Multipass conflicts with Mullvad VPN: fails to start a VM on mac m1

[stone-w4tch3r]

Describe the bug
When I try to launch a VM, multipass freezes for some time and than fails with timeout error. If I disable/disconnect mullvad VPN, issue resolves

To Reproduce

1. Buy Mullvad VPN subscription for a month (5$)
2. Install macos app and login
3. Connect
4. multipass launch --name test

Expected behavior
Multipass does not interferes with VPN and both do their job fine

Logs

logs

Trying to launch with mullvad:

multipass launch --name test -vvvvv

[2025-01-23T16:57:03.678] [trace] [url downloader] Found https://codeload.github.com/canonical/multipass-blueprints/zip/refs/heads/main in cache: true
[2025-01-23T16:57:03.699] [debug] [blueprint provider] Loading "anbox-cloud-appliance" v1
[2025-01-23T16:57:03.706] [debug] [blueprint provider] Loading "charm-dev" v1
[2025-01-23T16:57:03.707] [debug] [blueprint provider] Loading "docker" v1
[2025-01-23T16:57:03.708] [debug] [blueprint provider] Loading "jellyfin" v1
[2025-01-23T16:57:03.708] [debug] [blueprint provider] Loading "minikube" v1
[2025-01-23T16:57:03.709] [debug] [blueprint provider] Loading "ros2-humble" v1
[2025-01-23T16:57:03.710] [debug] [blueprint provider] Loading "ros2-jazzy" v1
[2025-01-23T16:57:03.717] [debug] [qemu-system-aarch64] [53218] started: qemu-system-aarch64 --version
[2025-01-23T16:57:03.753] [debug] [qemu-img] [53219] started: qemu-img info /var/root/Library/Caches/multipassd/qemu/vault/images/noble-20250115/ubuntu-24.04-server-cloudimg-arm64.img
[2025-01-23T16:57:03.772] [debug] [qemu-img] [53220] started: qemu-img resize /var/root/Library/Application Support/multipassd/qemu/vault/instances/test/ubuntu-24.04-server-cloudimg-arm64.img 5368709120
[2025-01-23T16:57:03.784] [debug] [qemu-img] [53221] started: qemu-img snapshot -l /var/root/Library/Application Support/multipassd/qemu/vault/instances/test/ubuntu-24.04-server-cloudimg-arm64.img
[2025-01-23T16:57:03.792] [debug] [qemu-img] [53222] started: qemu-img amend -o compat=1.1 /var/root/Library/Application Support/multipassd/qemu/vault/instances/test/ubuntu-24.04-server-cloudimg-arm64.img
[2025-01-23T16:57:03.800] [debug] [test] process working dir ''
[2025-01-23T16:57:03.800] [info] [test] process program 'qemu-system-aarch64'
[2025-01-23T16:57:03.800] [info] [test] process arguments '-machine, virt,gic-version=3, -accel, hvf, -drive, file=/Library/Application Support/com.canonical.multipass/bin/../Resources/qemu/edk2-aarch64-code.fd,if=pflash,format=raw,readonly=on, -cpu, host, -nic, vmnet-shared,model=virtio-net-pci,mac=52:54:00:64:f8:ef, -device, virtio-scsi-pci,id=scsi0, -drive, file=/var/root/Library/Application Support/multipassd/qemu/vault/instances/test/ubuntu-24.04-server-cloudimg-arm64.img,if=none,format=qcow2,discard=unmap,id=hda, -device, scsi-hd,drive=hda,bus=scsi0.0, -smp, 1, -m, 1024M, -qmp, stdio, -chardev, null,id=char0, -serial, chardev:char0, -nographic, -cdrom, /var/root/Library/Application Support/multipassd/qemu/vault/instances/test/cloud-init-config.iso'
[2025-01-23T16:57:03.803] [debug] [qemu-system-aarch64] [53223] started: qemu-system-aarch64 -machine virt,gic-version=3 -nographic -dump-vmstate /private/var/folders/zz/zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n0000000000000/T/multipassd.uAGyJd
[2025-01-23T16:57:03.840] [info] [test] process state changed to Starting
[2025-01-23T16:57:03.843] [info] [test] process state changed to Running
[2025-01-23T16:57:03.843] [debug] [qemu-system-aarch64] [53224] started: qemu-system-aarch64 -machine virt,gic-version=3 -accel hvf -drive file=/Library/Application Support/com.canonical.multipass/bin/../Resources/qemu/edk2-aarch64-code.fd,if=pflash,format=raw,readonly=on -cpu host -nic vmnet-shared,model=virtio-net-pci,mac=52:54:00:64:f8:ef -device virtio-scsi-pci,id=scsi0 -drive file=/var/root/Library/Application Support/multipassd/qemu/vault/instances/test/ubuntu-24.04-server-cloudimg-arm64.img,if=none,format=qcow2,discard=unmap,id=hda -device scsi-hd,drive=hda,bus=scsi0.0 -smp 1 -m 1024M -qmp stdio -chardev null,id=char0 -serial chardev:char0 -nographic -cdrom /var/root/Library/Application Support/multipassd/qemu/vault/instances/test/cloud-init-config.iso
[2025-01-23T16:57:03.843] [info] [test] process started
launch failed: The following errors occurred:
test: timed out waiting for response

