Ubuntu Server 24.04 ARM64 Stuck at Grub

[ghostplant]

Describe the issue
I downloaded Ubuntu Server 24.04.1 ARM64 ISO from official Ubuntu website, creating a new VM in UTM, selecting Display driver to be "virtio-ramfb-gl (GPU supported)".

I can boot the ISO and see the Grub2 interface, but after go to the next step for installation, graphic stucks at this page:

Configuration

• UTM Version: 4.5.4
• macOS Version: 15.1
• Mac Chip (Intel, M1, ...): Apple M2

[martincerven]

I think I used noble-server-cloudimg-arm64.img and it works fine. Also with some images (20.04) you need Serial (another terminal from settings) to be turned on to proceed with install.

[ghostplant]

I think I used noble-server-cloudimg-arm64.img and it works fine. Also with some images (20.04) you need Serial (another terminal from settings) to be turned on to proceed with install.

OK, it's strange that the Ubuntu official ISO-format Server works fine for VirtualBox for Mac Silicon. Can you explain more about configuring Serial (another terminal from settings)?

[martincerven]

You just see terminal output during initiaization and boot, there are these weird services (network/cups) that it looks like nothing is happening without Serial, but you can see continuation...I recommend adding them at least during setup

[ghostplant]

@martincerven If serial is enabled, is it still compatible with graphic 2D like showing GNOME desktop?

[sav-valerio]

Yes, you can keep Serial enabled and video output should still be displayed - you might need to wait for a while though.

In my case the culprit was NetworkManager-wait-online.service so after logging in I was able to run sudo systemctl mask NetworkManager-wait-online.service and fix that.

Once in the UTM Serial terminal you are asked to input your credentials, wait 10/20 seconds more and the greeter should then be displayed.

Additionally, make sure to choose virtio-ramfb as the Emulated Display Cart in the VM settings.
I also tried virtio-ramfb-gl which is snappier but a lot more glitchy and unstable (maybe it's still related to #5749?)

FYI: I have used ubuntu-24.10-live-server-arm64.iso and then installed ubuntu-desktop.

[martincerven]

@sav-valerio there is nice writeup on utm subreddit and according to them:

virtio-gpu-gl-pci is typically your go-to card for modern Linux distros

Which kinda seems to make sense.

@ghostplant yeah GUI and Serials are unrelated, but if something breaks (you uninstall your ubuntu-desktop) your only choice is to have a terminal acess.

It seems that sudo systemctl mask NetworkManager-wait-online.service timeout is present on all 24.04 and it should be okay to just turn it off.

It's especially bad if u don't have terminal output so you don't see it's hanging on a weird service, and you only see black GUI.

[ghostplant]

It works, but the systemd loading speed is too slow, much slower than VirtualBox for Mac M2