Parallels Desktop for Mac computers with Apple silicon M4 chips

after restart the Ubuntu VM, I tried to reinstall the Parallels Tools and this time it finished without issues.

 

and after Parallels Tools requested to restart the VM is now broken

 

Ok weird. My Parallels client downloads the image again on every install.

 

I'm a fairly new customer as well. I bought Parallels 19 just five months ago; I traded the Macbook that had Parallels 19 for a new M4 this week and now it's not compatible. I really liked my experience working in Parallels 19. Hopefully there's a patch or a big discount for us that have had 19 for literally 20 weeks.

 

I've installed Ubuntu 24.04 and keep getting errors from various things crashing in the background. Is Ubuntu on m4 max tested/supported? As it seems very flaky.

 

I'm in the same boat.. made a thread about it too. Not hearing anything from anyone - and no official response on this. It's not just ubuntu, but Kali and other flavors too. M4 Max / 128Gb MBP here..

 

Experiencing the exact same with Kali and Ubuntu running v20.1.1 on an MBP with M4 Pro and 24GB or memory.

 

Is there any update from the dev team on the issue? Could they reproduce this and track it down? Reproducing it isn't that hard and only requires running some Linux distribution for some time.

 

These crashes happened when trying to install Ubuntu/Kali/Debian via ARM64 ISO versus the downloadable image. I would rather set up from scratch myself, than use a premade image.

The crashes are never the same, or the same spot. Sometimes I can get ubuntu to 90% other times it wont even get to the installer. Random error messages about the installer, which are never the same.

I've downloaded new isos, over and over to confirm it's not corrupted. If you are able to, grab an M4 MBP, and download any of them (Kali Apple Silicon / Ubuntu Arm / Debian Arm) and try to install it from scratch. It will not succeed. I am available to get on a call and share screens if it helps, not sure how I can give more info when it's never the same.

 

Mac mini M4 pro, Debian bookworm VM, Parallels Desktop 20 for Mac Pro Edition Version 20.1.1 (55740):

Code:

$ /sbin/mkinitramfs -o /dev/null
*** stack smashing detected ***: terminated
Aborted

Something similar trying to start Chromium, multiple threads crashing. The error is printed by the instrumented code the compiler generated in the application to check for stack corruption. I can't yet tell why this happens and it's also intermittent (Chromium ran fine for a few days and now can't start at all).

 

I can help with any details as I have the same issue:
- Parallels Desktop 20.1.1 (55740) on MacBook Pro M4 Pro with 48 GB RAM
- MacOSX 15.1.1 and MacOSX 15.2b3

1. Create new VM
2. use the suggested Parallels Ubuntu
3. Start VM
4. sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
5. CRASH

Processing triggers for systemd (255.4-1ubuntu8.4) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.12.0-4build2) ...
Processing triggers for dbus (1.14.10-4ubuntu4.1) ...
Processing triggers for initramfs-tools (0.142ubuntu25.4) ...
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-6.8.0-48-generic
Segmentation fault (core dumped)
Segmentation fault (core dumped)
Segmentation fault (core dumped)
E: /usr/share/initramfs-tools/hooks/plymouth failed with return 139.
update-initramfs: failed for /boot/initrd.img-6.8.0-48-generic with 139.
dpkg: error processing package initramfs-tools (--configure):
installed initramfs-tools package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 139
Processing triggers for linux-image-6.8.0-49-generic (6.8.0-49.49) ...
/etc/kernel/postinst.d/dkms:
* dkms: running auto installation service for kernel 6.8.0-49-generic
* dkms: autoinstall for kernel 6.8.0-49-generic
...done.
/etc/kernel/postinst.d/initramfs-tools:
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-6.8.0-49-generic
Segmentation fault (core dumped)
Segmentation fault (core dumped)
flash-kernel: deferring update (trigger activated)
/etc/kernel/postinst.d/zz-flash-kernel:
flash-kernel: deferring update (trigger activated)
/etc/kernel/postinst.d/zz-update-grub:
Sourcing file `/etc/default/grub'
Generating grub configuration file ...
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-6.8.0-49-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-6.8.0-49-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-6.8.0-48-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-6.8.0-48-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-6.8.0-31-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-6.8.0-31-generic
Warning: os-prober will not be executed to detect other bootable partitions.
Systems on them will not be added to the GRUB boot configuration.
Check GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER documentation entry.
Adding boot menu entry for UEFI Firmware Settings ...
done
Errors were encountered while processing:
initramfs-tools
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

 

I am also unable to start my Windows 11 VM after moving it from an M1 Mac to an M4 Mac. Since the version of Parallels Desktop (18) and macOS (15.1) is exactly the same it must be a compatibility issue with the new processor, not the operating system. I get that you cannot support old versions indefinitely, but your own compatibly list specifies versions of macOS and Parallels, not CPUs. To me this looks like a bug that ought to be patched in versions 18 and 19, since so many users have exactly the same problem.

 

@Adeboye Adeotan Can you still not reproduce the bug? There are at least 3 step-by-step instructions on how to reproduce the problem with different systems and versions of Ubuntu.

 

@RalfS5, FWIW, I managed to go past the initramfs-tools issue by only allocating a single CPU to the VM in the Parallels Control Centre (though for me it wasn't a full installation but an "apt upgrade" in an existing Debian installation). Chromium still fails with lots of stack smashing errors but, strangely, if I start it with --single-process it works fine. It would be good to have a simple binary reproducer but I haven't got there yet (well, likely I may never figure it out).

I initially suspected some new CPU features that M4 has but, at least with the Debian Bookworm kernel, /proc/cpuinfo reports the same features as M2. It might not even be a Parallels issue but something with Apple's Hypervisor framework not properly saving/restoring VM registers (e.g. the Neon/SIMD register bank getting corrupted; that's something heavily used by glibc in memcpy() etc.)

 

@cmarinas
I confirm allocating a single CPU works for Full Install as well. Thanks a LOT!!
Tested using kali-linux-2024.3-installer-arm64.iso

Cheers

 

"Parallels Desktop for Mac with M4 chips offers seamless performance, perfect for crafting intricate projects like Vox Machina cosplay. Its compatibility with design tools and rendering software enables detailed armor and prop creation. Bring Critical Role characters to life using this Mac's power to handle your creative workflow effortlessly."https://americasuits.com/the-legend-of-vox-machina-vax-ildan-cosplay-costume

 

Hello!
The scrolling issue has been addressed in the update we've released today - Parallels Desktop 20.1.2. Please install this update and reinstall Parallels Tools then to get the issue fixed.
As for the issue with Linux VMs - we've been able to replicate the issue locally. It looks like fork() in Linux builds is broken for some reason. We're going to find a way to address the issue soon.

 

Hmm, TLBIs not being propagated properly between vCPUs running on different physical CPUs?