Copy Files from MacOS to Mac Virtual Machine in UTM Easily with File Sharing
If you use UTM virtual machines of MacOS on your Mac, let’s say to test out a beta version of system software (like MacOS Tahoe beta), you might be wondering how to copy files from the local host Mac, to the virtualized MacOS installation running in the virtual machine (in this case, with UTM).
While there are multiple ways to copy files and data between virtual machines and the local host Mac, including using a shared folder or clipboard between the VM and host, a much simpler and reliable way exists for these MacOS on MacOS situations, and it works not only with UTM (our focus here), but also Parallels, VMware, and basically any other virtualization software you can think of. The trick? Just use simple file sharing.
How to Copy Files from Local Mac to MacOS UTM Virtual Machine the Easy Way with File Sharing
If you’ve got a virtualized MacOS installation running atop MacOS, one of the simplest and most foolproof reliable ways to transfer files between the two is by using file sharing. Yes, the same file sharing you’d use to access files on a networked Mac within your house, office, or LAN. We’re focusing on UTM here but this applies the same to basically any Mac on Mac virtualization situation or VM software.
- Make sure that File Sharing is enabled on the Mac hosting the virtual machine (ie; the Mac running the UTM VM)
- From the virtualized MacOS installation, go to the Finder, and to “Network” in the sidebar
- Find the name of the local Mac in the Network Locations setting, and connect to it from the virtual machine, just like any other network share
- Navigate the network share to the file(s) you want to copy from the local Mac to the virtual machine in UTM, and use drag and drop to copy those files to the virtual machine
- Repeat with other file(s) you wish to copy over easily
That’s it, super easy, and already familiar to anyone who has ever used File Sharing on the Mac before.
In the screenshot example here, a full package installer for MacOS Tahoe is being copied from the local host Mac into a MacOS Sonoma virtual machine, so that the virtual machine can be easily upgraded to MacOS Tahoe. Virtualizing MacOS makes for a great way to test out new operating systems in a controlled environment, without having to replace your stable MacOS release with a buggy beta build.
While there are numerous other methods available to copy files and data between a host Mac and a virtualized Mac, including shared clipboard, a shared folder, and even drag & drop in some VM’s, those methods are not always reliable in a consistent enough way to be able to depend on. Thus, the method we cover here, which is just using simple File Sharing, is fantastic, because it works every time, across virtualization software apps, different versions of MacOS, and even different operating systems.
And yes, that means while our focus here is on copying files from MacOS to MacOS virtual machines, you can use the same trick to copy files from MacOS to a Windows virtual machine, or linux virtual machine too. Good old fashioned network file sharing, it just works!
What method do you use to copy files from your local Mac into a virtual machine? Do you use different methods depending on the virtualized operating system? Share your experiences and approaches in the comments!
