lima-vm/lima · error

failed to create %s disk %#q: %w

Error message

failed to create %s disk %#q: %w

What it means

For macOS guests with the 'raw' disk image format, the VZ driver creates the disk image via `nativeimgutil.NativeImageUtil.CreateDisk`. Any failure (I/O error, insufficient disk space, path issues) is wrapped as `failed to create <format> disk <path>`, preserving the underlying cause with `%w`.

Source

Thrown at pkg/driver/vz/vz_driver_darwin.go:419

// After successful installation, `image.ipsw` and `image` are removed.
func (l *LimaVzDriver) createDiskMacOSGuest(ctx context.Context) error {
	disk := filepath.Join(l.Instance.Dir, filenames.Disk)

	diskSize, err := units.RAMInBytes(*l.Instance.Config.Disk)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("invalid disk size %#q: %w", *l.Instance.Config.Disk, err)
	}

	switch l.diskImageFormat {
	case asif.Type:
		if err := asifutil.NewASIF(disk, diskSize); err != nil {
			return err
		}
	case raw.Type:
		logrus.Debugf("Using %s disk image for macOS guest", l.diskImageFormat)
		diskUtil := &nativeimgutil.NativeImageUtil{}
		if err := diskUtil.CreateDisk(ctx, disk, diskSize); err != nil {
			return fmt.Errorf("failed to create %s disk %#q: %w", l.diskImageFormat, disk, err)
		}
	default:
		return fmt.Errorf("unsupported disk format for macOS guest: %s", l.diskImageFormat)
	}

	if err = ensureIPSW(l.Instance.Dir); err != nil {
		return err
	}
	ipsw := filepath.Join(l.Instance.Dir, filenames.ImageIPSW)

	vm, err := createVMForMacInstaller(ctx, l.Instance)
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}

	logrus.Info("Running macOS installer (takes a few minutes)")
	// FIXME: do we need to run the installer for every new instance,
	// or can we safely reuse the installed disk image?

View on GitHub (pinned to dd909d0973)

Solutions

1. Free up disk space on the volume hosting ~/.lima
2. Check permissions on the instance directory and re-run `limactl create`
3. Read the wrapped `%w` cause in the message for the actual failure and address it
4. Delete the partially created disk file and retry

disk := filepath.Join(instanceDir, "basedisk")
if fi, err := os.Stat(filepath.VolumePath(disk)); err == nil {
    // check free space >= requested disk size before creating
    _ = fi
}

err := driver.CreateDisk(ctx)
var wrapped interface{ Unwrap() error }
if errors.As(err, &wrapped) {
    log.Printf("disk creation failed: %v", wrapped) // inspect root cause
}

When it happens

Trigger: `CreateDisk` -> `createDiskMacOSGuest` on a macOS guest where `diskUtil.CreateDisk(ctx, disk, diskSize)` returns an error while creating the raw disk at <instance-dir>/basedisk.

Common situations: Host volume out of free space; permission problems in the Lima instance directory; the target file being locked or on a filesystem that cannot host the image (e.g. network mounts).

Related errors

• failed to create virtio sound device configuration: %w
• VZ driver requires macOS 13 or higher to run
• `firmware.images` configuration is not supported for VZ driv
• unsupported arch: %#q
• vmOpts.vz.diskImageFormat=%#q requires macOS 26 or higher to

AI-assisted analysis of lima-vm/lima@dd909d0973 (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/b55b559a01bbfcc1. Report an issue: GitHub.