What causes "failed to create parent directory for path %#q: %w" in lima-vm/lima?

Verify the `path` in the write_files entry and correct any typo that points at a file used as a directory.

failed to create parent directory for path %#q: %w

Error message

failed to create parent directory for path %#q: %w

What it means

Before writing a write_files entry, the fake cloud-init code runs `os.MkdirAll` on the entry's parent directory with mode 0755. When that fails, this error wraps the OS error. It usually means a path component exists as a regular file, or the process lacks permission to create the directory.

Source

Thrown at pkg/guestagent/fakecloudinit/fakecloudinit_darwin.go:352

		return fmt.Errorf("failed to write to sudoers file %#q for user %#q: %w", sudoersPath, userName, err)
	}
	return f.Close()
}

func writeFiles(ctx context.Context, entry cloudinittypes.WriteFile) error {
	if entry.Path == "" {
		return errors.New("path is required for write_files entry")
	}
	perm := os.FileMode(0o644)
	if entry.Permissions != "" {
		p, err := strconv.ParseUint(entry.Permissions, 8, 32)
		if err != nil {
			return fmt.Errorf("invalid permissions %#q for path %#q: %w", entry.Permissions, entry.Path, err)
		}
		perm = os.FileMode(p)
	}
	if err := os.MkdirAll(filepath.Dir(entry.Path), 0o755); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("failed to create parent directory for path %#q: %w", entry.Path, err)
	}
	if err := os.WriteFile(entry.Path, []byte(entry.Content), perm); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("failed to write file for path %#q: %w", entry.Path, err)
	}
	if entry.Owner != "" {
		cmd := exec.CommandContext(ctx, "chown", entry.Owner, entry.Path)
		logrus.Infof("Executing command: %v", cmd.Args)
		if output, err := cmd.CombinedOutput(); err != nil {
			return fmt.Errorf("failed to execute command %v: %w (output=%#q)", cmd.Args, err, output)
		}
	}
	return nil
}

func setResolvConf(ctx context.Context, resolvConf *cloudinittypes.ResolvConf) error {
	// FIXME: avoid hardcoding the primary network name
	const primaryNetwork = "Ethernet"
	cmd := exec.CommandContext(ctx, "networksetup", append([]string{"-setdnsservers", primaryNetwork}, resolvConf.Nameservers...)...)

View on GitHub (pinned to dd909d0973)

Solutions

Verify the `path` in the write_files entry and correct any typo that points at a file used as a directory.
Ensure the parent path exists as a directory, or that no component of it is a regular file.
Run the guestagent with sufficient privileges, or write to a user-writable location.
Check the wrapped os.MkdirAll error text for the exact failing component (e.g. 'not a directory', 'permission denied').

Example fix

// before
path: /etc/hosts/custom.conf  # /etc/hosts is a file
// after
path: /etc/hosts.d/custom.conf

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

for _, e := range userData.WriteFiles {
    dir := filepath.Dir(e.Path)
    if fi, err := os.Stat(dir); err == nil && !fi.IsDir() {
        return fmt.Errorf("path %q: parent %q is a file", e.Path, dir)
    }
}

Try / catch

if err := processUserData(ctx, data); err != nil {
    var pe *fs.PathError
    if errors.As(err, &pe) && (errors.Is(pe.Err, syscall.ENOTDIR) || errors.Is(pe.Err, syscall.EACCES)) {
        log.Printf("fix path/permissions: %v", err)
    }
}

Prevention

Verify each write_files path's parent is a directory, not an existing file.
Avoid writing into root-owned system paths unless running privileged.
Keep target paths under a dedicated provisioning directory.

When it happens

Trigger: A write_files entry whose `path` has a parent directory that cannot be created: the parent exists as a file (e.g. path /etc/foo where /etc/foo is a file), the volume is read-only, or the guestagent user lacks write permission at that location.

Common situations: User-data writes to a path that collides with an existing file; writing under read-only mounts or system dirs owned by root while running unprivileged; typo in the target path creating an unintended deep hierarchy.

Understand the failure class

Background: mkdir permission denied (EACCES): failed to create directory errors explained — this error's family across 32 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of lima-vm/lima@dd909d0973 (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/6ecbea7becf71c27. Report an issue: GitHub.