Install and activate

MacVisor 27 needs an Apple Silicon Mac running macOS 27.

Install

1. Download MacVisor with the button above. The app is signed and notarized.
2. Unzip and move the MacVisor.app to /Applications.
3. Open it.

First-run setup

The first launch runs a setup sheet in three steps, then asks for your license key.

The Network Helper runs as root, so it installs only from a copy of MacVisor that only an administrator can change, such as one in /Applications. A standard account's copy in ~/Applications can't install it, and setup says so: ask an administrator to install MacVisor in /Applications.

If macOS holds an item for approval, the sheet says so and continues as soon as you turn it on in Login Items & Extensions. The mvz links and <vm>.mvz names are set up the moment the Network Helper is approved, even if that happens after the sheet has closed. Setup also creates the Default MacVisor Network, which new Linux VMs join.

Once the background service is ready, the sheet offers Open MacVisor at login, on by default. It opens the app when you log in; VMs set to start at login start either way, because the background service starts them, not the app. If macOS wants approval for it, the sheet says to turn MacVisor on under Open at Login in Login Items & Extensions. Change it later in Settings → Setup → Open at Login.

If a different copy of MacVisor ran on this Mac before (a development build, then a release, for example), macOS can keep MacVisor's background item switched on but refuse to start it. MacVisor checks for this at launch and re-registers the background service and the Network Helper for the copy you opened; if macOS still won't start the service, the setup sheet asks you to switch MacVisor off and on in Login Items & Extensions and continues by itself once you have.

Local Network

VMs live on a local network of their own (192.168.64.x by default), and since macOS 15 an app may not reach it until you allow it. Without the permission VMs still run, but connections from the Mac to a guest fail with "No route to host": mvz shell, mvz exec, the <vm>.mvz names, and the automatic account and agent setup in macOS 27 guests.

macOS asks twice, once for the app and once for the VM runner; both entries are titled MacVisor. Allow both. If you declined, open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Local Network and turn both on; Settings → Setup → Local Network shows the current state. mvz run from Terminal is unaffected, because Terminal has its own permission.

Microphone access is requested only for a VM configured to use the host microphone.

Checking setup later

Settings → Setup repeats the same checks any time, with buttons to check again, restart or re-register the service, install the helper, link the command-line tool, and open the relevant System Settings pane. Its Open at Login section turns opening the app at login on or off and shows whether macOS needs your approval.

Right after the Mac starts up, the background service can take a minute to start. MacVisor waits for it and says "MacVisor's background service is still starting…" rather than reporting errors. See Troubleshooting.

Remove Agent in the dashboard's Control Service panel stops the background service and unregisters it; running VMs keep running. MacVisor doesn't add it back by itself, at that moment or at the next launch: the setup sheet says the background service is off and offers Add Background Service or Quit. Turning the service back on elsewhere, in Login Items & Extensions for example, works too.

VMs on an external or network volume

macOS asks before a background service reads removable, network, or protected folders. Until you allow it, the location shows as waiting for permission rather than empty. Click Allow, or grant access under System Settings → Privacy & Security → Files and Folders. The VM runner asks once more when the first VM on that volume starts.

The mvz command-line tool

The Network Helper links one binary under two names: mvz, and macvisor, the same command under its longer name. The docs use mvz:

/usr/local/bin/mvz      → /Applications/MacVisor.app/Contents/Helpers/macvisor
/usr/local/bin/macvisor → /Applications/MacVisor.app/Contents/Helpers/macvisor

The links follow the app when it moves or updates. Check the service and library:

mvz service status
mvz list
mvz images

Without the helper, run the binary from inside the bundle at /Applications/MacVisor.app/Contents/Helpers/macvisor. For shell completion add eval "$(mvz completion zsh)" to ~/.zshrc (or the bash or fish equivalent); the scripts complete both names. See Using the CLI.

Updates

Settings → Updates controls automatic checks and lets you check now. Updates are downloaded over HTTPS, verified against MacVisor's signing key, and never installed without asking. Running VMs are not interrupted.

During the beta, an update can stop a suspended VM, or a live snapshot taken before it, from restoring; the VM's disk is not affected. If VMs are suspended when you choose Install and Relaunch, MacVisor names them and asks first; Not Now leaves the update for later. To keep a suspended VM's state, resume it and shut it down before installing. A session that doesn't restore after an update is explained on the VM's Overview, with Start from Disk…; see When a saved session won't restore.

Get a license key

Creating, cloning, and importing VMs needs a license key; VMs you already have run without one. Right after setup a welcome sheet offers both ways to get a key and takes it there:

• Get a Free 30-Day Trial Key opens a $0 checkout; the key arrives by email within a minute. It covers every feature for 30 days from the day it is issued, on one Mac.
• Buy MacVisor gets you a MacVisor 27 key (Professional for individuals, Business for organisations). For Enterprise, contact sales.

Paste the key (it begins with MVZ-) and click Activate. The same field is in Settings → License. On a trial, enter the key you bought in either place: it replaces the trial, with no need to deactivate first. Activation is online through Polar and the key is re-checked about weekly; a Mac stays licensed offline for up to 30 days. Details, including moving a key to another Mac, in Activate your license; terms in Pricing and licensing.

Uninstall

Assistant → Uninstall MacVisor… removes the background service, the helper, the mvz and macvisor links, /etc/resolver/mvz and /etc/resolver/macvisor, and MacVisor's support files, including the licensing record, after showing you the list. An active license is deactivated first so the key can move to another Mac; if Polar can't be reached, MacVisor asks before going on and points you to the customer portal. Only links that point into MacVisor are removed; a tool of your own named mvz or macvisor stays. Your VM locations are untouched: .macvisor packages, templates, and the macOS installers in Templates/Installers stay.