There are different ways to test the macOS Tahoe 26 beta. You can upgrade your current macOS installation, but we recommend that because beta versions often still contain a lot of bugs. The safest and usually simplest option is therefore the use of a virtual machine.
Virtual machines (VMs) offer an isolated, virtualized environment, making them perfect to try out a new beta version such as Maos Tahoe 26. A suitable tool for this is UTM. This is an excellent, free virtual machine app with which you can easily virtualize various operating systems on your Mac, including the latest macOS Tahoe 26 beta. UTM is user-friendly and setting up a virtualized macOO environment within UTM is simple, as we will explain in the following steps.
What do you need?
To be able to install macOS Tahoe in a virtule environment on your Mac, you need the following:
- An Apple Silicon Mac that is compatible with Macos Tahoe 26.
- The Device Support Update build 1950a4 or newer, go to the Apple Developer Downloads Website And download: Device Support for MacOS 26 beta.
- The UTM app for Mac (free) via the UTM website: [Download UTM].
- A MacOS Tahoe Beta Ippsw file [Download beta 2]You can use both a developer and public beta version for this.
All you have to do now is to follow the simple instructions below. With just a few clicks, the macOS Tahoe Beta runs safely in a virtual environment, on top of your existing macOS installation.
Install macOS Tahoe 26 Beta within the Virtual Machine
Installing macOS Tahoe 26 beta within a virtual machine is fairly easy with UTM. Install the Device Support Update, UTM app and download the MacOS Tahoe IPSW file as indicated above.
Then follow the steps below:
- Start the UTM app on your Mac.
- Choose “Create a New Virtual Machine” to create a new VM.
- Select the “Virtualize” option.
- Choose “MacOS 12+” as a operating system.
- Select the previously downloaded IPSW file from Macos Tahoe Beta. Click on “Browse” and choose the Universalmac_26.0_xxxxxxx_restore.ipsw file, usually found in your ~/downloads folder.
- Set the hardware settings of your virtual machine, use the Default Memory settings or at least 8 GB RAM and then choose at least 64 GB of storage space.
- Give the virtual machine a name, for example “macOS beta”, and click on “Save”. – Go back to the UTM app main screen, select the newly created “MacOS BETA” VM and click on the Play or Start button. Confirm that you want to install macOS in the virtual machine.
- The installation of macOS beta now starts via the IPSW-Restore file, the progress will see you in the menu bar. After this you will see the usual screens for language and regional choice.
- Follow the standard macOS installation process, set a username and password, and as soon as the installation is completed, the MacOS beta welcome screen appears.
Log in with the username and password that you have just created. You are now running macOS Tahoe 26 beta virtually on your Mac.
If you get an error message that an update is required, you can easily remedy this by downloading and installing the latest Xcode Beta or the Device Support Update for Tahoe via Developer.apple.com. Both downloads are available for free on the Apple developer website.
Trying MacOS Tahoe 26 Beta
Now you can discover all the new functions of MacOS Tahoe: Explore the renewed interface, try the Liquid Glass view in both the light and the dark mode, and only use color filters on your icons if desired.
In addition to UTM, there are also other virtualization apps available, such as virtual buddy, virtual box, tart, parallels, vmware and more. However, UTM is very popular because of the free availability and broad support of operating systems, including macOS Sequoia, MacOS Sonoma, Windows 11, Fedora Linux, Ubuntu Linux and more.