• Addresses an issue that caused communication between VirtualBuddy and the guest app on macOS to stop working after restarting a virtual machine
• Addresses an issue that could cause the virtual machine setup to skip the configuration step in some cases
• Addresses several memory leaks

Full Changelog: https://github.com/insidegui/VirtualBuddy/compare/1.3.2...1.4

What's Changed

• The type of virtual keyboard can now be configured with a generic keyboard or a Mac keyboard, this addresses an issue that caused the keyboard to not be recognized by VMs running macOS 12, which does not support the Mac keyboard type; this keyboard type requires the host to be running macOS 14 or later
• Hides the "Boot on install drive" option for macOS guests, since this option is only relevant for Linux VMs

Learn more about what's new in VirtualBuddy 1.3

Full Changelog: https://github.com/insidegui/VirtualBuddy/compare/1.3.1...1.3.2

What's new in VirtualBuddy 1.3.1

• Version 1.3.1 addresses an issue that prevented some virtual machines from booting

What's new in VirtualBuddy 1.3

• New app icon designed by Matthew Skiles
• The VirtualBuddyGuest is now fully integrated into the app; it's automatically mounted for virtual machines running macOS, to install it, select the "Guest" disk on Finder's side bar and double-click the "VirtualBuddyGuest" app icon
• Support for automatically changing guest screen resolution based on window size in macOS Sonoma
• New options to resize the virtual machine window according to the display resolution
• Reduces the minimum size of the boot disk for a virtual machine to 2GB
• Basic Linux support (by @franklefebvre)
• Many improvements to the installation wizard
• Addresses some issues when running in macOS Sonoma

New Contributors

• @p-linnane made their first contribution in https://github.com/insidegui/VirtualBuddy/pull/104
• @WFT made their first contribution in https://github.com/insidegui/VirtualBuddy/pull/145
• @franklefebvre made their first contribution in https://github.com/insidegui/VirtualBuddy/pull/152
• @timsutton made their first contribution in https://github.com/insidegui/VirtualBuddy/pull/178
• @jamestut made their first contribution in https://github.com/insidegui/VirtualBuddy/pull/205

Full Changelog: https://github.com/insidegui/VirtualBuddy/compare/1.2.2...1.3.1

• New app icon designed by Matthew Skiles
• The VirtualBuddyGuest is now fully integrated into the app; it's automatically mounted for virtual machines running macOS, to install it, select the "Guest" disk on Finder's side bar and double-click the "VirtualBuddyGuest" app icon
• Support for automatically changing guest screen resolution based on window size in macOS Sonoma
• New options to resize the virtual machine window according to the display resolution
• Reduces the minimum size of the boot disk for a virtual machine to 2GB
• Basic Linux support (by @franklefebvre)
• Many improvements to the installation wizard
• Addresses some issues when running in macOS Sonoma

New Contributors

• @p-linnane made their first contribution in https://github.com/insidegui/VirtualBuddy/pull/104
• @WFT made their first contribution in https://github.com/insidegui/VirtualBuddy/pull/145
• @franklefebvre made their first contribution in https://github.com/insidegui/VirtualBuddy/pull/152
• @timsutton made their first contribution in https://github.com/insidegui/VirtualBuddy/pull/178
• @jamestut made their first contribution in https://github.com/insidegui/VirtualBuddy/pull/205

Full Changelog: https://github.com/insidegui/VirtualBuddy/compare/1.2.2...1.3

Addresses a crash on launch when running in macOS Sonoma

Known issue: VM thumbnails in the library may show black bars depending on the size of the window when the screenshot was taken.

Fixed in VirtualBuddy 1.2.2

• Makes custom IPSW URL validation less strict, allowing downloads from plain HTTP URLs and URLs that don't end in .ipsw
• Addresses an issue that caused audio input to not work in virtual machines; VirtualBuddy will ask for microphone access the first time audio input is used within a virtual machine

New in VirtualBuddy 1.2.1

General improvements to the installer user interface:

• Addresses an issue that caused the installer to clip the configuration user interface, hiding the "continue" button
• It is now possible to navigate using the arrow keys when selecting the installation method
• Text fields now use the same consistent style
• The virtual machine name button is automatically focused as expected
• Command + R can be used to generate a new random name while editing the virtual machine's name during installation

New in VirtualBuddy 1.2

• Managing virtual machines can now be done entirely within the library view, the contextual menu offers options for renaming, deleting, duplicating, and showing the VM in Finder
• The library now sorts virtual machines by creation date, in reverse chronological order
• Virtual machines can now be configured with custom CPU, RAM, storage devices, network devices, displays, and many other options
• The option to capture system keyboard shortcuts is now persisted for each virtual machine in the library
• Adds support for shared folders to share specific directories from your Mac with the virtual machine ¹
• Adds support for bridged networking, allowing a physical network interface from your Mac to be exposed to the virtual machine
• Additional storage can now be added to virtual machines by creating new disk images from within VirtualBuddy
• A new debug console showing logs related to the installation process is now available while installing macOS in a new virtual machine
• The default library directory for new installs is now ~/Library/Application Support/VirtualBuddy (this is where VirtualBuddy stores virtual machines and downloads)
• Clicking a virtual machine that's already open in the library will now correctly focus the existing window for that virtual machine

Known issues

• If macOS installation is interrupted, the broken virtual machine is still shown in the library and there's currently no way to finish the installation; workaround: delete the VM and create a new one
• When a library is moved between different hosts, the configuration for a virtual machine might be unsupported in the new host, preventing it from starting; workaround: adjust the virtual machine settings for the new host
• The initial display resolution setting after creating a new virtual machine is not set to "Size to Fit ..." in some situations
• When editing storage settings for an existing virtual machine, the Boot disk is incorrectly selectable on the list and selecting it enables the remove button, even though the Boot disk can't be deleted
• Setting the pointing device to "Trackpad" may cause the cursor to be unusable in the virtual machine

¹ Using shared folders

To make your shared folders available in the virtual machine,
run the following command in Terminal (Applications > Utilities > Terminal):

mkdir -p ~/Desktop/VirtualBuddyShared && mount -t virtiofs VirtualBuddyShared ~/Desktop/VirtualBuddyShared

A folder named "VirtualBuddyShared" will show up on the Desktop.

• Adds the option to customize the size of the VM disk when creating a new VM
• Fixes a bug that prevented the new VM window from being closed

• Addresses an issue that caused downloads to fail when attempting to download a restore image for installation
• Reduces the resources allocated to the virtual machines for better compatibility with more hardware; custom configuration will be implemented soon
• The download link for restore images is now displayed below the selected version of macOS to make it more convenient for users who'd like to use an external download manager

Initial release