lima-vm/lima · error

configuration is nil

Error message

configuration is nil

What it means

validateConfig for the HCS driver requires a non-nil instance config; if cfg (*limatype.LimaYAML) is nil it returns 'configuration is nil'. This guards Validate/Configure against dereferencing a config that was never loaded, so it signals a lifecycle/initialization bug rather than a user YAML mistake.

Source

Thrown at pkg/driver/hcs/hcs_driver_windows.go:115

	if err := validateConfig(ctx, cfg); err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}

	l.Instance = inst
	l.SSHLocalPort = inst.SSHLocalPort

	return &driver.ConfiguredDriver{
		Driver: l,
	}, nil
}

func (l *LimaHcsDriver) Validate(ctx context.Context) error {
	return validateConfig(ctx, l.Instance.Config)
}

func validateConfig(_ context.Context, cfg *limatype.LimaYAML) error {
	if cfg == nil {
		return errors.New("configuration is nil")
	}
	// TODO: revise this list for HCS
	if cfg.VMType != nil {
		if unknown := reflectutil.UnknownNonEmptyFields(cfg, knownYamlProperties...); len(unknown) > 0 {
			logrus.Warnf("Ignoring: vmType %s: %+v", *cfg.VMType, unknown)
		}
	}

	if cfg.OS != nil && *cfg.OS == limatype.WINDOWS {
		return errors.New("currently Windows guest OS is only supported on QEMU")
	}

	if !limatype.IsNativeArch(*cfg.Arch) {
		return fmt.Errorf("unsupported arch: %#q", *cfg.Arch)
	}

	if cfg.TPM != nil && *cfg.TPM {
		return errors.New("field `tpm` is not supported on HCS driver")

View on GitHub (pinned to dd909d0973)

Solutions

1. Load the config before validating: cfg, err := limayaml.Load(yamlPath, filePath) and assign it to Instance.Config
2. Ensure the instance directory contains a valid lima.yaml (recreate the instance if missing)
3. Fix the calling code so Validate/Configure run only after config population

Example fix

// before
drv := &hcs.LimaHcsDriver{Instance: &limatype.Instance{Name: "x"}} // Config nil
_ = drv.Validate(ctx) // configuration is nil
// after
cfg, err := limayaml.Load(yamlBytes, "lima.yaml")
if err != nil { return err }
drv.Instance.Config = cfg
_ = drv.Validate(ctx)

func ensureConfig(inst *limatype.Instance) error {
	if inst == nil || inst.Config == nil {
		return errors.New("instance config not loaded; call limayaml.Load and assign Instance.Config first")
	}
	return nil
}

func hasConfig(inst *limatype.Instance) bool {
	return inst != nil && inst.Config != nil
}

if err := drv.Validate(ctx); err != nil {
	if err.Error() == "configuration is nil" {
		// lifecycle bug: config was never loaded; load it and retry validation
		return loadAndValidate(ctx, inst)
	}
	return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: validateConfig invoked from Validate, Configure, or an anonymous callback with l.Instance.Config unset — instance struct constructed without loading lima.yaml, or Configure called before the config was populated by the instance loader.

Common situations: Programmatic use of the driver package where LimaYAML was never loaded via limayaml.Load; instance directory missing lima.yaml so the loader left Config nil; calling Validate out of the normal limactl create flow.

Related errors

• unimplemented
• HcsCreateOperation: %w
• %s: %w
• %s: %w (result: %s)
• configuration is nil

AI-assisted analysis of lima-vm/lima@dd909d0973 (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e370ef7421558c11. Report an issue: GitHub.