Seamless Ubuntu 24.04 ARM64 VM on UTM with Shared Folder Fix

This guide provides a complete solution to set up an Ubuntu 24.04 ARM64 VM on Apple Silicon (M4/M3/M2/M1) that ensures the shared folder works reliably with full read/write permissions and path consistency.

Environment Details 📌

Component	Version/Detail
Host OS	macOS Sonoma (or newer)
Host Chip	Apple M-series (M4, M3, M2, M1)
UTM Version	4.7.4+
Guest OS	Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Desktop (ARM64)
Key Tech	Apple Virtualization, VirtioFS

Note on ISO: Since Ubuntu 24.04 LTS ARM64 Desktop is not an official download, use the daily build page to download the 64-bit ARM (ARMv8/AArch64) desktop image: https://cdimage.ubuntu.com/noble/daily-live/current/

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Part 1: VM Setup & Initial Configuration

1. UTM Setup: Create the VM using the Virtualize option for Linux.

• I selected Enable hardware OpenGL acceleration and Apple Virtualization during setup. If you run into problems, disable them.
• Use the default Shared Network option (networking work out-of-box in my case).
• Configure your hardware (RAM, CPU, Storage).

2. Host Shared Folder: Create the target folder on your macOS Host inside your home directory. This will be the location you use for all your shared projects.

mkdir ~/ubuntu-share

3. UTM Settings: In the UTM VM settings, configure the shared directory to point to the ~/ubuntu-share folder you just created.

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Part 2: Resolving UID/GID & Permission Issues (My Hack)

To eliminate read/write issues caused by mismatched user IDs (UIDs) and Group IDs (GIDs) between macOS and Linux, we will modify the Linux user's UID and GID to match the macOS host's primary user. The official guide also works, but I found that I need to provide permission in both VM and macOS everytime when trying to edit shared files. My hack resolves this headache.

1. Get Host UID/GID: Run id on your macOS host to find your user's primary identifiers:

$ id
# You will get something like: uid=501(your_username) gid=20(staff) groups=20(staff),...
# HOST UID = 501
# HOST GID = 20

2. Create Temp Admin User in VM: Due to active processes, you cannot modify your primary user's ID while logged in. Create a temporary administrator account in the Ubuntu VM:

# Create new user 'tempadmin'
sudo adduser tempadmin
# Give 'tempadmin' sudo privileges
sudo usermod -aG sudo tempadmin

3. Perform UID/GID Modification:

• Log out of your primary Ubuntu account and log in as tempadmin.
• Open the terminal and run the following commands, replacing your_primary_user with your actual username (the one you want to change).

# --- ENTER THE CHROOT ENVIRONMENT ---
sudo -i

# 1. Add the group 'staff' with GID 20 (if it doesn't exist)
groupadd -g 20 staff 2>/dev/null

# 2. Change the primary group of your user to 'staff' (GID 20)
usermod -g staff your_primary_user

# 3. Change the User ID (UID) of your user to 501
usermod -u 501 your_primary_user

# 4. FIX FILE OWNERSHIP (CRITICAL)
# Find all files with the old UID (1000) and change ownership to the new UID (501)
find / -uid 1000 -exec chown your_primary_user {} \;

# --- EXIT ROOT SHELL ---
exit

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Part 3: VirtioFS Mount and Symlink Workaround

The UID/GID fix allows editing, but a common bug in Ubuntu 24.04 prevents the GUI from reading the root of the VirtioFS mount. The symlink workaround bypasses this. (utmapp/UTM#7310)

1. Create Mount Point (Ubuntu Guest): This is the dedicated, empty directory where the host's shared folder will be mounted.

sudo mkdir /mnt/utm

2. Update /etc/fstab: Edit the fstab file to automatically mount the share on boot.

sudo nano /etc/fstab

Add the following line.

share /mnt/utm virtiofs rw,nofail 0 0

3. Apply Mount & Create Symlink (Ubuntu Guest):

• Reload the mount to apply changes:

sudo mount -a

• Create the symlink in your home folder. This bypasses the GUI bug by linking to the working mount point /mnt/utm.

ln -s /mnt/utm/ubuntu-share ~/ubuntu-share

4. Final Step: Reboot the VM.

sudo reboot

Result✅

Both your macOS host and your Ubuntu VM can now access the shared directory using the functional, path-consistent location ~/ubuntu-share, and all files will have correct read/write permissions.