Manage local Lume VMs

Run, inspect, clone, share files with, and remove local Lume VMs.

Use this guide after you have created a VM and need the everyday lifecycle and storage commands.

Inspect VMs#

List all VMs:

lume ls

Get details for one VM:

lume get macos-tahoe

The details include the VM state, IP address, display session, resources, and SSH availability when the VM is running.

Run and stop a VM#

Run Tahoe with a display:

lume run macos-tahoe

Run it headlessly:

lume run --no-display macos-tahoe

Stop it when you are finished:

lume stop macos-tahoe

Only one lume run process can hold a VM's auxiliary storage at a time. If a second process reports that auxiliary storage is locked, stop the existing process before starting the VM again.

Share a host directory#

Pass a host directory when you run the VM:

lume run macos-tahoe --shared-dir ~/Projects

The directory appears in the guest at /Volumes/My Shared Files. Use a read-only mount when the guest only needs to read the files:

lume run macos-tahoe --shared-dir ~/Projects:ro

Store VMs on another volume#

Add a named storage location and make it the default:

lume config storage add external /Volumes/External/lume
lume config storage list
lume config storage default external

Commands also accept a storage name directly:

lume create macos-tahoe \
  --ipsw ~/Downloads/macos-tahoe.ipsw \
  --unattended tahoe \
  --storage external
lume run macos-tahoe --storage external

The default VM directory is ~/.lume. Run Lume as the same user that owns this directory; sudo lume uses a different home directory and cannot see those VMs.

Clone and remove VMs#

Clone a VM before making changes or using it as a reusable starting point:

lume clone macos-tahoe macos-tahoe-backup

Remove a VM and its disk when you no longer need it:

lume delete macos-tahoe-backup

macOS VM disks can be sparse. The configured capacity and the host space used by the disk can therefore differ.