diff --git a/act/container/macos_vm_environment.go b/act/container/macos_vm_environment.go
index 4e30c74c..d9629ae1 100644
--- a/act/container/macos_vm_environment.go
+++ b/act/container/macos_vm_environment.go
@@ -164,7 +164,7 @@ func (e *MacOSVMEnvironment) CopyDir(destPath, srcPath string, useGitIgnore bool
 			writeDone <- err
 		}()
 
-		script := `mkdir -p "$1" && /usr/bin/tar -xf - -C "$1"`
+		script := `export COPYFILE_DISABLE=1; mkdir -p "$1" && /usr/bin/tar -xf - -C "$1"`
 		cmdErr := e.runExecutor(ctx, pipeReader, e.Stdout, e.Stderr, "exec", "--stdin", e.VMName, "/bin/sh", "-c", script, "sh", destPath)
 		_ = pipeReader.Close()
 		writeErr := <-writeDone
@@ -203,7 +203,7 @@ func (e *MacOSVMEnvironment) GetContainerArchive(ctx context.Context, srcPath st
 	if common.Dryrun(ctx) {
 		return nil, errors.New("DRYRUN is not supported in GetContainerArchive")
 	}
-	cmd := exec.CommandContext(ctx, e.executorPath, "exec", e.VMName, "/usr/bin/tar", "-cf", "-", srcPath)
+	cmd := exec.CommandContext(ctx, e.executorPath, "exec", e.VMName, "/usr/bin/env", "COPYFILE_DISABLE=1", "/usr/bin/tar", "-cf", "-", srcPath)
 	stdout, err := cmd.StdoutPipe()
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
@@ -277,7 +277,7 @@ func (e *MacOSVMEnvironment) waitReady(ctx context.Context) error {
 
 	var lastErr error
 	for {
-		if err := e.runExecutor(ctx, nil, io.Discard, io.Discard, "exec", e.VMName, "/bin/true"); err == nil {
+		if err := e.runExecutor(ctx, nil, io.Discard, io.Discard, "exec", e.VMName, "/usr/bin/true"); err == nil {
 			return nil
 		} else {
 			lastErr = err
diff --git a/act/container/macos_vm_environment_integration_test.go b/act/container/macos_vm_environment_integration_test.go
index b3d3f041..c6bf8f4c 100644
--- a/act/container/macos_vm_environment_integration_test.go
+++ b/act/container/macos_vm_environment_integration_test.go
@@ -34,13 +34,17 @@ func TestMacOSVMEnvironmentIntegration(t *testing.T) {
 
 	ctx := context.Background()
 	vmName := fmt.Sprintf("gitea-runner-test-%d", time.Now().UnixNano())
+	base := "/Users/admin/runner"
+	if os.Getenv("RUNNER_EXECUTOR_MACOS_DEV_MODE") == "1" {
+		base = t.TempDir()
+	}
 	env, err := NewMacOSVMEnvironment(MacOSVMEnvironmentInput{
-		Path:         "/Users/admin/runner/scratch/" + vmName,
-		TmpDir:       "/Users/admin/runner/scratch/" + vmName + "/tmp",
-		ToolCache:    "/Users/admin/runner/scratch/" + vmName + "/tool_cache",
+		Path:         base + "/scratch/" + vmName,
+		TmpDir:       base + "/scratch/" + vmName + "/tmp",
+		ToolCache:    base + "/scratch/" + vmName + "/tool_cache",
 		Workdir:      t.TempDir(),
-		GuestWorkdir: "/Users/admin/runner/workspace/" + vmName,
-		ActPath:      "/Users/admin/runner/scratch/" + vmName + "/act",
+		GuestWorkdir: base + "/workspace/" + vmName,
+		ActPath:      base + "/scratch/" + vmName + "/act",
 		Image:        image,
 		VMName:       vmName,
 		ExecutorPath: "runner-executor-macos",
@@ -55,6 +59,7 @@ func TestMacOSVMEnvironmentIntegration(t *testing.T) {
 
 	require.NoError(t, env.Create(nil, nil)(ctx))
 	require.NoError(t, env.Start(false)(ctx))
+	require.NoError(t, os.MkdirAll(env.GuestWorkdir, 0o755))
 
 	require.NoError(t, env.Copy("/tmp", &FileEntry{
 		Name: "gitea-runner-macos.txt",
diff --git a/act/runner/run_context.go b/act/runner/run_context.go
index 07d6d4fc..b31f2e50 100644
--- a/act/runner/run_context.go
+++ b/act/runner/run_context.go
@@ -494,6 +494,7 @@ func (rc *RunContext) startMacOSVMEnvironment() common.Executor {
 			jobContainer.Pull(rc.Config.ForcePull),
 			jobContainer.Create(nil, nil),
 			jobContainer.Start(false),
+			jobContainer.Exec([]string{"/bin/mkdir", "-p", guestWorkdir, actPath, tmpDir, toolCache}, nil, "", "/"),
 			rc.captureJobContainerInfo(),
 			jobContainer.Copy(jobContainer.GetActPath()+"/", &container.FileEntry{
 				Name: "workflow/event.json",