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mvm

Install

Install mvm on Windows

Neither native Windows nor WSL2 is a supported local microVM host. Use native Linux with /dev/kvm or an Apple Silicon Mac.

mvm does not currently support native Windows as a local microVM host, and WSL2 is not a supported workload path either. The supported local hosts are:

  • macOS Apple Silicon.
  • Native Linux with /dev/kvm.

mvm detects WSL2 as its own platform and refuses the libkrun workload backend there unconditionally — Platform::Wsl2 never resolves to libkrun regardless of whether the distro exposes nested /dev/kvm. mvmctl doctor reports it plainly: “WSL2 — a workload runtime needs nested /dev/kvm; without it only qemu (dev/test only, no claim-10) runs.” The qemu backend is dev/test only and does not enforce claim-10 egress, so it is not a workload runtime. Native Windows support remains future work, tracked in mvm#428.

For the full host/backend matrix, see Platform support.

Current Windows Guidance

Section titled “Current Windows Guidance”

Use one of these paths today:

  • Run mvm on a Linux host with /dev/kvm.
  • Run mvm on an Apple Silicon Mac.

What about WSL2?

Section titled “What about WSL2?”

WSL2 is not a supported workload path, even with nested KVM exposed. You can install mvmctl inside a WSL2 distro and run non-workload commands, but the platform probe refuses libkrun there and auto-select never reaches a workload backend, so a machine run has nothing to boot on. mvmctl doctor will tell you so:

Terminal window
mvmctl doctor

See the WSL2 notes for details and caveats.

What about native Windows microVMs?

Section titled “What about native Windows microVMs?”

There isn’t a maintained native-Windows microVM stack we support today. Hyper-V is the likely future Windows direction, but as a managed Linux builder/backend VM, not as part of the libkrun path.

That future backend needs its own lifecycle, filesystem, networking, and trust model. Until it lands, native Windows remains unsupported.

Tracking issue: Future work: Windows host support via Windows Hypervisor Platform.

Troubleshooting

Section titled “Troubleshooting”
  • /dev/kvm missing inside WSL2 — expected; WSL2 is unsupported for workloads either way.
  • mvmctl doctor reports “no KVM available” — use a supported Linux KVM host or Apple Silicon Mac.

See Windows troubleshooting for the full Windows-specific FAQ.