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:

<code>brew cask install multipass</code>

Verify the installation:

<code>multipass --version</code>

Creating an Ubuntu VM

List available images:

<code>multipass find</code>

Launch a VM with custom resources (name, CPU, memory, disk):

<code>multipass launch -n vm01 -c 1 -m 1G -d 10G</code>

Available options:

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

Managing the VM

List VMs

<code>multipass list</code>

Execute commands inside the VM

<code># multipass exec vm01 pwd
/home/ubuntu</code>

Show VM information

<code>multipass info vm01</code>

Enter the VM shell

<code>multipass shell vm01</code>

Basic Operations Inside the VM

Set a root password and switch to the root user:

<code># sudo passwd
# su root</code>

Update packages and install Nginx:

<code># apt-get update
# apt-get install nginx</code>

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):

<code># mkdir hello
# multipass mount /Users/moxi/hello vm01:/hello</code>

Transfer a single file:

<code>multipass transfer hello.txt vm01:/home/ubuntu/</code>

Stopping, Deleting, and Purging VMs

<code># multipass start vm01
# multipass stop vm01
# multipass delete vm01   # marks for deletion
# multipass purge vm01   # permanently removes</code>

Automating Setup with Cloud‑Init

Use the

--cloud-init

option to run a configuration file when the VM first boots:

<code>multipass launch --name ubuntu --cloud-init config.yaml</code>

Example

config.yaml

to install Node.js:

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

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.