Error: vfkit exited unexpectedly with exit code 1 on M4 MacMini

[mimi1vx]

Issue Description

any attempt to start podman VM ends with vfkit error message.

After upgrade (replace ) my MacMini M1 to M4 podman stoped working

Steps to reproduce the issue

Steps to reproduce the issue

1. podman machine init
2. podman machine start

Describe the results you received

$ podman machine init
Looking up Podman Machine image at quay.io/podman/machine-os:5.2 to create VM
Getting image source signatures
Copying blob 12113a444353 done   |
Copying config 44136fa355 done   |
Writing manifest to image destination
12113a44435343a5cb2f6fc1c8cb4589b359bafd6123aab0c293e9cf884184ae
Extracting compressed file: podman-machine-default-arm64.raw: done
Machine init complete
To start your machine run:

        podman machine start

$ podman machine start
Starting machine "podman-machine-default"
Error: vfkit exited unexpectedly with exit code 1

Describe the results you expected

started podman vm on my macos to run my containers

podman info output

Podman 5.3.1,  5.3.0  and 5.2.5

MacOS Sequoia 15.2 arm64
Apple Silicon M4

Podman in a container

No

Privileged Or Rootless

Rootless

Upstream Latest Release

Yes

Additional environment details

No response

Additional information

tested official podman release, homebrew and podman-desktop .. all results same

[baude]

could you verify no podman, vfkit, or gvproxy processes are running (else kill them) and then do a podman --log-level=debug machine start and report the output and anything you might observe ?

[bmrobin]

i just started getting this after a macOS system restart - i deleted

M3 Pro chip, Sonoma 14.7.2
podman 5.3.1

(ve) ➜  ~ podman machine ls
NAME        VM TYPE     CREATED     LAST UP     CPUS        MEMORY      DISK SIZE
(ve) ➜  ~ podman machine init -m 4096 --now
Looking up Podman Machine image at quay.io/podman/machine-os:5.3 to create VM
Getting image source signatures
Copying blob cc337dac08f3 done   |
Copying config 44136fa355 done   |
Writing manifest to image destination
cc337dac08f317e9141e55f324d3af74f5d72f39c797f8d1f396948854fa655d
Extracting compressed file: podman-machine-default-arm64.raw: done
Machine init complete
Starting machine "podman-machine-default"
Error: vfkit exited unexpectedly with exit code 1
(ve) ➜  ~

i took your suggestion on log-level=debug -- not copy/pasting all output since it's so verbose, but here's a relevant portion

