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Multipass is Canonical’s command-line tool for quickly creating cloud-style Ubuntu virtual machines on Linux, macOS, and Windows. Its basic workflow is to choose an image, launch an instance, inspect and access it, customize it for your work, then stop or snapshot it—or delete it when you are finished.
What Multipass does
Multipass provides local virtual machines for development, testing, fresh Linux environments, cloud-init provisioning, and small-scale cloud-like workflows. Its CLI is the control surface for creating instances, running commands, sharing host files, managing lifecycle, and configuring supported networking and virtualization options. See Canonical’s Multipass documentation for the product overview.
How to create and access a VM
Start by checking which images are available, then launch an Ubuntu LTS instance. The following commands use the instance name dev-vm; use the name shown by your own commands in later steps.
multipass find— list available images and releases.multipass launch lts --name dev-vm— create an instance from the LTS image. Add resource or provisioning options as needed; available options can depend on the Multipass version and host.multipass list— see instance names and states.multipass info dev-vm— inspect details such as the instance’s address and allocated resources.multipass shell dev-vm— open an interactive shell inside the VM. Exit the shell when finished to return to the host.
To run a single command without opening an interactive shell, use multipass exec dev-vm -- <command>, for example multipass exec dev-vm -- uname -a. The -- separates Multipass options from the command being run inside the instance.
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Canonical’s getting-started tutorial also demonstrates a convenient primary-instance flow that creates a VM from the current Ubuntu LTS image, mounts the host home directory, and opens a shell. That is a workflow choice, not a requirement: create a named instance and mount only the host directory you intend to share when isolation or a different path matters. See the Multipass getting-started tutorial.
Customize an instance for your workload
Choose the image and instance settings to fit the task rather than treating every VM as identical. Multipass’s how-to documentation covers instance creation and modification, cloud-init, mounts, networking, drivers, storage, authentication, and logging.
- Image and release: use
multipass findto see available images, then select the release or image appropriate to the software you need to test. - CPU, memory, and disk: set resource allocations at launch or modify supported settings using the options documented for your installed version. Use
multipass info dev-vmto inspect instance details; actual resource use depends on the workload and host. - Cloud-init: provide initialization configuration when launching to automate first-boot setup, such as creating users or installing packages. This is useful when you want repeatable environments rather than manually configuring each VM.
- Host-directory mounts: use
multipass mount <host-path> dev-vm:<instance-path>to share a specific directory. For example,multipass mount ./project dev-vm:/workspaceshares the host’s./projectdirectory at/workspacein the VM. Mount paths and behavior can vary by host platform; consult the Multipass how-to guides. - Networking: ordinary instance networking is managed by Multipass; custom networking and static IP configuration are available topics in its platform-specific guides. Check the guide for your host and driver before relying on an address or network layout.
- Virtualization driver: driver availability and setup differ across Linux, macOS, and Windows. Driver selection or migration can affect how instances run, so follow the instructions for your host rather than assuming a single setting works everywhere.
Manage, stop, and preserve instances
Use multipass start dev-vm and multipass stop dev-vm to resume or stop an instance. The CLI also provides multipass suspend and multipass restart for other lifecycle needs. Before a risky change, create a snapshot with multipass snapshot dev-vm; consult the command reference for snapshot naming and restore operations.
The official command list and examples are in Canonical’s Multipass repository and command-line reference.
Delete versus purge: know what happens to your VM
| Command | Effect | Can you recover it? |
|---|---|---|
multipass delete dev-vm |
Marks the instance deleted and removes it from use, but does not immediately destroy it. | Yes. Use multipass recover dev-vm unless it was purged. |
multipass purge |
Permanently removes deleted instances and releases their disk space. | No. Purged instances cannot be recovered. Deleted snapshots also cannot be recovered. |
multipass delete --purge dev-vm |
Deletes the instance permanently in one operation. | No. |
Canonical’s delete command reference explains that deleted instances remain recoverable until purge. If you may need an instance again, delete without --purge; run multipass purge only when you intend to permanently remove deleted instances and free their disk space.
Troubleshoot common launch and startup problems
When launch or start fails, diagnose the host and the specific failure before deleting an instance or changing drivers. Canonical’s launch and start troubleshooting guide documents paths for several common issues:
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- SSH or connection failures: follow the guide’s checks for SSH access and instance readiness; a VM that exists may still be unavailable to the client.
- Stale image or network cache: check the documented cache-related remedies if image retrieval or networking appears stuck.
- Driver-specific faults: consult the macOS or Windows instructions when the issue involves that platform’s virtualization driver.
- Service issues: the guide includes service restart diagnostics for cases where the Multipass service is not responding as expected.
- Data recovery from a QEMU disk: for advanced recovery, the guide discusses using the external
qemu-nbdtool to read QCOW2 images. This is a recovery path, not a routine instance-management command.
These are documented diagnostic routes, not a guarantee that one remedy applies to every host. Check the troubleshooting instructions for your operating system and installed Multipass version before taking recovery actions.
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