Vagrant up failing on Mac M2

vinayr983 · February 24, 2026, 4:22pm

Hi,

I am following the ansible for beginners course and trying to setup a local environment as provided in

kodekloudhub/learn-ansible-basics-beginners-course/blob/main/vagrant/README.md

# Build your own Ansible lab

These instructions supersede those found in the appendix of this course so *ignore* those videos as you won't get far. Besides, they tell you to install CentOS 7 which no longer works. The original instructions were created before Apple Silicon Macs (M1, M2, M3) came on the scene and before CentOS 7 was withdrawn by Red Hat. For this build we use the current version of CentOS, which is 9 and the latest version of Ansible.

What is presented here will work for Windows, Intel Mac and Apple Silicon Mac.

Rather than going through the individual steps of manually creating the virtual machines in VirtualBox (which is what does not work on newer Macs), we instead automate the creation of the VMs using Vagrant which can drive both VirtualBox (Windows/Intel Mac) and VMware Fusion (Apple Silicon) from the same inputs.

Next: [Prerequisites](./docs/01-prerequisites.md)

But vagrant up is failing

(base) vinayraj@Vinays-MacBook-Pro vagrant % vagrant up
Bringing machine ‘ansiblecontroller’ up with ‘vmware_desktop’ provider…
Bringing machine ‘target1’ up with ‘vmware_desktop’ provider…
==> ansiblecontroller: Running action triggers before up …
==> ansiblecontroller: Running trigger…
==> ansiblecontroller: Pre-start trigger

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ If raising a question on our forums, please include the contents    │
│ of this box with your question. It will help us to identify issues  │
│ with your system.                                                   │
│                                                                     │
│ Detecting your hardware...                                          │
│ - System: Tahoe 26 26.3                                             │
│ - CPU:    Apple M2 (8 cores)                                        │
│ - RAM:    8 GB                                                      │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

==> ansiblecontroller: Verifying vmnet devices are healthy…
==> ansiblecontroller: Preparing network adapters…
==> ansiblecontroller: Starting the VMware VM…

An error occurred causing VMware to cancel the current operation. Details
of the error causing the cancelation:

The virtual machine is using a hardware version that is not supported by this version of vmrun.
Module 'Upgrade' power on failed.
Failed to start the virtual machine.

The full log can be located at:

/Users/vinayraj/Downloads/cursor_scripts/ansible/learning/learn-ansible-basics-beginners-course/vagrant/.vagrant/machines/ansiblecontroller/vmware_desktop/6f0dd463-3ab6-494e-9b32-2682601700d2/vmware.log

(base) vinayraj@Vinays-MacBook-Pro vagrant %

vmware.log shows this

2026-02-24T15:48:53.078Z No(00) vmx ConfigDB: Setting sata0:1.fileName = “auto detect”

2026-02-24T15:48:53.079Z In(05) vmx VMXVmdbCbVmVmxExecState: Exec state change requested to state poweredOn without reset, default, softOptionTimeout: 0.

2026-02-24T15:48:53.079Z In(05) vmx Tools: sending ‘OS_PowerOn’ (state = 3) state change request

2026-02-24T15:48:53.079Z In(05) vmx Tools: Delaying state change request to state 3.

2026-02-24T15:48:53.079Z Wa(03) vmx PowerOn

2026-02-24T15:48:53.079Z In(05) vmx VMX_PowerOn: VMX build 19431034, UI build 19431034

2026-02-24T15:48:53.079Z In(05) vmx Processor affinity not supported on this host OS

2026-02-24T15:48:53.082Z In(05) vmx Vix: [mainDispatch.c:4206]: VMAutomation_ReportPowerOpFinished: statevar=0, newAppState=1871, success=1 additionalError=0

2026-02-24T15:48:53.082Z In(05) vmx UPGRADE: Unable to load future VM version

2026-02-24T15:48:53.082Z In(05) vmx Module ‘Upgrade’ power on failed.

