Don’t update macOS VMs to 14.2 or 14.2.1 if you use shared folders

If you run macOS virtual machines (VMs) on Apple silicon Macs using lightweight virtualisation, you may wish to avoid updating those VMs to macOS Sonoma 14.2 or 14.2.1 for the moment. If you do, then they may lose any shared folders they have previously used in 14.1.2 and earlier.

I’m very grateful to Richard for alerting me to this.

VMs running macOS 14.1.2 and earlier can still use shared folders just fine when the host Mac is running 14.2 or 14.2.1 (or earlier). But if you update a VM to 14.2 or 14.2.1, when it restarts the shared folders are missing. I haven’t yet tried creating a VM from an IPSW for 14.2 or 14.2.1, but will be doing so shortly, to see if shared folders are available there.

Although this has so far only been tested against my own virtualisers, Viable, ViableS and Vimy, I expect that this applies to all macOS virtualisers on Apple silicon. I’d welcome anyone using other virtualisers to let us know if they are also affected.

Once I have further details, I’ll post them here and, if necessary, report this to Apple in a Feedback.