Successfully Running Home Assistant on Mac Mini M1 with VMWare

Hi everyone, I wanted to share my recent success with running Home Assistant Supervised on my Mac mini M1 using VMWare Fusion. I’ve been struggling with auto-restarting issues after power outages and USB device reconnections, which was a big problem since I live in a rural area with frequent power failures. After some research and experimentation, I decided to switch from UTM to VMWare Fusion 13.6.1. Here’s what I did:

  1. Setup: I used the haos_generic-aarch64-13.2.vmdk image and configured it as “Other Linux 5.X kernel 64-bit ARM”. I increased the hard disk size to 32Gb to ensure there was enough space for my Home Assistant instance.

  2. Configuration: I restored my Home Assistant instance from a backup and set the VM to autostart and power off when closed. I also added VMWare to my login items to ensure it starts up automatically every time I boot my Mac.

  3. USB Device Handling: I assigned all my USB devices to be always connected to the VM. This was crucial for maintaining connectivity with my smart home devices.

  4. Stability: Since making these changes, the system has been running smoothly. No more auto-restart issues, and all my USB devices are recognized consistently.

I hope this helps anyone else who might be facing similar challenges. It’s been a huge relief to have a stable setup, especially given how reliant I am on my smart home system. If anyone has questions or needs advice, feel free to reach out!

Cheers,
[Your Name]