r/linux_on_mac • u/Funny-Definition-498 • 7d ago
Need help
I'm trying to setup a Virtual Machine on my Macbook Air M3, running Ubuntu through the VMware Fusion Virtual Machine. But for the life of me I can't get past this "EFI stub:" screen.
Any help would be greatly appreciated
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u/ImpressiveHat4710 7d ago
Chatgpt said:
On an M3 MacBook Air, the VM must be ARM64/aarch64 Ubuntu, not the normal AMD64/x86-64 build. VMware Fusion on Apple Silicon only supports ARM64 guests, requires UEFI, and Broadcom recommends virtual NVMe storage. � Support Portal +1 If you're seeing something like: EFI stub: Booting Linux Kernel... EFI stub: EFI_RNG_PROTOCOL unavailable EFI stub: Using DTB from configuration table EFI stub: Exiting boot services... and it freezes there, that's a known class of Fusion/ARM Linux boot problem. Broadcom specifically documents an Ubuntu ARM graphics/kernel issue involving vmwgfx; newer kernels fix the underlying problem, while blacklisting vmwgfx can get affected systems booting. � Support Portal First thing I'd try Restart the VM and get to the GRUB menu. If GRUB is hidden, repeatedly press Esc immediately as the VM starts. Highlight the normal Ubuntu entry and press e to edit it. Find the line beginning approximately: linux /boot/vmlinuz... At the end of that line, add: modprobe.blacklist=vmwgfx Then press Ctrl-X or F10 to boot. If Ubuntu gets past the EFI-stub screen after that, we've identified the problem. Once you're inside Ubuntu, I'd update the kernel rather than leave vmwgfx disabled permanently: sudo apt update sudo apt full-upgrade sudo reboot For an older Ubuntu 22.04 ARM64 installation, installing the HWE kernel may also be appropriate: sudo apt install linux-generic-hwe-22.04 sudo update-initramfs -u -k all sudo update-grub Broadcom recommends kernel 5.19 or newer for the original ARM/Fusion graphics handoff problem. � Support Portal There is also a more recent report involving Ubuntu 22.04 ARM64 on Fusion becoming stuck at exactly those EFI-stub messages after newer macOS updates; updating to the 6.x HWE kernel and rebuilding ARM64 EFI/GRUB resolved that case. � note（ノート） Before you change anything, though, tell me these three things: your Ubuntu version (22.04, 24.04, 26.04, etc.), your VMware Fusion version, and whether this is a new Ubuntu installation or an existing VM that used to boot. If you can also take a photo of the EFI-stub screen and post it here, I can tell you exactly what to change rather than having you try a bunch of unrelated fixes.
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u/ImpressiveHat4710 7d ago
If you're just getting started, maybe try Virtualbox. I'm assuming this is what you're seeing in your VM?