hashicorp/vagrant · error · Vagrant::Errors::BoxRemoveNotFound

The box you requested to be removed could not be found. No b

Error message

The box you requested to be removed could not be found. No
boxes named '%{name}' could be found.

What it means

Errors::BoxRemoveNotFound is raised by the BoxRemove builtin when the box collection contains zero entries whose name equals the requested box name. It is the plain 'no such box installed' guard before any version/provider disambiguation logic runs.

Source

Thrown at lib/vagrant/action/builtin/box_remove.rb:35

          box_name     = env[:box_name]
          box_architecture = env[:box_architecture] if env[:box_architecture]
          box_provider = env[:box_provider].to_sym if env[:box_provider]
          box_version  = env[:box_version]
          box_remove_all_versions = env[:box_remove_all_versions]
          box_remove_all_providers = env[:box_remove_all_providers]
          box_remove_all_architectures = env[:box_remove_all_architectures]

          box_info = Util::HashWithIndifferentAccess.new
          env[:box_collection].all.each do |name, version, provider, architecture|
            next if name != box_name
            box_info[version] ||= Util::HashWithIndifferentAccess.new
            box_info[version][provider] ||= []
            box_info[version][provider] << architecture
          end

          # If there's no box info, then the box doesn't exist here
          if box_info.empty?
            raise Errors::BoxRemoveNotFound, name: box_name
          end

          # Filtering only matters if not removing all versions
          if !box_remove_all_versions
            # If no version was provided, and not removing all versions,
            # only allow one version to proceed
            if !box_version && box_info.size > 1
              raise Errors::BoxRemoveMultiVersion,
                name: box_name,
                versions: box_info.keys.sort.map { |k| " * #{k}" }.join("\n")
            end

            # If a version was provided, make sure it exists
            if box_version
              if !box_info.keys.include?(box_version)
                raise Errors::BoxRemoveVersionNotFound,
                  name: box_name,
                  version: box_version,

View on GitHub (pinned to 35f3160f4a)

Solutions

  1. Run 'vagrant box list' and copy the exact name shown there.
  2. If the box is genuinely gone, no action is needed - treat this as already-clean.
  3. Check VAGRANT_HOME / which user owns ~/.vagrant.d if the box shows in another context.
  4. In scripts, tolerate this error (grep the box list first) so cleanup is idempotent.

Example fix

# before
vagrant box remove ubutnu/jammy64   # typo -> BoxRemoveNotFound

# after
vagrant box list
vagrant box remove ubuntu/jammy64
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

installed = env.box_collection.all.map { |name, *, | name }.uniq
exit 0 unless installed.include?(box_name)  # idempotent cleanup

Type guard

def box_present?(collection, name)
  collection.all.any? { |n, *, | n == name }
end

Try / catch

begin
  env.cli("box", "remove", name)
rescue Vagrant::Errors::BoxRemoveNotFound
  # already absent - safe to continue
end

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: vagrant box remove NAME scans env[:box_collection].all building box_info keyed by version/provider/architecture, skipping entries where name != box_name; if box_info is empty afterwards, the raise fires with name: box_name.

Common situations: Typos in the box name; removing a box already removed (double-run cleanup script); box lives under a different user/VAGRANT_HOME than the shell using; name confusion between 'ubuntu/jammy64' and a locally aliased name.

Understand the failure class

Background: 'Could not be found', 'does not exist', 'not found in database': the resource-not-found family when an ID, slug, key, or URI lookup comes back empty — this error's family across 20 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of hashicorp/vagrant@35f3160f4a (2026-08-21). Data as JSON: /api/errors/0f3c18115d5e05c0. Report an issue: GitHub.