lima-vm/lima · error

failed to enable LaunchDaemon: %w

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.

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)

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: %w
• failed to install plist to %s: %w
• failed to remove %s: %w
• failed to create temp file: %w
• failed to write temp plist: %w

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