Public Developer Betas
Juli Clover (Slashdot, Hacker News):
Apple’s developer betas have historically been limited to developers who have a paid account that costs $99 per year, but with the launch of the most recent betas, that’s changing.
Anyone can now enroll in the free version of the Apple Developer program and get access to beta releases. All that’s required to download betas is an Apple ID.
I don’t see how this now differs from the public beta, which also required signing in.
With the annual resurgence of interest in running macOS betas, this article considers how you can run a developer or public beta-release of macOS on an Apple silicon Mac.
[…]
Now, that Mac has to be connected using the Apple ID registered with the beta programme; for developer betas, that’s the Apple ID by which you’re recognised as a developer. You should then be able to opt for Beta Updates in Software Update, in System Settings > General. Click on the Info tool on that line, and select the beta you want to install. You can also use that to connect using an Apple ID specifically for betas.
I ran into trouble when I instead signed into my Mac as a whole using my developer Apple ID.
Running macOS in a lightweight virtual machine (VM) on Apple silicon is free, simple, and performs at close to native speeds. Although it has some significant limitations, notably no iCloud access and App Store apps (and others depending on your Apple ID) can’t run in the VM[…]
Previously:
Update (2023-06-09): Craig Hockenberry:
So what’s the trick to get the macOS Sonoma .ipsw to install in UTM running on Apple Silicon?
[…]
The trick is to install Xcode (and all it’s dependencies) before you try to use the .ipsw with the Virtualization.framework.
Lightweight VMs can run current and previous macOS, but not future macOS, which requires newer frameworks. I will explain fully in an article.
Update (2023-06-16): Howard Oakley:
Worse: with the exception of Numbers/Pages/Keynote, even free 3rd party apps from the App Store can’t be run. It’s almost like Apple doesn’t want us to use App Store apps.
Updating to the latest beta, I again ran into the problem where there was no visible way to sign into beta updates with my developer Apple ID. The trick is to use this Terminal command (via mikeymikey):
open 'x-apple.systempreferences:com.apple.Software-Update-Settings.extension?action=showBetaUpdates'
Update (2023-06-21): Howard Oakley:
macOS VM guests running on Apple silicon deliver excellent performance and broad support for a range of standard devices. At present their main limitations are:
- no control over Machine ID hence serial number;
- NAT networking;
- no Apple ID or iCloud access;
- almost no App Store apps can be run;
- limited support for peripheral devices.
