lima-vm/lima · error

failed to enable LaunchDaemon

Error message

failed to enable LaunchDaemon: %w

What it means

daemonInstall runs `sudo launchctl enable system/<service>` after installing the plist; this error wraps that command's nonzero exit. launchctl enable failing usually means the service target is malformed, the plist is invalid, or launchd rejected the operation.

Solutions

1. Rerun the command and complete the sudo prompt
2. Validate the installed plist: `sudo plutil -lint /Library/LaunchDaemons/io.lima-vm.daemon.<instance>.plist`
3. Check the service state: `sudo launchctl print system/io.lima-vm.daemon.<instance>`
4. Try manual bootout then re-run limactl to get a clean state

Example fix

// before: limactl autostart myinstance --condition=boot  (fails after stale state)
// after:  sudo launchctl bootout system/io.lima-vm.daemon.myinstance; limactl autostart myinstance --condition=boot

sudo plutil -lint /Library/LaunchDaemons/io.lima-vm.daemon.<instance>.plist || echo "plist invalid"
sudo launchctl print system/io.lima-vm.daemon.<instance> >/dev/null 2>&1 && echo "service already loaded"

if err := daemonInstall(ctx, inst.Name, inst.Dir, userName, keepAlive); err != nil {
	if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "failed to enable LaunchDaemon") {
		// recover: bootout stale state and retry once
		_ = runSudo(ctx, "launchctl", "bootout", "system/io.lima-vm.daemon."+inst.Name)
		return daemonInstall(ctx, inst.Name, inst.Dir, userName, keepAlive)
	}
	return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: `limactl autostart <instance> --condition=boot` on macOS when `sudo launchctl enable system/io.lima-vm.daemon.<instance>` fails: canceled sudo prompt, malformed plist at the destination, or launchctl unavailable in the current context (e.g. SSH session without proper domain access).

Common situations: Installing over SSH where the system domain is not accessible in older macOS versions; corrupted plist from a previous failed install; sudo session expired mid-sequence.

Related errors

• failed to bootstrap LaunchDaemon
• failed to install plist to
• failed to remove
• failed to create temp file
• failed to write temp plist

AI-assisted analysis of lima-vm/lima@dd909d0973 (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f60332f37b52aa91. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at cmd/limactl/autostart_darwin.go:136

	tmp, err := os.CreateTemp("", "io.lima-vm.daemon.*.plist")
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("failed to create temp file: %w", err)
	}
	defer os.Remove(tmp.Name())
	if _, err := tmp.Write(content); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("failed to write temp plist: %w", err)
	}
	tmp.Close()

	destPath := launchd.GetDaemonPlistPath(instName)
	svcTarget := "system/" + launchd.DaemonServiceNameFrom(instName)

	_ = runSudo(ctx, "launchctl", "bootout", svcTarget)
	if err := runSudo(ctx, "install", "-m", "644", tmp.Name(), destPath); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("failed to install plist to %s: %w", destPath, err)
	}
	if err := runSudo(ctx, "launchctl", "enable", svcTarget); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("failed to enable LaunchDaemon: %w", err)
	}
	if err := runSudo(ctx, "launchctl", "bootstrap", "system", destPath); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("failed to bootstrap LaunchDaemon: %w", err)
	}

	logrus.Infof("LaunchDaemon installed for instance %q (runs as %q at boot)", instName, userName)
	logrus.Infof("Plist: %s", destPath)
	return nil
}

func daemonUninstall(ctx context.Context, instName string) error {
	svcTarget := "system/" + launchd.DaemonServiceNameFrom(instName)
	destPath := launchd.GetDaemonPlistPath(instName)

	_ = runSudo(ctx, "launchctl", "bootout", svcTarget)
	_ = runSudo(ctx, "launchctl", "disable", svcTarget)
	if err := runSudo(ctx, "rm", "-f", destPath); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("failed to remove %s: %w", destPath, err)

View on GitHub (pinned to dd909d0973)