lima-vm/lima · critical

HcsCreateOperation: %w

Error message

HcsCreateOperation: %w

What it means

hcsCreateOperation calls the Win32 HcsCreateOperation API via syscall; if it returns a NULL operation handle, lima wraps the syscall's error value (e1) as 'HcsCreateOperation: <err>'. This is the first step of every async HCS call, so any compute-system create/start/terminate/state query can surface it. It almost always means the Host Compute Service is unavailable or broken on the host.

Source

Thrown at pkg/driver/hcs/hcs_api_windows.go:75

		r0 &= 0xffff
	}
	return syscall.Errno(r0)
}

// coString copies a CoTaskMem-allocated PWSTR into a Go string and frees it.
func coString(p *uint16) string {
	if p == nil {
		return ""
	}
	s := windows.UTF16PtrToString(p)
	windows.CoTaskMemFree(unsafe.Pointer(p))
	return s
}

func hcsCreateOperation() (hcsOperation, error) {
	r0, _, e1 := syscall.SyscallN(procHcsCreateOperation.Addr(), 0, 0)
	if r0 == 0 {
		return 0, fmt.Errorf("HcsCreateOperation: %w", e1)
	}
	return hcsOperation(r0), nil
}

func hcsCloseOperation(op hcsOperation) {
	_, _, _ = syscall.SyscallN(procHcsCloseOperation.Addr(), uintptr(op))
}

// hcsWait drives one async HCS call to completion and returns the result
// document (which carries structured error info on failure).
func hcsWait(op hcsOperation, what string, callErr error) (string, error) {
	if callErr != nil {
		return "", fmt.Errorf("%s: %w", what, callErr)
	}
	var result *uint16
	r0, _, _ := syscall.SyscallN(procHcsWaitForOperationResult.Addr(),
		uintptr(op), uintptr(infiniteTimeout), uintptr(unsafe.Pointer(&result)))
	doc := coString(result)

View on GitHub (pinned to dd909d0973)

Solutions

1. Verify the vmcompute (Host Compute Service) Windows service exists and is running: sc query vmcompute
2. Enable required Windows features: Virtual Machine Platform / Hyper-V (dism /online /enable-feature ...)
3. Repair system files (sfc /scannow, DISM /RestoreHealth) if vmcompute.dll is damaged
4. Ensure the Windows build supports HCS, or switch to a non-HCS lima driver

Example fix

// before (admin PowerShell)
PS> sc query vmcompute   # service not found -> HcsCreateOperation fails
// after: enable the feature and reboot
PS> dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:VirtualMachinePlatform /all /norestart
PS> Restart-Computer

func hcsAvailable() error {
	if runtime.GOOS != "windows" {
		return errors.New("hcs requires Windows")
	}
	// Host Compute Service must be present
	if _, err := os.Stat(`C:\Windows\System32\vmcompute.dll`); err != nil {
		return errors.New("Host Compute Service (vmcompute.dll) missing; enable Virtual Machine Platform")
	}
	return nil
}

if err := limactl.Start(inst); err != nil {
	if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "HcsCreateOperation") {
		// HCS unavailable: check 'sc query vmcompute', enable features, reboot, retry once
	}
	return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: Any hcsCreateComputeSystem / hcsStartComputeSystem / hcsTerminateComputeSystem / getComputeSystemState call when HcsCreateOperation fails — HCS service not running or corrupted, missing Windows feature (Virtual Machine Platform / Host Compute Service), or an OS build without the API export.

Common situations: Windows Home or stripped-down SKUs lacking HCS; 'Host Compute Service'/'Hyper-V' features disabled; vmcompute.dll missing or wrong version after a broken Windows update; running in a container or VM without nested virtualization.

Related errors

• %s: %w
• unimplemented
• %s: %w (result: %s)
• configuration is nil
• --condition=boot is only supported on macOS

AI-assisted analysis of lima-vm/lima@dd909d0973 (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e939a1a7af2c70c8. Report an issue: GitHub.