So presumably the VM is running? But for some reason I can't
communicate with it, I can't SSH in, I don't even get a response
to my ping.
Any ideas? I'd be happy to provide further information.
I usually troubleshoot issues like that by configuring a VNC display
and using a VNC client to attach to my VM's "screen". Most of the
time it's me somehow borking the Linux install and as a result the
machine refusing to boot.