Acquiring the correct ARM64 virtualization software and compatible distribution images establishes the foundation for Apple Silicon environments. Download the Apple Silicon variant of VMware Fusion, which natively supports the AArch64 instruction set. Obtain a CentOS 7 ISO specifically compiled for ARM architecture. Note that officially distributed ARM ISOs frequently stall during the boot sequence due to missing kernel patches for Apple's hypervisor framework. Utilizing a community-maintained, pre-patched ISO resolves these initialization failures. If the distribution archive is segmented, ensure a macOS-compatible extraction utility is available before proceeding.

Launch the hypervisor and initialize a new virtual machine instance. Drag the prepared ISO file directly into the configuration pane. The installation wizard automatically detects the guest operating system; manual selection is unnecessary. Access the hardware customization panel to allocate CPU cores, memory, and storage. Remove unused peripheral devices such as audio controllers and webcams to minimize host resource overhead. Assign a descriptive machine identifier and proceed to the boot sequence.

Should the boot process fail to initialize, verify the ISO architecture matches the host's ARM silicon. Persistent launch failures often indicate residual configuration conflicts from previous hypervisor installations. Perform a complete cleanup of VMware Fusion components using a dedicated uninstallation utility before retrying.

Once the installer menu appears, select the standard boot option. Maintain English as the system lanugage to prevent locale-related parsing errors during early boot stages. Navigate to system installation parameters and confirm the default settings. The minimal installation profile lacks essential command-line utilities like text editors; select the Web Server or Software Development profile to ensure baseline tooling availability, particularly if package manager connectivity remains unconfigured. Set the hardware clock to the appropriate regional timezone (e.g., Asia/Shanghai) and establish the root credentials. Create supplementary standard user accounts if role-based access control is required. Enable the primary network interface within the configuration dashboard prior to initiating the partitioning and installation process. Upon completion, trigger a system reboot.

Post-reboot, verify the assigned network parameters using standard addressing commands. If the guest machine fails to acquire an address or shows no external connectivity, adjust the VMware virtual network adapter to NAT or Bridged mode. Confirm the guest's subnet aligns with the host's routing configuration to prevent isolation.

Network interfaces in this specific build default to a disabled state. Activate the primary Ethernet controller by modifying the interface definition file located at /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-ens160. Change the activation flag from no to yes.

DEVICE=ens160
TYPE=Ethernet
BOOTPROTO=none
ONBOOT=yes
IPADDR=10.20.30.45
NETMASK=255.255.255.0
GATEWAY=10.20.30.1
DNS1=8.8.4.4

Apply the configuration changes by restarting the network management daemon:

systemctl restart network

Validate the updated addressing scheme. If cross-machine communication fails, ensure both host and guest reside within identical CIDR blocks.

Secure Shell access requires daemon activation and firewall port exposure. Initialize the SSH service and configure persistent firewall rules:

systemctl enable sshd
systemctl start sshd
firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=ssh
firewall-cmd --reload

Establish a remote session from the host terminal:

ssh admin_user@10.20.30.45

Connection latency often stems from reverse DNS resolution attempts. Mitigate this by disabling DNS lookups in the daemon configuration. Locate the UseDNS directive, uncomment it if necessary, and assign the value no. Restart the daemon to apply the optimization.

sed -i 's/^#\?\(UseDNS\).*/\1 no/' /etc/ssh/sshd_config
systemctl restart sshd

Subsequent reboots may incorrectly trigger the installation media loop. Prevent this by entering the virtual machine hardware settings and disconnecting the virtual optical drive from the boot sequence. Adjust the startup order to prioritize the virtual hard disk.

Repository resolution issues frequently occur on AArch64 builds due to deprecated mirror paths. Resolve package manager failures by replacing the base repository configuration files located in /etc/yum.repos.d/ with maintained ARM-compatible mirrors, ensuring the architecture variable matches aarch64.