abiosoft/colima · error

error creating runtime disk: %w

Error message

error creating runtime disk: %w

What it means

Returned by createRuntimeDisk when limautil.CreateDisk(conf.Disk) fails during 'colima start' provisioning: colima creates a dedicated Lima data disk (limactl disk create) to hold container runtime data (docker/containerd/incus) and attach it as an additional disk. The wrapped error comes from limactl and usually reflects host-side qemu-img/disk issues, insufficient space, or a leftover disk record.

Source

Thrown at environment/vm/lima/disk.go:40

)

//go:embed disk.sh
var diskScript string

func (l *limaVM) createRuntimeDisk(conf config.Config) error {
	if environment.IsNoneRuntime(conf.Runtime) {
		// runtime disk is not required when no runtime is in use
		return nil
	}

	disk := dataDisk(conf.Runtime)

	s, _ := store.Load()
	format := !s.DiskFormatted // only format if not previously formatted

	if !limautil.HasDisk() {
		if err := limautil.CreateDisk(conf.Disk); err != nil {
			return fmt.Errorf("error creating runtime disk: %w", err)
		}
		format = true // new disk should be formated
	}

	// when disk is formatted for the wrong runtime, prevent use
	if s.DiskFormatted && s.DiskRuntime != "" && s.DiskRuntime != conf.Runtime {
		return fmt.Errorf("runtime disk provisioned for %s runtime. Delete container data with 'colima delete --data' before using another runtime", s.DiskRuntime)
	}

	l.limaConf.Disk = config.Disk(conf.RootDisk).GiB()
	l.limaConf.AdditionalDisks = append(l.limaConf.AdditionalDisks, limaconfig.Disk{
		Name:   config.CurrentProfile().ID,
		Format: format,
		FSType: disk.FSType,
	})

	l.mountRuntimeDisk(conf, format)
	return nil

View on GitHub (pinned to c3a5f9184d)

Solutions

1. Check host free space ('df -h ~') and free tens of GB (the disk is created lazily but needs some headroom), then retry 'colima start'.
2. Inspect existing lima disks for stale/corrupt entries: 'limactl disk ls'; remove the colima profile's disk ('limactl disk delete <profile>') and retry colima start.
3. Fix ownership of the lima data dir if a sudo run owns it: 'sudo chown -R "$(id -u):$(id -g)" ~/.lima'.
4. Reinstall/repair qemu if limactl reports qemu-img errors (brew reinstall qemu lima).
5. Nuclear option: 'colima delete -f' (removes VM and disks) then 'colima start' to provision everything fresh.

// ensure host space and no stale disk before start
if fi, err := os.Stat(limaDisksDir()); err == nil && !fi.IsDir() {
    return fmt.Errorf("lima disks path unusable: %s", limaDisksDir())
}
if limautil.HasDisk() {
    // disk exists; skip creation entirely
    return nil
}

func diskCreationSafe(freeBytes uint64, requestedGiB int) bool {
    // qcow2 is sparse; require modest headroom, e.g. 1GiB + 10% of requested
    return freeBytes > uint64(requestedGiB)*1024*1024*1024/10
}

if err := limautil.CreateDisk(conf.Disk); err != nil {
    // stale disk records are the most recoverable cause
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "already exists") {
        _ = limautil.DeleteDisk()
        if err2 := limautil.CreateDisk(conf.Disk); err2 != nil {
            return fmt.Errorf("error creating runtime disk: %w", err2)
        }
    } else {
        return fmt.Errorf("error creating runtime disk: %w", err)
    }
}

When it happens

Trigger: First start (or start after 'colima delete' without disk cleanup) where limactl disk create runs: host disk full at ~/Library/Containers/.../lima (or ~/.lima) so the qcow2 cannot be created; qemu-img missing/broken; a same-named disk already registered in lima in a bad state; permission problems in the lima data dir after brew/lima upgrades.

Common situations: Machines with nearly-full startup volumes; upgrading lima/colima changed the lima data directory leaving stale disks; running colima under different users so the lima dir is owned by someone else; interrupted previous delete leaving a half-registered disk.

Related errors

• error setting up AI model runner: %w
• dependency check failed for VM: %w
• error starting vm: %w
• error running %s provision script(s)
• error stopping vm: %w

AI-assisted analysis of abiosoft/colima@c3a5f9184d (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/ee6b3e5633c55fc4. Report an issue: GitHub.