2026-02-24T15:48:53.082Z In(05) vmx VMX_PowerOn: ModuleTable_PowerOn = 0

2026-02-24T15:48:53.083Z In(05) vmx Msg_Post: Error

2026-02-24T15:48:53.083Z In(05) vmx [msg.upgrade.tooNewCurrentHWVersion] The virtual machine is using a hardware version that is not supported by this version of vmrun.

2026-02-24T15:48:53.083Z In(05) vmx [msg.moduletable.powerOnFailed] Module ‘Upgrade’ power on failed.

2026-02-24T15:48:53.083Z In(05) vmx [msg.vmx.poweron.failed] Failed to start the virtual machine.

2026-02-24T15:48:53.083Z In(05) vmx ----------------------------------------

2026-02-24T15:48:53.083Z In(05) vmx MsgIsAnswered: Using builtin default ‘OK’ as the answer for ‘msg.vmx.poweron.failed’

2026-02-24T15:48:53.083Z In(05) vmx Vix: [mainDispatch.c:4206]: VMAutomation_ReportPowerOpFinished: statevar=0, newAppState=1870, success=1 additionalError=0

2026-02-24T15:48:53.083Z In(05) vmx Transitioned vmx/execState/val to poweredOff

2026-02-24T15:48:53.083Z In(05) vmx Vix: [mainDispatch.c:4206]: VMAutomation_ReportPowerOpFinished: statevar=0, newAppState=1870, success=0 additionalError=0

2026-02-24T15:48:53.083Z In(05) vmx Vix: [mainDispatch.c:4244]: Error VIX_E_FAIL in VMAutomation_ReportPowerOpFinished(): Unknown error

2026-02-24T15:48:53.084Z In(05) vmx Vix: [mainDispatch.c:4206]: VMAutomation_ReportPowerOpFinished: statevar=0, newAppState=1870, success=1 additionalError=0

2026-02-24T15:48:53.084Z In(05) vmx Transitioned vmx/execState/val to poweredOff

2026-02-24T15:48:53.084Z In(05) vmx WQPoolFreePoll : pollIx = 3, signalHandle = 26

2026-02-24T15:48:53.084Z Wa(03) vmx vmmon was never opened.

2026-02-24T15:48:53.084Z In(05) vmx Services_Exit: Closed the services.

2026-02-24T15:48:53.084Z In(05) vmx Vix: [mainDispatch.c:815]: VMAutomation_LateShutdown()

Any idea how to fix this?

vinayr983 · February 24, 2026, 4:52pm

this error got resolved upon installing latest VMware Fusion version.

but now vagrant up got stuck at


vagrant up
==> target1: VM not created. Moving on...
==> ansiblecontroller: Stopping the VMware VM...
==> ansiblecontroller: Deleting the VM...
Bringing machine 'ansiblecontroller' up with 'vmware_desktop' provider...
Bringing machine 'target1' up with 'vmware_desktop' provider...
==> ansiblecontroller: Running action triggers before up ...
==> ansiblecontroller: Running trigger...
==> ansiblecontroller: Pre-start trigger
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ If raising a question on our forums, please include the contents    │
│ of this box with your question. It will help us to identify issues  │
│ with your system.                                                   │
│                                                                     │
│ Detecting your hardware...                                          │
│ - System: Tahoe 26 26.3                                             │
│ - CPU:    Apple M2 (8 cores)                                        │
│ - RAM:    8 GB                                                      │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
==> ansiblecontroller: Cloning VMware VM: 'bento/rockylinux-9'. This can take some time...
==> ansiblecontroller: Verifying vmnet devices are healthy...
==> ansiblecontroller: Preparing network adapters...
==> ansiblecontroller: Fixed port collision for 22 => 2222. Now on port 2200.
==> ansiblecontroller: Starting the VMware VM...
==> ansiblecontroller: Waiting for the VM to receive an address...

vinayr983 · February 24, 2026, 7:39pm

Upon running it vagrant up in debug mode I could see the below lines kept repeating.

