Linux distribution

Oracle Linux VMs on Apple Silicon Macs

Run mvz create oracle dev and MacVisor downloads Oracle's ARM64 KVM cloud image for Oracle Linux 10 Update 1, verifies it, and makes a VM with your account and SSH keys. Oracle Linux 9 Update 8 is oraclelinux-9. Oracle Linux boots the UEK kernel, so shared folders mount a few minutes after the first boot, and k3s isn't offered.

Apple Silicon (M1 or later)
macOS 27 on the Mac
Oracle Linux 10 or 9, ARM64

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A stylised MacVisor window with an Oracle Linux VM whose shared folder is shown mounting after setup.

Create an Oracle Linux VM

In the app, choose New VM → Linux → Cloud Image → Oracle Linux 10. From Terminal:

mvz create oracle dev                       # Oracle Linux 10 Update 1 (aliases: oracle, oraclelinux)
mvz create oraclelinux-9 ol9                # Oracle Linux 9 Update 8
mvz wait dev --start                        # first boot: 5 to 10 minutes
mvz shell dev

The images are Oracle's aarch64 KVM cloud templates from yum.oracle.com, OL10U1_aarch64-kvm-cloud-b178 and OL9U8_aarch64-kvm-cloud-b182, each pinned to a SHA-256 digest in the signed catalogue. They're fixed builds, and MacVisor updates move them forward.

What you get

Your account has your Mac user name and UID, your SSH keys, bash and sudo without a password. The MacVisor Agent and automatic port forwarding are set up on the first boot.

Oracle Linux is RHEL-compatible and boots Oracle's Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel (UEK) by default. Use it when your production servers or a vendor's support matrix call for Oracle Linux.

What UEK changes

Most of what's different about Oracle Linux in a VM comes from UEK.

Shared folders arrive a few minutes late. UEK keeps the virtiofs driver in kernel-uek-modules. The MacVisor Agent installs it in the background after the first boot, which can take ten minutes on Oracle's mirrors, and mounts the shares once it's in. The New VM form says so beside the shares. See Oracle Linux mounts them a little later.
Rosetta doesn't run on UEK. The agent logs that and skips it. Boot the Red Hat Compatible Kernel when you need x86-64 programs.
Container networking needs more modules. UEK splits the iptables modules further, and MacVisor installs kernel-uek-modules and kernel-uek-modules-extra-netfilter for the running kernel when containers need them.

Containers

Release	Offered	Not offered
Oracle Linux 9	Docker Engine, Podman, containerd	k3s
Oracle Linux 10	Podman, containerd	Docker Engine, k3s

The New VM form hides runtimes an image can't run, and mvz create refuses them and lists the ones it offers. For Docker-style workflows on Oracle Linux 10, choose Podman: its Docker-compatible API is forwarded to the Mac as the macvisor-<vm> docker context.

mvz create oracle pods --runtime podman
mvz create oraclelinux-9 web --runtime docker

An Oracle Linux image you add from a file is recognised by its name, such as OL9U5_aarch64… or oraclelinux-9, and gets the same limits. See Runtimes by distribution.

Quirks

Slow first boot. 5 to 10 minutes on Oracle's mirrors. MacVisor retries each package install three times before it reports a failure.
XFS root. The disk grows with mvz set <vm> --disk <GiB> and never shrinks.
If you need k3s or Rosetta on an EL system, Rocky Linux or AlmaLinux run both.

FAQ

Common questions

More in the documentation and known limitations.

Which container runtimes work on Oracle Linux in MacVisor?

On Oracle Linux 9, Docker Engine, Podman and containerd. On Oracle Linux 10, Podman and containerd; Docker Engine isn't offered there, because MacVisor's tests in October 2026 found no docker-ce package that installs on it. k3s isn't offered on either release, because its server didn't come up on Oracle Linux in testing.

Why don't shared folders appear right away in an Oracle Linux VM?

Oracle's UEK kernel has no virtiofs driver until its modules package is installed. The MacVisor Agent fetches that package in the background after the first boot, which can take up to ten minutes on Oracle's mirrors, then mounts the shares. From then on they mount at every boot.

Does Rosetta work on Oracle Linux?

Not on the UEK kernel, which passes Rosetta a value it rejects. Boot the Red Hat Compatible Kernel instead to run x86-64 programs through Rosetta.

How long does an Oracle Linux VM take to set up?

Its first boot takes 5 to 10 minutes, mostly waiting on Oracle's package mirrors. MacVisor retries each package install three times, since those mirrors fail now and then on a fresh boot.

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 Rocky Linux VMs on Apple Silicon Macs Rocky Linux 10 and 9, RHEL-compatible, SELinux on, every runtime. Linux distribution AlmaLinux VMs on Apple Silicon Macs AlmaLinux 10 and 9, RHEL-compatible, with Docker CE or Podman.