How to install Ubuntu 16.04.6 on a Mac Silicon with UTM

Are you a student who has an assignment on installing this very specific version of Ubuntu?

Yes, I too am a student faced with an assignment that requires oneself to install a decade’s old version of the famous Linux distro. After scouring the web to find a tutorial on how to SPECIALLY INSTALL this very OUTDATED version of the distro onto a Mac with of the one of most “compatible-friendly” of the architectures you can find/j 😊, the Silicon Mac.

(yes i tried to used VirtualBox but I got endless errors because I found out this version of Ubuntu is not for ARM-based architecture, so it was my fault that I was dumb and realised it when Parallels Desktop told it to my face)

YES I AM VERY STUPID I FORGOT THAT WE CAN ONLY RUN ARM IMAGE FILES ON A SILICON MAC

I will list down all the forums and websites I referred to make this miracle happen. But not to waste more time, let’s begin!

DOWNLOADING AND INSTALLING WHAT YOU NEED

1. Download Ubuntu 16.04.6 from https://old-releases.ubuntu.com/releases/16.04.6/
2. Download UTM from https://mac.getutm.app/
3. Install Brew by following the instructions here https://brew.sh/
4. Install the UTM app and then we can proceed to this next step.

INSTALLING qemu VIA brew (make sure you have brew installed in your mac! Really makes your life easier when life is hard enough with a SILIC — )

1. Open your mac terminal and type

brew install qemu

2. Wait for it to finish installing

3. Let’s head over to the next step 😂

After installing everything, we can finally get started to emulating this SPECIFIC version of Ubuntu required by our syllabus.

1. Run the UTM app.
2. Find the ‘+’ sign and click it. This prompt will show up. Select Emulate (because virtualisation is only if you have an Intel chip which you obviously don’t have because you wouldn’t waste your time reading this 🤣)

it took me 5 hours to finally get this to work and another few more hours to be able to complete my assignment

3. Obviously choose the penguin.

where do you think Ubuntu came from?

4. Head over to the Boot ISO Image section. Browse wherever you placed your downloaded Image file.

5. To be honest, idk how to write tutorials but make sure you follow what I screenshotted below step-by-step

make sure it’s set to this

idk this was the default for me but your mac, your choice

make a new folder

like this

MAKE SURE YOU DO THIS SO YOU CAN MOVE TO THE NEXT STEP

THIS PROMPT WILL OPEN

GO TO SYSTEM AND MAKE SURE CPU IS SET TO INTEL CORE I7 9XX (NEHALEM CLASS CORE I7) (NEHALEM-V1)

GO TO DISPLAY AND MAKE SURE THE EMULATED DISPLAY CARD IS SET TO VIRTIO-VGA

WE’RE FINALLY GETTING THERE, CLICK INSTALL UBUNTU

WHAT IT SAYS

YIPPEE

YEAH NOW IM LEFT WITH THIS BUT AT LEAST WE GOT TO INSTALL UBUNTU, ITS SO SLOW BUT WE DID IT YAY

YIPPEE

References

[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/Ubuntu/comments/11iwrwy/ubuntu_16_on_apple_sillicon_mac_utm/

[2] https://www.reddit.com/r/MacOS/comments/193r8no/need_help_installing_32bit_ubuntu_1604_for_class/

[3] https://github.com/utmapp/UTM/discussions/5555

[4] https://jun1okamura.medium.com/install-ubuntu-on-mac-m1-powered-by-utm-499aba3ba7e9