DEBU[0000] first boot detected
DEBU[0000] serving ignition file over /Users/ben.robinson/.local/share/containers/podman/machine/applehv/podman-machine-default-ignition.sock
DEBU[0000] listening for ready on: /var/folders/d9/cx3pqtpj5zv5mj5lrmfj1j6w0000gp/T/podman/podman-machine-default.sock
DEBU[0000] waiting for ready notification
DEBU[0000] helper command-line: [/opt/podman/bin/vfkit --cpus 6 --memory 4096 --bootloader efi,variable-store=/Users/ben.robinson/.local/share/containers/podman/machine/applehv/efi-bl-podman-machine-default,create --device virtio-blk,path=/Users/ben.robinson/.local/share/containers/podman/machine/applehv/podman-machine-default-arm64.raw --device virtio-rng --device virtio-vsock,port=1025,socketURL=/var/folders/d9/cx3pqtpj5zv5mj5lrmfj1j6w0000gp/T/podman/podman-machine-default.sock,listen --device virtio-serial,logFilePath=/var/folders/d9/cx3pqtpj5zv5mj5lrmfj1j6w0000gp/T/podman/podman-machine-default.log --device rosetta,mountTag=rosetta,install --device virtio-net,unixSocketPath=/var/folders/d9/cx3pqtpj5zv5mj5lrmfj1j6w0000gp/T/podman/podman-machine-default-gvproxy.sock,mac=5a:94:ef:e4:0c:ee --device virtio-fs,sharedDir=/Users,mountTag=a2a0ee2c717462feb1de2f5afd59de5fd2d8 --device virtio-fs,sharedDir=/private,mountTag=71708eb255bc230cd7c91dd26f7667a7b938 --device virtio-fs,sharedDir=/var/folders,mountTag=a0bb3a2c8b0b02ba5958b0576f0d6530e104 --restful-uri tcp://localhost:50495 --device virtio-gpu,width=800,height=600 --device virtio-input,pointing --device virtio-input,keyboard --gui --device virtio-vsock,port=1024,socketURL=/Users/ben.robinson/.local/share/containers/podman/machine/applehv/podman-machine-default-ignition.sock,listen]
DEBU[0000] socket length for /Users/ben.robinson/.config/containers/podman/machine/applehv/podman-machine-default.ign is 88
DEBU[0000] reading ignition file: /Users/ben.robinson/.config/containers/podman/machine/applehv/podman-machine-default.ign
DEBU[0000] ignition socket device: /Users/ben.robinson/.local/share/containers/podman/machine/applehv/podman-machine-default-ignition.sock
INFO[0000] &{6 4096    {[efi variable-store=/Users/ben.robinson/.local/share/containers/podman/machine/applehv/efi-bl-podman-machine-default create] true}  [virtio-blk,path=/Users/ben.robinson/.local/share/containers/podman/machine/applehv/podman-machine-default-arm64.raw virtio-rng virtio-vsock,port=1025,socketURL=/var/folders/d9/cx3pqtpj5zv5mj5lrmfj1j6w0000gp/T/podman/podman-machine-default.sock,listen virtio-serial,logFilePath=/var/folders/d9/cx3pqtpj5zv5mj5lrmfj1j6w0000gp/T/podman/podman-machine-default.log rosetta,mountTag=rosetta,install virtio-net,unixSocketPath=/var/folders/d9/cx3pqtpj5zv5mj5lrmfj1j6w0000gp/T/podman/podman-machine-default-gvproxy.sock,mac=5a:94:ef:e4:0c:ee virtio-fs,sharedDir=/Users,mountTag=a2a0ee2c717462feb1de2f5afd59de5fd2d8 virtio-fs,sharedDir=/private,mountTag=71708eb255bc230cd7c91dd26f7667a7b938 virtio-fs,sharedDir=/var/folders,mountTag=a0bb3a2c8b0b02ba5958b0576f0d6530e104 virtio-gpu,width=800,height=600 virtio-input,pointing virtio-input,keyboard virtio-vsock,port=1024,socketURL=/Users/ben.robinson/.local/share/containers/podman/machine/applehv/podman-machine-default-ignition.sock,listen] tcp://localhost:50495  true}
INFO[0000] boot parameters: &{EFIVariableStorePath:/Users/ben.robinson/.local/share/containers/podman/machine/applehv/efi-bl-podman-machine-default CreateVariableStore:true}
INFO[0000]
INFO[0000] virtual machine parameters:
INFO[0000] 	vCPUs: 6
INFO[0000] 	memory: 4096 MiB
INFO[0000]
Error: unsupported macOS version
Usage:
  vfkit [flags]

Flags:
  -b, --bootloader strings      bootloader configuration (default [])
  -c, --cpus uint               number of virtual CPUs (default 1)
  -d, --device stringArray      devices
      --gui                     display the contents of the virtual machine onto a graphical user interface
  -h, --help                    help for vfkit
  -i, --initrd string           path to the virtual machine initrd
  -k, --kernel string           path to the virtual machine linux kernel
  -C, --kernel-cmdline string   linux kernel command line
      --log-level string        set log level
  -m, --memory uint             virtual machine RAM size in mibibytes (default 512)
      --restful-uri string      URI address for RestFul services (default "none://")
  -t, --timesync string         sync guest time when host wakes up from sleep
  -v, --version                 version for vfkit

unsupported macOS version
DEBU[0001] writing configuration file "/Users/ben.robinson/.config/containers/podman/machine/applehv/podman-machine-default.json"
Error: vfkit exited unexpectedly with exit code 1
DEBU[0001] Shutting down engines

Error: unsupported macOS version - is this expected, @baude ?