abiosoft/colima · error

could not load config from file: %w

Error message

could not load config from file: %w

What it means

Returned by configmanager.LoadFrom when os.ReadFile fails while reading the YAML config file. The underlying filesystem error is wrapped with %w, so it is typically 'no such file or directory' or 'permission denied'. It fires before any YAML parsing, meaning the file itself could not be read from disk.

Source

Thrown at config/configmanager/configmanager.go:39

func SaveFromFile(file string) error {
	c, err := LoadFrom(file)
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}
	return Save(c)
}

// SaveToFile saves configuration to file.
func SaveToFile(c config.Config, file string) error {
	return yamlutil.Save(c, file)
}

// LoadFrom loads config from file.
func LoadFrom(file string) (config.Config, error) {
	var c config.Config
	b, err := os.ReadFile(file)
	if err != nil {
		return c, fmt.Errorf("could not load config from file: %w", err)
	}

	err = yaml.Unmarshal(b, &c)
	if err != nil {
		return c, fmt.Errorf("could not load config from file: %w", err)
	}

	return c, nil
}

// ValidateConfig validates config before we use it
func ValidateConfig(c config.Config) error {
	validMountTypes := map[string]bool{"9p": true, "sshfs": true}
	validPortForwarders := map[string]bool{"grpc": true, "ssh": true, "none": true}

	if util.MacOS13OrNewer() {
		validMountTypes["virtiofs"] = true
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to c3a5f9184d)

Solutions

1. Run 'colima start' (or 'colima start --edit') once so the default config file is generated
2. Verify the path exists and is readable: ls -l on the expected colima.yaml under the active config directory
3. Fix ownership or permissions if present but unreadable: chown $USER file && chmod 644 file
4. If the file was deleted intentionally, restore from backup or let colima regenerate defaults

Example fix

# before: config file was deleted
colima start    # error: could not load config from file

# after
colima start --edit   # regenerates the config template; save to create the file

if _, err := os.Stat(cfgFile); err != nil {
    if errors.Is(err, fs.ErrNotExist) {
        // generate config first, e.g. run 'colima start' once
    }
    return err // permissions or other stat failure, fix before LoadFrom
}
c, err := configmanager.LoadFrom(cfgFile)

c, err := configmanager.LoadFrom(file)
if err != nil {
    var pathErr *os.PathError
    if errors.As(err, &pathErr) && errors.Is(pathErr.Err, fs.ErrNotExist) {
        // regenerate the config or fall back to defaults
    }
    // unreadable file: surface the wrapped %w cause to the user
    return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling configmanager.LoadFrom(file) with a path that does not exist (first run before colima.yaml is generated), a COLIMA_HOME/XDG_CONFIG_HOME location that never received a config, or a file with restrictive permissions or root ownership.

Common situations: Fresh machine where 'colima start' has never run; COLIMA_HOME pointing at a custom directory with no colima.yaml; config deleted or moved during cleanup; file created by sudo so the current user cannot read it.

Related errors

• error persisting runtime settings: %w
• error persisting kubernetes settings: %w
• error deleting configs: %w
• error in config file: %w
• error preparing config file: %w

AI-assisted analysis of abiosoft/colima@c3a5f9184d (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/2bb8e8f003b79001. Report an issue: GitHub.