Easy way to try Incus on macOS with Colima

Incus
41

Thanks for the reply, here it is.

→ colima status
INFO[0000] colima is running using macOS Virtualization.Framework
INFO[0000] arch: aarch64
INFO[0000] runtime: incus
INFO[0000] mountType: sshfs

I suppose the command format should be like this.

colima start --nested-virtualization --runtime incus

I have checked the log messages, it is strange.
{“level”:“fatal”,“msg”:“nested virtualization is not supported on this device”,“time”:“2025-05-07T13:35:17+03:00”}
Any idea?

42

How did you start Colima initially?

43

Actually I setup a new machine from TimeMachine backup, so I did not remember. But I have executed colima delete then initialize again like this, colima start --nested-virtualization --runtime incus. Unfortunately, the previous statement appeared in the log again.
Regards.

44

The case has resolved, the actual command line like this.

colima start --nested-virtualization --runtime incus --vm-type vz

Thanks for bear with me.
Regards.

1 Like
45

Hi,
Doing some vm tests in M3, and get those errors most of the time, can you guide me how to debug / analyze the problem in here?

 2025-05-08 09:16:02 ⌚  D0928 in ~
○ → incus shell testubuntu
Error while executing alias expansion: incus exec testubuntu -- su -l
Error: Only running operations can be connected

 2025-05-08 09:16:32 ⌚  D0928 in ~
○ → incus stop testubuntu
Error: Failed shutting down instance, status is "Running": context deadline exceeded
Try `incus info --show-log testubuntu` for more info

P.S.
There is something wrong with the Virtualization.framework, cpu load is over 100 and vm Ubuntu GUI takes too much time to open, very slow.
Regards.

46

What’s your macOS version? Nested virtualization was only introduced in macOS 15.

47

My mac version is 15.4.1, Nowadays I have no problem opening a vm but GUI problem. I have installed a gui environment on Ubuntu 24.04 vm but it stucks and consume too much CPU (over %100). I suppose (but not sure) the problem related with /opt/homebrew/bin/remote-viewer spice+unix:/// (remote-viewer)
Regards.

48

Does Colima support gpu passthrough already?

I would love to host Linux distros, so macOS users can take a quick look at fancy desktop distros that I would prepare.

I figure that I need GPU acceleration for it, since that is needed today for Plasma. Also for Cosmic and Gnome, while I don’t plan on delivering them.

Can GPU support be confirmed, or denied, please?

49

GPU passthrough isn’t very likely as you’d need to have an extra GPU on the host to begin with, then somehow manage to pass that GPU through two level of VMs.

50

Doesn’t Incus somehow support single GPU passthrough, that detaches it from the host, and attaches it to the guest?

51

It does, but Colima runs a VM already which then runs Incus, so for GPU passthrough to work on a Mac, you’d need:

  • MacOS to allow detaching the GPU and attaching it to a VM
  • Colima to support adding such a GPU to its VM
  • Incus in the Colima VM to be able to pass it through to a nested VM

That’s a lot of fun with PCI hotplug, IOMMU and the like, which would be very very surprising if that was at all supported by MacOS.

2 Likes
52

In the latest Colima release v0.10.0, Incus instances are now reachable directly from the macOS host (for the default incusbr0 network).

It is no longer needed to create a proxy device or configure network forwards.

3 Likes
53

That’s a great quality of life improvement!

54

If you’re willing to pay for it, the Pro version of Parallels supports nested virtualization (on M3), can share the Mac host network adapter, and also pass thru a raw disk (e.g. an external Thunderbolt disk) to a VM running Incus.

1 Like
55

For those trying it out: you need colima start --network-address to make this work. It prompts you for your sudo password to add the required route. FAQ ref

1 Like
56

The prompt for sudo password is only once, subsequent starts do not prompt.

If not for the prompt, it would’ve been made the default experience. There is a long term plan to have a pkg installer on macOS which should address this.

57

Hi,

Sorry to reopen this post again, but I just want to know how to upgrade incus version in colima.
○ → colima version
colima version 0.10.1
git commit: ed905203afdbc6fd4eae6cc301918099ff31e86e

runtime: incus
arch: aarch64
Client version: 6.21
Server version: 6.14

Regards.

58

Have you tried “colima update”?

Here I have:

% colima version
colima version 0.10.0
git commit: 7f5f27de13d921e66e3a78de0a838ddec581871a

runtime: incus
arch: aarch64
Client version: 6.17
Server version: 6.21

% colima --help
Colima provides container runtimes on macOS with minimal setup.

Usage:
  colima [command]

Available Commands:
  completion  Generate completion script
  delete      delete and teardown Colima
  help        Help about any command
  kubernetes  manage Kubernetes cluster
  list        list instances
  model       manage AI models (requires docker runtime and krunkit VM type)
  nerdctl     run nerdctl (requires containerd runtime)
  prune       prune cached downloaded assets
  restart     restart Colima
  ssh         SSH into the VM
  ssh-config  show SSH connection config
  start       start Colima
  status      show the status of Colima
  stop        stop Colima
  template    edit the template for default configurations
  update      update the container runtime    <<<<<
  version     print the version of Colima
59

Running colima update should fix that.

60

There is something wrong with it. I have tried colima update but, did not fix it.

○ → colima update
INFO[0000] refreshing package manager …                context=incus
INFO[0010] checking for updates …                      context=incus
WARN[0010] no updates available                          context=incus

○ → colima version
colima version 0.10.1
git commit: ed905203afdbc6fd4eae6cc301918099ff31e86e

runtime: incus
arch: aarch64
Client version: 6.21
Server version: 6.14