How to Share Files Between macOS and Ubuntu VM in UTM (EASY GUIDE)

Works on Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3), using UTM + Ubuntu 25.04 ARM64

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✨ What I Wanted

I use macOS, and I made a virtual machine (VM) with Ubuntu using UTM.

I wanted to:

• Share a folder called UTM-Share

• Use it in both macOS and the Ubuntu VM

• Open, copy, and edit files from either side

But it was not working at first. I got many errors 😩
Now it works ✅ — and this guide will help you fix it too!

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❌ What Didn't Work

❌ Virtio 9p Share

This is the default share type in UTM (virtfs, or 9p).

I tried:

sudo modprobe 9p
sudo modprobe 9pnet
sudo modprobe 9pnet_virtio

But got this error:

modprobe: Module 9pnet_virtio not found

So 9p share doesn’t work well in Ubuntu ARM64.

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❌ SMB Mount (First Try)

I enabled file sharing on macOS, but still saw:

mount error(13): Permission denied

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✅ The Working Solution: Use SMB with Correct Settings

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1️⃣ Setup File Sharing on macOS

1. Open System Settings → General → Sharing

2. Turn on ✅ File Sharing

3. Click “i” or “Details” to:

   • Add folder: UTM-Share

   • Set permission: "Read & Write"

4. Click “Options…”:

   • ✅ Enable “Share files using SMB”

   • ✅ Enable your macOS user account and enter password

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2️⃣ Install CIFS Utils in Ubuntu

Open Terminal in Ubuntu VM:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install cifs-utils

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3️⃣ Create a Mount Folder

This is where Ubuntu will show the macOS files:

sudo mkdir -p /mnt/macshare

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4️⃣ Save Your Mac Login Info (Optional but Safe)

Make a file:

nano ~/.smbcred

Write this inside:

username=YOUR_MAC_USERNAME
password=YOUR_MAC_PASSWORD

✅ Example:
username=aoshen
password=011218

Then secure the file:

chmod 600 ~/.smbcred

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5️⃣ Mount the Shared Folder

Now run:

sudo mount -t cifs //YOUR-MAC-IP/UTM-Share /mnt/macshare \
  -o credentials=/home/YOUR_UBUNTU_USERNAME/.smbcred,uid=$(id -u),gid=$(id -g),rw,vers=3.0

Replace YOUR-MAC-IP with your real IP address (you can find it under Wi-Fi settings)

✅ Example:

sudo mount -t cifs //172.20.10.3/UTM-Share /mnt/macshare \
  -o credentials=/home/aoshendev/.smbcred,uid=$(id -u),gid=$(id -g),rw,vers=3.0

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6️⃣ Check If It Works

Run:

ls /mnt/macshare

You should see your Mac files inside Ubuntu. 🎉

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🧯 Common Errors & Fixes

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🧪 Tested Setup

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🧠 Final Tips

• You only need to set up sharing once in macOS.

• If your network IP changes, update the mount command.

• You can add this mount to /etc/fstab for auto-mount (advanced).

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🙌 Now You Can Share Files Between macOS and Ubuntu Easily!

Let me know if you want a guide for:

• Auto-mounting on startup

• Making this work with Parallels, VMware, or VirtualBox

Thanks for reading — Happy coding!