1st try: VirtualBox

Download:
https://cdn.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/NetBSD-11.0_RC2/evbarm-aarch64/binary/gzimg/arm64.img.gz

Convert img to VDI:

qemu-img convert -f raw -O vdi arm64.img arm64.vdi

Setup VirtualBox VM with .vdi file as existing harddisk.

Result: VirtualBox (not the VM!) crashed. Oh well.

2nd try: QEMU

After VirtualBox didn't work, I wanted to see if qemu (running on MacOS) works. Spoiler: it does, and here are the steps to get things going:

First, grab the kernel:
https://cdn.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/NetBSD-11.0_RC2/evbarm-aarch64/binary/kernel/netbsd-GENERIC64.img.gz
...and gunzip. Make sure kernel and userland versions match!

Run in QEMU:

qemu-system-aarch64 -M virt,accel=hvf -cpu host -smp 4 \
	-m 4g -drive if=none,format=raw,file=arm64.img,id=hd0 \
	-device virtio-blk-device,drive=hd0 -netdev user,id=net0 \
	-device virtio-net-device,netdev=net0 -kernel netbsd-GENERIC64.img \
	-append root=dk1 -nographic

How to leave QEMU: Ctrl-A X

Troubleshooting: Make sure kernel and userland match - else random segfaults will happen.

Userland setup

Quite a few settings are already OK (sshd, dhcpcd, ntp), which is not the default I remember from a few years ago, but that's nice and convenient. I still wanted to see what config settings are new, and here are my additions to /etc/rc.conf:

hostname="qnetbsd"
rndctl=yes
certctl_init=yes
ip6mode=autohost
ntpdate=NO

On first login you will see an unsafe keys warning:

-- UNSAFE KEYS WARNING:

        The ssh host keys on this machine have been generated with
        not enough entropy configured, so they may be predictable.

        To fix, follow the "Adding entropy" section in the entropy(7)
        man page.  After this machine has enough entropy, re-generate
        the ssh host keys by running:

                /etc/rc.d/sshd keyregen

Fix by feeding entropy, then reboot:

echo lkajsdflkjasdflkjasdlkfjoiasjdfiojasdkf >/dev/random
shutdown -r now

Note: Use shutdown(8), not reboot(8) or poweroff(8) - only shutdown runs the hooks that save entropy.

After reboot, regenerate SSH keys:

/etc/rc.d/sshd keyregen

Success

neuland% qemu-system-aarch64 -M virt,accel=hvf -cpu host -smp 4 -m 4g \
  -drive if=none,format=raw,file=arm64.img,id=hd0 \
  -device virtio-blk-device,drive=hd0 \
  -netdev user,id=net0 -device virtio-net-device,netdev=net0 \
  -kernel netbsd-GENERIC64.img -append root=dk1 -nographic
[   1.0000000] NetBSD/evbarm (fdt) booting ...
[   1.0000000] NetBSD 11.0_RC2 (GENERIC64) #0: Wed Mar  4 21:02:00 UTC 2026
...
NetBSD/evbarm (qnetbsd) (constty)

login: root
NetBSD 11.0_RC2 (GENERIC64) #0: Wed Mar  4 21:02:00 UTC 2026
Welcome to NetBSD!

qnetbsd# uname -a
NetBSD qnetbsd 11.0_RC2 NetBSD 11.0_RC2 (GENERIC64) #0: Wed Mar  4 21:02:00 UTC 2026  mkrepro@mkrepro.NetBSD.org:/usr/src/sys/arch/evbarm/compile/GENERIC64 evbarm

Summary

Not providing a working VirtualBox image in 2026 is painful for new users. As Kali Linux works fine in VirtualBox on the same hardware, I'd say there is some way to go, NetBSD!

The manual setup works, but needs some tweaks beyond the expected (/etc/rc.conf), exp. manual entropy setup was surprising as network and disk were working ok. I did expect those to be used as sources of randomness before the first SSH keys are generated.

We'll see where things go from there. For now I can (at least for QEMU on my Mac) say: Of course it runs NetBSD! :-)