One way to run UTM VMs in external drives.

[indicator0]

UTM VMs now only run in internal system drives (~/Library/Containers/com.utmapp.UTM/Data/Documents). However, my storage is critical and cannot provide enough space to store .utm files. ( I believe if you are experiencing the same problem! Otherwise you won't seeing this.)
Here I find out a way to solve this problem in a not-that-smart way by using sparse image .A drawback is you must manually mount disk image before using UTM, but you may write a script to do this.

0. Remember to close you UTM app.

1. Open Disk Utility.app and create a new blank sparse disk image and save it on your external drive. For SSD, APFS is recommended while HDD might experience less issues with HFS+ (Mac OS Extended).

2. Open Terminal and mount this image at the destination folder by running hdiutil attach /Volumes//.sparseimage -mountpoint ~/Library/Containers/com.utmapp.UTM/Data/Documents in terminal.

3. Now you may see a mounted image on your desktop or Finder sidebar. Move all files in
   ~/Library/Containers/com.utmapp.UTM/Data/Documents to your new disk image.

4. Delete the original .utm file, launch your UTM app and your VM now runs in external drive.

Tested with UTM 2.4.1(40) on macOS Monterey 12.0.1 (21A559)

[usr-sse2]

Image is an unnecessary abstraction level which may slow down the performance. You can just mount a volume into the ~/Library/Containers/com.utmapp.UTM/Data/Documents mount point using the -mountPoint option of diskutil mount.

[kingson87]

hdiutil attach /Volumes/SSD/UTM.sparseimage -mountpoint ~/Library/Containers/com.utmapp.UTM/

This command worked for me on M1 mac and copying the data folder as a whole

[DrBanksy]

When mounting the image I am getting this error:

hdiutil: attach failed - Resource busy

[yuvrajIMS]

First, you can simply build the VM on your local machine, after that restart the UTM. On the top right of the window, click the box with the up-pointing arrow, and from there you can select where to locate that VM.

[insung3511]

Sadly windows 11 doesn't work. Is it only happened to me?

• macOS 13.3.1
• Macbook Pro M1

[1sm23]

1. right click the VM
2. click move
3. select the external drive path

[anuprshetty]

Hey guys,
I got a simple straight forward solution to this.

I am giving the steps from the beginning:

1. install UTM on Mac
2. create required VMs in the UTM following the standard procedures.
   --> at this point, created VMs complete data is stored at location --> ~/Library/Containers/com.utmapp.UTM/Data/Documents/
   --> for example, in my case, i have created kali and parrot VMs. So data location of these VMs will be,
   --> i) ~/Library/Containers/com.utmapp.UTM/Data/Documents/kali.utm (contains OS + data)
   --> ii) ~/Library/Containers/com.utmapp.UTM/Data/Documents/parrot.utm (contains OS + data)
   --> So ideally you just need to move above 2 utm files to your desired destination location. But don't do it manually. Let UTM software do the job. See next step.
3. Insert your external harddrive to Mac.
4. Now open your UTM dashboard(App). In the left side you see all the VMs.
5. Right click on each VM, then select "move" option. After that select the destination location as your external harddrive location. Then click "confirm".
6. Now you have moved your VM to your destination location. Also VM data at location ~/Library/Containers/com.utmapp.UTM/Data/Documents/ is removed. Repeat the same for all the VMs.

NOTE: UTM software simply needs an .utm file. So you can manually keep that file anywhere you want. Open UTM software dashboard. Then open finder and double click on the file which you have copied to open in UTM software. That's it.

Cons: You have to do this manually for each VM you create. Anyways we achieved what we want. Peace :)

[ralvarez83]

Hi.

I have found a simpler solution. You can create an Alias of the folder on your external disk, rename it to "Documents" and replace the "Documents" folder with this Alias.

I hope its helps.