DEBUG vmware_driver: - vmxstats.filename = rockylinux-9.6-aarch64.scoreboard
DEBUG vmware_driver: - sata0:1.autodetect = TRUE
DEBUG vmware_driver: - ethernet0.pcislotnumber = 160
DEBUG vmware_driver: - ethernet1.pcislotnumber = 224
DEBUG vmware_driver: - ethernet2.pcislotnumber = 256
DEBUG vmware_driver: - ethernet0.generatedaddress = 00:0c:29:6d:8b:84
DEBUG vmware_driver: - ethernet0.generatedaddressoffset = 0
DEBUG vmware_driver: - ethernet1.generatedaddress = 00:0c:29:6d:8b:8e
DEBUG vmware_driver: - ethernet1.generatedaddressoffset = 10
DEBUG vmware_driver: - ethernet2.generatedaddress = 00:0c:29:6d:8b:98
DEBUG vmware_driver: - ethernet2.generatedaddressoffset = 20
DEBUG vmware_driver: - usb_xhci:4.present = TRUE
DEBUG vmware_driver: - usb_xhci:4.devicetype = hid
DEBUG vmware_driver: - usb_xhci:4.port = 4
DEBUG vmware_driver: - usb_xhci:4.parent = -1
DEBUG vmware_driver: Trying to get MAC address for ethernet0
DEBUG vmware_driver: No explicitly set MAC, looking or auto-generated one…
DEBUG vmware_driver: – MAC: 00:0c:29:6d:8b:84
INFO vmware_driver: Reading DHCP lease for ‘00:0c:29:6d:8b:84’ on ‘vmnet8’
DEBUG vagrant_utility: request METHOD=GET PATH=/vmnet/vmnet8/dhcplease/00:0c:29:6d:8b:84 RESPONSE=400 ERROR=No entry found for MAC 00:0c:29:6d:8b:84
DEBUG vmware_driver: Trying to get MAC address for ethernet1
DEBUG vmware_driver: No explicitly set MAC, looking or auto-generated one…
DEBUG vmware_driver: – MAC: 00:0c:29:6d:8b:8e
INFO vmware_driver: Reading DHCP lease for ‘00:0c:29:6d:8b:8e’ on ‘vmnet8’
DEBUG vagrant_utility: request METHOD=GET PATH=/vmnet/vmnet8/dhcplease/00:0c:29:6d:8b:8e RESPONSE=400 ERROR=No entry found for MAC 00:0c:29:6d:8b:8e
DEBUG vmware_driver: Trying to get MAC address for ethernet2
DEBUG vmware_driver: No explicitly set MAC, looking or auto-generated one…
DEBUG vmware_driver: – MAC: 00:0c:29:6d:8b:98
INFO vmware_driver: Reading DHCP lease for ‘00:0c:29:6d:8b:98’ on ‘vmnet8’
DEBUG vagrant_utility: request METHOD=GET PATH=/vmnet/vmnet8/dhcplease/00:0c:29:6d:8b:98 RESPONSE=400 ERROR=No entry found for MAC 00:0c:29:6d:8b:98
INFO vmware_driver: Reading an accessible IP for machine…
INFO vmware_driver: Trying vmrun getGuestIPAddress…
INFO subprocess: Starting process: [“/Applications/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Library/vmrun”, “-T”, “fusion”, “getGuestIPAddress”, “/Users/vinayraj/Downloads/cursor_scripts/ansible/learning/learn-ansible-basics-beginners-course/vagrant/.vagrant/machines/ansiblecontroller/vmware_desktop/5369c1cf-adbb-4ea4-b9b5-733a1d0a7a0c/rockylinux-9.6-aarch64.vmx”, “-wait”]
DEBUG subprocess: Command not in installer, not touching env vars.
INFO subprocess: Command not in installer, restoring original environment…
DEBUG subprocess: Selecting on IO

vinayr983 · February 24, 2026, 7:39pm

Hi,