Linux distribution

Debian VMs on Apple Silicon Macs

Run mvz create debian dev and MacVisor downloads Debian 13 (trixie) for ARM64 from cloud.debian.org, checks it against Debian's SHA-512 list, and makes a VM with your account and SSH keys. Debian 12 (bookworm) is in the catalogue as debian-12, and every container runtime MacVisor offers works on both.

Apple Silicon (M1 or later)
macOS 27 on the Mac
Debian 13 or 12, ARM64

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A stylised MacVisor window with a Debian VM's terminal open beside its Overview.

Create a Debian VM

In the app, choose New VM → Linux → Cloud Image → Debian 13 (trixie). From Terminal:

mvz create debian dev                       # Debian 13 trixie (alias: debian)
mvz create debian-12 bookworm               # Debian 12 bookworm
mvz shell dev --start

Both images come from cloud.debian.org and are checked against Debian's SHA512SUMS before use. The catalogue follows Debian's latest build for each release, so mvz images pull debian picks up point releases and security respins for later VMs. VMs you already made keep the build they started from.

What you get

Your account has your Mac user name and UID, your SSH keys, bash, and sudo without a password. Debian's cloud image has no default password, and MacVisor doesn't add one. The MacVisor Agent, Rosetta and automatic port forwarding are set up on the first boot, and the root filesystem grows to the VM's 64 GiB disk.

Debian suits a small, predictable base: a build box, a staging copy of a Debian server, or a VM you keep for years on a stable release. Keep Debian 12 for software that isn't ready for 13, and run both side by side as linked clones of two templates.

Containers

All four runtimes work on Debian 13 and 12.

mvz create debian web --runtime docker
mvz create debian pods --runtime podman

Docker comes from Debian's docker.io package. Debian 13 splits the client into docker-cli, and MacVisor installs both. Compose and Buildx come from Debian's packages where it has them.
Podman comes from Debian's archive, rootless, with Podman's Docker-compatible API forwarded to the Mac.
containerd is a rootless nerdctl setup with BuildKit, cached on the Mac after the first VM.

Your own cloud-config

Debian is a common base for provisioning tests. Pass your own #cloud-config and it runs after MacVisor's:

mvz create debian dev2 --user-data cloud.yaml

Quirks

The installer ISO needs 512-byte sectors. Debian's installer fails on a 4 KB-sector disk, and a disk's sector size can't change later. The New VM form and mvz create <file.iso> <name> --os linux default to 512 bytes. See Disk formats and sector sizes.
First boot waits on apt. apt-daily can hold the package lock after boot. A runtime install waits for it, up to 10 minutes.
Tart's Debian image works too: mvz create ghcr.io/cirruslabs/debian:latest deb. It signs in as admin with the password admin.

FAQ

Common questions

More in the documentation and known limitations.

Which Debian release does mvz create debian make?

Debian 13 (trixie). The alias debian points to debian-13. For Debian 12 (bookworm), run mvz create debian-12 followed by a name.

Does Docker work in a Debian 13 VM?

Yes. MacVisor installs Debian's docker.io package and, because Debian 13 ships the Docker client as a separate package, docker-cli as well. The Docker API is then forwarded to the Mac as the docker context macvisor-<vm>.

Can I install Debian from the ISO instead?

Yes, with an ARM64 netinst or DVD ISO under Linux, then Installer ISO. Keep the default 512-byte sector size, because Debian's installer fails on 4 KB sectors, and install the MacVisor Agent from the guest tools disc afterwards.

Is there a root password in a Debian VM?

No. Your account has your Mac user name, no password and sudo without a password, and you sign in with your SSH keys through mvz shell or ssh <vm>.mvz.

Also with MacVisor

Guest OS Linux VMs on Apple Silicon Macs Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, Rocky, Alma, Oracle, CentOS Stream, openSUSE and Alpine from one command. Linux distribution Ubuntu VMs on Apple Silicon Macs Ubuntu 26.04 and 24.04 LTS, server or desktop, every container runtime. Linux distribution Alpine Linux VMs on Apple Silicon Macs Alpine 3.24, a small musl and OpenRC system, with containerd or Docker.