lima-vm/lima · error

cannot enable nested virtualization: %w

Error message

cannot enable nested virtualization: %w

What it means

When everything else passes, the driver calls genericPlatformConfig.SetNestedVirtualizationEnabled(true). If the Virtualization framework itself rejects the call, the driver wraps that error and returns it from attachPlatformConfig, failing VM creation.

Source

Thrown at pkg/driver/vz/vm_darwin.go:368

		if err != nil {
			return fmt.Errorf("failed to get macOS product version: %w", err)
		}

		if macOSProductVersion.LessThan(*semver.New("15.0.0")) {
			return errors.New("nested virtualization requires macOS 15 or newer")
		}

		if !vz.IsNestedVirtualizationSupported() {
			return errors.New("nested virtualization is not supported on this device")
		}

		genericPlatformConfig, ok := platformConfig.(*vz.GenericPlatformConfiguration)
		if !ok {
			return fmt.Errorf("nested virtualization is not supported on %T", platformConfig)
		}

		if err := genericPlatformConfig.SetNestedVirtualizationEnabled(true); err != nil {
			return fmt.Errorf("cannot enable nested virtualization: %w", err)
		}
	}

	vmConfig.SetPlatformVirtualMachineConfiguration(platformConfig)
	return nil
}

func attachSerialPort(inst *limatype.Instance, config *vz.VirtualMachineConfiguration) error {
	path := filepath.Join(inst.Dir, filenames.SerialVirtioLog)
	serialPortAttachment, err := vz.NewFileSerialPortAttachment(path, false)
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}
	consoleConfig, err := vz.NewVirtioConsoleDeviceSerialPortConfiguration(serialPortAttachment)
	config.SetSerialPortsVirtualMachineConfiguration([]*vz.VirtioConsoleDeviceSerialPortConfiguration{
		consoleConfig,
	})
	return err

View on GitHub (pinned to dd909d0973)

Solutions

1. Read the wrapped %w error for the framework's underlying reason.
2. Upgrade macOS to the latest release to get framework fixes.
3. Don't run Lima inside another VM when using nested virtualization — run on bare-metal Apple Silicon.
4. Disable nestedVirtualization in lima.yaml if the framework cannot enable it.

// preflight: bare-metal Apple Silicon, macOS 15+
sw_vers -productVersion   # >= 15.0.0
sysctl -n machdep.cpu.brand_string  # Apple Silicon

// Go: surface the wrapped framework error
if err := genericPlatformConfig.SetNestedVirtualizationEnabled(true); err != nil {
    log.Errorf("VZ rejected nested virtualization: %v", err)
    return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: Enabling nestedVirtualization: true on macOS 15+ with reported hardware support, but VZ's SetNestedVirtualizationEnabled still fails at VM configuration time (e.g. race between capability check and set, or framework-level validation error).

Common situations: macOS betas or VM hosts (running Lima inside another VM) where the capability check passes but enabling fails; corrupted VZ state; running under a hypervisor that masks the feature.

Related errors

• nested virtualization requires macOS 15 or newer
• failed to get macOS product version: %w
• failed to create a new rosetta directory share caching optio
• failed to get macOS product version: %w
• nested virtualization requires macOS 15 or newer

AI-assisted analysis of lima-vm/lima@dd909d0973 (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/76bfeae42505f2be. Report an issue: GitHub.