lima-vm/lima · error

nested virtualization requires macOS 15 or newer

Error message

nested virtualization requires macOS 15 or newer

What it means

Nested virtualization under krunkit relies on a macOS feature only present on macOS 15 (Sequoia) and newer. validateConfig checks the detected macOS product version and rejects `nestedVirtualization: true` on older macOS releases.

Source

Thrown at pkg/driver/krunkit/krunkit_driver_darwin_arm64.go:244

	if _, err := exec.LookPath(vmType); err != nil {
		return errors.New("krunkit CLI not found in PATH. Install it via:\nbrew tap slp/krun\nbrew install krunkit")
	}
	// Also check if krunkit version >= 1.2.1 because of the vsock forwarder feature
	if err := checkKrunkitVersion(); err != nil {
		return err
	}

	if cfg.MountType != nil && (*cfg.MountType != limatype.VIRTIOFS && *cfg.MountType != limatype.REVSSHFS) {
		return fmt.Errorf("field `mountType` must be %#q or %#q for krunkit driver, got %#q", limatype.VIRTIOFS, limatype.REVSSHFS, *cfg.MountType)
	}

	if cfg.TPM != nil && *cfg.TPM {
		return errors.New("field `tpm` is not supported in krunkit driver")
	}

	if cfg.NestedVirtualization != nil && *cfg.NestedVirtualization {
		if macOSProductVersion.LessThan(*semver.New("15.0.0")) {
			return errors.New("nested virtualization requires macOS 15 or newer")
		}
	}

	if cfg.OS != nil && *cfg.OS == limatype.WINDOWS {
		return errors.New("currently Windows guest OS is only supported on QEMU")
	}

	return nil
}

func isFedoraConfigured(cfg *limatype.LimaYAML) bool {
	for _, b := range cfg.Base {
		if strings.Contains(strings.ToLower(b.URL), "fedora") {
			return true
		}
	}
	for _, img := range cfg.Images {
		if strings.Contains(strings.ToLower(img.Location), "fedora") {

View on GitHub (pinned to dd909d0973)

Solutions

1. Upgrade the host to macOS 15 or newer
2. Set `nestedVirtualization: false` or remove the field if nested virt is not required

Example fix

// before (lima.yaml on macOS 14)
nestedVirtualization: true
// after
nestedVirtualization: false

if cfg["nestedVirtualization"] == true {
    ver, _ := macosProductVersion()
    if ver.LessThan(semver.MustParse("15.0.0")) {
        return errors.New("nested virtualization needs macOS 15+")
    }
}

When it happens

Trigger: Setting `nestedVirtualization: true` with vmType krunkit on macOS 13 or 14, then running limactl validate or limactl start.

Common situations: Running nested VMs (e.g. VM-in-VM with VZ/krun) requested on an older macOS host; configs authored on a macOS 15 machine deployed to older hosts.

Related errors

• unimplemented by the krunkit driver
• failed to load disk %#q: %w
• failed to run attach disk %#q, in use by instance %#q
• failed to lock disk %#q: %w
• failed to convert extra disk %#q to raw: %w

AI-assisted analysis of lima-vm/lima@dd909d0973 (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/06db6049c41739f9. Report an issue: GitHub.