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.

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
• failed to unlock for reuse in the same instance
• cannot delete disk %#q in use by instance %#q
• cannot determine size of %#q
• disk format %#q not supported, use `qcow2` or `raw` instead

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

Appendix: 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)