lima-vm/lima · error

unexpected architecture: %#q

Error message

unexpected architecture: %#q

What it means

getFirmware() selects an EDK2/BIOS firmware file for the QEMU VM based on the instance architecture. It only knows how to find firmware for x86_64, aarch64, armv7l, and riscv64. Any other arch value reaching it (e.g. s390x, ppc64le, or an unset/garbage value) causes this error.

Source

Thrown at pkg/driver/qemu/qemu.go:1267

	var (
		stdout bytes.Buffer
		stderr bytes.Buffer
	)
	cmd := exec.CommandContext(ctx, qemuExe, "--version")
	cmd.Stdout = &stdout
	cmd.Stderr = &stderr
	if err := cmd.Run(); err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to run %v: stdout=%#q, stderr=%#q", cmd.Args, stdout.String(), stderr.String())
	}

	return parseQemuVersion(stdout.String())
}

func getFirmware(qemuExe string, arch limatype.Arch) (string, error) {
	switch arch {
	case limatype.X8664, limatype.AARCH64, limatype.ARMV7L, limatype.RISCV64:
	default:
		return "", fmt.Errorf("unexpected architecture: %#q", arch)
	}

	homeDir, err := os.UserHomeDir()
	if err != nil {
		return "", err
	}

	binDir := filepath.Dir(qemuExe)                  // "/usr/local/bin"
	localDir := filepath.Dir(binDir)                 // "/usr/local"
	userLocalDir := filepath.Join(homeDir, ".local") // "$HOME/.local"

	relativePath := fmt.Sprintf("share/qemu/edk2-%s-code.fd", qemuEdk2Arch(arch))
	relativePathWin := fmt.Sprintf("share/edk2-%s-code.fd", qemuEdk2Arch(arch))
	candidates := []string{
		filepath.Join(userLocalDir, relativePath), // XDG-like
		filepath.Join(localDir, relativePath),     // macOS (homebrew)
		filepath.Join(binDir, relativePathWin),    // Windows installer
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to dd909d0973)

Solutions

1. Set `arch` in the instance config to one of: x86_64, aarch64, armv7l, riscv64 (or remove the field to use the host default).
2. Check for typos: use exactly `x86_64` / `aarch64`, not `x86`, `arm64`, etc.
3. If you truly need another architecture, use a different driver/virtualization backend; the QEMU driver firmware lookup does not support it.

Example fix

// before (lima.yaml)
arch: arm64
// after
arch: aarch64

const supported = ["x86_64", "aarch64", "armv7l", "riscv64"]
if !supported.Contains(cfg.Arch) {
    return fmt.Errorf("arch %q unsupported by QEMU driver; must be one of %v", cfg.Arch, supported)
}

func isSupportedArch(a limatype.Arch) bool {
    switch a {
    case limatype.X8664, limatype.AARCH64, limatype.ARMV7L, limatype.RISCV64:
        return true
    }
    return false
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling Cmdline (or anything that resolves firmware) with a limatype.Arch that is not one of X8664, AARCH64, ARMV7L, RISCV64 — typically from a lima.yaml `arch:` field set to an unsupported value, or a corrupted/invalid arch string that survived validation.

Common situations: Typo in `arch:` in the YAML (e.g. `arch: x86`, `arch: aarch`); running on/for an architecture Lima's QEMU driver has no firmware mapping for; programmatically constructing an Instance with an unset arch.

Related errors

• could not find firmware for %#q (hint: try copying the `edk-
• field `vmOpts.qemu.minimumVersion` must be a semvar value, g
• the YAML is invalid, saved the buffer as %#q: %w
• limactl is running under rosetta, please reinstall lima with
• network %#q already exists

AI-assisted analysis of lima-vm/lima@dd909d0973 (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/c2688b4c39d36c2f. Report an issue: GitHub.