Quickly Spin Up Ubuntu VMs on macOS with Multipass: A Step‑by‑Step Guide

Looking for a lightweight way to run Ubuntu virtual machines on a Mac for learning Kubernetes, the author tried VMware, Parallels Desktop, and VirtualBox but faced issues, then discovered Multipass, an open‑source VM manager from Canonical.

What is Multipass?

Multipass is a lightweight VM manager that runs on Linux (using KVM), Windows (using Hyper‑V), and macOS (using HyperKit). It quickly creates Ubuntu instances with a single command and supports minimal overhead, making it suitable for local cloud‑like environments.

Installing Multipass on macOS

Download the installer from multipass.run or, if Homebrew is installed, run: brew cask install multipass Verify the installation:

multipass --version

Creating an Ubuntu VM

List available images: multipass find Launch a VM with custom resources (name, CPU, memory, disk): multipass launch -n vm01 -c 1 -m 1G -d 10G Available options:

-n, --name: VM name
-c, --cpus: number of CPU cores (default 1)
-m, --mem: memory size (default 1G)
-d, --disk: disk size (default 5G)

Managing the VM

List VMs

multipass list

Execute commands inside the VM

# multipass exec vm01 pwd
/home/ubuntu

Show VM information

multipass info vm01

Enter the VM shell

multipass shell vm01

Basic Operations Inside the VM

Set a root password and switch to the root user:

# sudo passwd
# su root

Update packages and install Nginx:

# apt-get update
# apt-get install nginx

Verify Nginx is running by opening http://192.168.64.2 in a browser on the host.

Mounting and Transferring Files

Mount a host directory into the VM (similar to Docker volumes):

# mkdir hello
# multipass mount /Users/moxi/hello vm01:/hello

Transfer a single file:

multipass transfer hello.txt vm01:/home/ubuntu/

Stopping, Deleting, and Purging VMs

# multipass start vm01
# multipass stop vm01
# multipass delete vm01   # marks for deletion
# multipass purge vm01   # permanently removes

Automating Setup with Cloud‑Init

Use the --cloud-init option to run a configuration file when the VM first boots:

multipass launch --name ubuntu --cloud-init config.yaml

Example config.yaml to install Node.js:

#cloud-config
runcmd:
  - curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_12.x | sudo -E bash -
  - sudo apt-get install -y nodejs

Conclusion

Multipass offers a simple, Docker‑like experience for quickly provisioning Ubuntu VMs on macOS, making it an efficient tool for local development and testing of Linux‑based workloads.