lima-vm/lima · error

in use by instance %#q

Error message

in use by instance %#q

What it means

Disk.LockForInstance enforces that a disk is attached to at most one instance at a time, tracked via the 'in-use-by' lock metadata. If the disk's recorded instance differs from the requested instanceDir, the attach is rejected naming the owning instance.

Source

Thrown at pkg/store/disk.go:104

	}

	return sz, string(img.Type()), nil
}

func (d *Disk) Lock(instanceDir string) error {
	inUseBy := filepath.Join(d.Dir, filenames.InUseBy)
	return os.Symlink(instanceDir, inUseBy)
}

func (d *Disk) Unlock() error {
	inUseBy := filepath.Join(d.Dir, filenames.InUseBy)
	return os.Remove(inUseBy)
}

func (d *Disk) LockForInstance(instanceDir string) error {
	if d.Instance != "" {
		if d.InstanceDir != instanceDir {
			return fmt.Errorf("in use by instance %#q", d.Instance)
		}
		if err := d.Unlock(); err != nil {
			return fmt.Errorf("failed to unlock for reuse in the same instance: %w", err)
		}
	}
	return d.Lock(instanceDir)
}

View on GitHub (pinned to dd909d0973)

Solutions

1. Stop the instance currently using the disk (limactl stop <instance>) so it releases the lock.
2. If the owning instance is gone/crashed and the lock is stale, delete the in-use-by marker file in the disk directory (limactl disk unlock if available, or remove ~/.lima/disks/<disk>/in-use-by).
3. Change your instance config to reference a different disk not already in use.

Example fix

// before
limactl start inst-b   # disk 'data' in use by inst-a
// after
limactl stop inst-a
limactl start inst-b

d, err := store.InspectDisk(diskDir)
if err == nil && d.Instance != "" && d.InstanceDir != myInstDir {
    return fmt.Errorf("disk busy with %s; stop it first", d.Instance)
}

err := disk.LockForInstance(instanceDir)
if err != nil {
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "in use by instance") {
        // limactl stop <owner> or clear stale in-use-by, then retry
    }
    return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: Starting or attaching instance B to a disk whose metadata says it is in use by instance A (d.Instance set and d.InstanceDir != instanceDir).

Common situations: Two lima.yaml files referencing the same limactl disk; a crashed instance left the lock metadata stale (disk still marked in-use); running the same instance from two different directories or copies of the instance dir.

Related errors

• failed to attach disk %#q: %w
• failed to unlock for reuse in the same instance: %w
• disk format %#q not supported, use `qcow2` or `raw` instead
• disk %#q already exists (%#q)
• failed to remove a directory %#q: %w

AI-assisted analysis of lima-vm/lima@dd909d0973 (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/11ba7fad9a4caaeb. Report an issue: GitHub.