lima-vm/lima · error

failed to unregister instance %#q from start at login: %w

Error message

failed to unregister instance %#q from start at login: %w

What it means

limactl unregister (autostart disable) failed to remove the instance's entry from the login-time autostart mechanism. The instance was previously registered with `limactl start --autostart`, and the platform-specific autostart helper (launchd/systemd/Task Scheduler wrapper) returned an error while removing its entry. The original error is wrapped so the root cause (permissions, missing service file) is preserved.

Source

Thrown at cmd/limactl/autostart_others.go:68

func autostartDisableAction(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
	ctx := cmd.Context()
	inst, err := store.Inspect(ctx, args[0])
	if err != nil {
		if errors.Is(err, os.ErrNotExist) {
			return fmt.Errorf("instance %q not found", args[0])
		}
		return err
	}

	if registered, err := autostart.IsRegistered(ctx, inst); err != nil {
		return err
	} else if !registered {
		logrus.Infof("Instance %#q is not registered for automatic startup", inst.Name)
		return nil
	}

	if err := autostart.UnregisterFromStartAtLogin(ctx, inst); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("failed to unregister instance %#q from start at login: %w", inst.Name, err)
	}
	logrus.Infof("Instance %#q unregistered from start at login", inst.Name)
	return nil
}

View on GitHub (pinned to dd909d0973)

Solutions

1. Fix the underlying wrapped error (usually a filesystem permission or missing file issue in the autostart config dir)
2. Check permissions on ~/.config/systemd/user (Linux), ~/Library/LaunchAgents (macOS), or the Windows Startup folder and re-run as the same user that registered the entry
3. If the entry is already gone, verify with `limactl list` / inspect the autostart dir; re-register then unregister again to reset state
4. As a last resort, manually delete the instance's autostart file and re-run the command

Example fix

// before
$ limactl unregister myvm
// failed to unregister instance "myvm" from start at login: ...
// after
$ ls ~/Library/LaunchAgents   # or ~/.config/systemd/user
$ chmod u+w <autostart-dir>   # fix permissions
$ limactl unregister myvm

const registered = await isAutostartRegistered(inst)
if (!registered) return null // nothing to unregister

function isPermissionErr(err: unknown): boolean {
  return err instanceof Error && /permission denied|EACCES|ENOENT/.test(err.message)
}

try {
  await unregisterFromStartAtLogin(inst)
} catch (err) {
  if (isPermissionErr(err)) {
    console.error('Check perms on the autostart dir; fix and retry:', err)
  } else {
    throw err
  }
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running `limactl unregister <instance>` (or equivalent autostartDisableAction) when the instance has an autostart entry (registered=true) and autostart.UnregisterFromStartAtLogin fails, e.g. the platform autostart file/directory is unwritable or was deleted externally.

Common situations: Removing a launchd/systemd user file manually then trying to unregister; running limactl under a user without permission to the autostart directory; partially deleted ${LIMA_HOME}/_config/autostart entries.

Related errors

• failed to register instance %#q to start at login: %w
• failed to determine the host directory to sync: %w
• failed to unprotect instance %#q: %w
• failed to remove the autostart entry for instance %#q: %w
• failed to create temp file: %w

AI-assisted analysis of lima-vm/lima@dd909d0973 (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/25c234cae8340205. Report an issue: GitHub.