Advanced Mac users familiar with the command line can swiftly set up a MacOS Tahoe 26 beta virtual machine by entering a few commands into Terminal, using tart. Tart is a command-line utility for managing virtual machines and offers one of the quickest ways to run macOS Tahoe 26 on any Apple Silicon Mac. Once the commands are successfully executed, macOS Tahoe 26 beta will launch in a windowed virtual machine immediately, delivering solid performance on Apple Silicon Macs. This method is extremely fast for deploying a Tahoe VM, and after trying it, you may find yourself becoming a tart enthusiast.

Since tart is a command-line tool that's best installed via Homebrew, you must have Homebrew already installed on your Mac before proceeding. If it’s been a while since you last used Homebrew, consider updating it first.

How to Create a MacOS Tahoe 26 Beta Virtual Machine Using tart in the Command Line

Deploying a MacOS Tahoe virtual machine using tart is remarkably quick. We assume you already have Homebrew installed; if not, install that first.

1. Launch the Terminal app on your Mac.

2. Run the following command to install tart through Homebrew: brew install cirruslabs/cli/tart

3. Once tart finishes installing, use it to clone the macOS Tahoe beta image by running this command: tart clone ghcr.io/cirruslabs/macos-tahoe-vanilla:26.0 tahoe

4. The macOS Tahoe 26 beta will begin downloading. When you see “100%”, the download has completed, and you’ll return to the command prompt. Then, execute the next command to start the MacOS Tahoe virtual machine: tart run tahoe

The MacOS Tahoe system quickly boots up in a new window through tart:

In just a short time, the MacOS Tahoe desktop appears without needing to go through the usual MacOS setup process or logging in.

MacOS Tahoe tart VM login details

Important login note for Tahoe tart: The default username and password for the MacOS Tahoe virtual machine is admin/admin. Since this is merely a test virtual machine, changing these credentials might not be necessary for most users.

However, if you'd like to change the username/password from admin/admin to something more secure, or create a new account altogether, you can do so using the standard MacOS settings via System Settings within the Tahoe virtual machine:

Closing & Restarting the Tahoe tart VM

You can close the window or exit Terminal to shut down the virtual machine at any time.

To restart the Tahoe VM, simply return to the command line and issue the run command again:

tart run tahoe

For those comfortable with the terminal, tart makes VM setup simple

It really is this straightforward—just a few Terminal commands, and you're running the MacOS Tahoe beta inside a virtual machine.

For many who are comfortable with the command line, launching a VM via tart is significantly faster and easier than the traditional approach of using virtualization software, followed by either an installer or IPSW file to set up a virtual machine and then manually going through the typical VM and MacOS installation steps. Just three commands are needed, and soon the Tahoe VM desktop appears on your Mac screen.

If you prefer GUI-based VM applications, you can also download a MacOS installer or IPSW file here for the latest version of MacOS Tahoe, along with practically every other available version of MacOS where an installer or firmware file exists.

Troubleshooting tart Tahoe VM creation and error messages

When setting up a VM with tart—or with any virtualization tool—you might encounter a message saying “Software update is required.” This can usually be resolved by installing the Device Support Update for Tahoe 26 or the latest beta version of Xcode.

Additionally, when attempting to clone or download the MacOS Tahoe beta image with tart, you might come across various error messages such as:

Error pulling disk layer 10: "The network connection was lost.", attempting to retry

Or another similar message:

Error pulling disk layer 12: "The request timed out." attempting to re-try...

As seen in the screenshot above, these errors often resolve themselves automatically, and tart eventually downloads and installs the virtual machine image successfully without user intervention. I encountered these repeatedly during multiple setups using tart, possibly due to server issues or even problems with my own internet or Wi-Fi setup. In any case, if you see these messages, give tart a chance to fix them automatically, or simply try running the tart clone command again.

tart clone ghcr.io/cirruslabs/macos-tahoe-vanilla:26.0 tahoe

Once the progress reaches “100%”, you’re ready to proceed with the run command:

tart run tahoe

That's all there is to it.

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Have you tried using tart to quickly deploy a MacOS Tahoe 26 beta virtual machine? What did you think about the experience? Have you created VMs with tart before? Do you have a preferred VM setup method? Or do you prefer GUI-based VM tools, and if so, which ones? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below.

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