Trying to launch with another VPN (FoxRay)

multipass launch --name test -vvvvv

[2025-01-23T16:55:08.353] [debug] [qemu-system-aarch64] [53003] started: qemu-system-aarch64 --version
[2025-01-23T16:55:09.499] [debug] [qemu-img] [53004] started: qemu-img info /var/root/Library/Caches/multipassd/qemu/vault/images/noble-20250115/ubuntu-24.04-server-cloudimg-arm64.img
[2025-01-23T16:55:09.520] [debug] [qemu-img] [53005] started: qemu-img resize /var/root/Library/Application Support/multipassd/qemu/vault/instances/test/ubuntu-24.04-server-cloudimg-arm64.img 5368709120
[2025-01-23T16:55:09.533] [debug] [qemu-img] [53006] started: qemu-img snapshot -l /var/root/Library/Application Support/multipassd/qemu/vault/instances/test/ubuntu-24.04-server-cloudimg-arm64.img
[2025-01-23T16:55:09.542] [debug] [qemu-img] [53007] started: qemu-img amend -o compat=1.1 /var/root/Library/Application Support/multipassd/qemu/vault/instances/test/ubuntu-24.04-server-cloudimg-arm64.img
[2025-01-23T16:55:09.549] [debug] [test] process working dir ''
[2025-01-23T16:55:09.549] [info] [test] process program 'qemu-system-aarch64'
[2025-01-23T16:55:09.549] [info] [test] process arguments '-machine, virt,gic-version=3, -accel, hvf, -drive, file=/Library/Application Support/com.canonical.multipass/bin/../Resources/qemu/edk2-aarch64-code.fd,if=pflash,format=raw,readonly=on, -cpu, host, -nic, vmnet-shared,model=virtio-net-pci,mac=52:54:00:51:59:57, -device, virtio-scsi-pci,id=scsi0, -drive, file=/var/root/Library/Application Support/multipassd/qemu/vault/instances/test/ubuntu-24.04-server-cloudimg-arm64.img,if=none,format=qcow2,discard=unmap,id=hda, -device, scsi-hd,drive=hda,bus=scsi0.0, -smp, 1, -m, 1024M, -qmp, stdio, -chardev, null,id=char0, -serial, chardev:char0, -nographic, -cdrom, /var/root/Library/Application Support/multipassd/qemu/vault/instances/test/cloud-init-config.iso'
[2025-01-23T16:55:09.552] [debug] [qemu-system-aarch64] [53008] started: qemu-system-aarch64 -machine virt,gic-version=3 -nographic -dump-vmstate /private/var/folders/zz/zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n0000000000000/T/multipassd.tfqKFZ
[2025-01-23T16:55:09.585] [info] [test] process state changed to Starting
[2025-01-23T16:55:09.588] [info] [test] process state changed to Running
[2025-01-23T16:55:09.588] [debug] [qemu-system-aarch64] [53009] started: qemu-system-aarch64 -machine virt,gic-version=3 -accel hvf -drive file=/Library/Application Support/com.canonical.multipass/bin/../Resources/qemu/edk2-aarch64-code.fd,if=pflash,format=raw,readonly=on -cpu host -nic vmnet-shared,model=virtio-net-pci,mac=52:54:00:51:59:57 -device virtio-scsi-pci,id=scsi0 -drive file=/var/root/Library/Application Support/multipassd/qemu/vault/instances/test/ubuntu-24.04-server-cloudimg-arm64.img,if=none,format=qcow2,discard=unmap,id=hda -device scsi-hd,drive=hda,bus=scsi0.0 -smp 1 -m 1024M -qmp stdio -chardev null,id=char0 -serial chardev:char0 -nographic -cdrom /var/root/Library/Application Support/multipassd/qemu/vault/instances/test/cloud-init-config.iso
[2025-01-23T16:55:09.588] [info] [test] process started
Launched: test

Additional info

• OS: macOS 15.2 24C101 arm64
• multipass 1.15.0+mac multipassd 1.15.0+mac
• multipass get local.driver: qemu

multipass info
Name:           test
State:          Unknown
Snapshots:      0
IPv4:           --
Release:        --
Image hash:     f11282a728ad (Ubuntu 24.04 LTS)
CPU(s):         --
Load:           --
Disk usage:     --
Memory usage:   --
Mounts:         --

Additional context
Why multipass interferes with VPN at all? Seems as a fragile design in networking

[giuliazanchi]

Hi @stone-w4tch3r , thanks for reporting the issue, we're aware that VPN usage can interfere with Multipass. Have you already looked at our Troubleshooting documentation?

[stone-w4tch3r]

Oh, troubleshooting page actually gave me ideas that fixed the issue!

There were stated:

VPN software can be aggressive at managing routes and may route 192.168.64 subnet through the VPN interface, instead of keeping it locally available.

So I enabled "local network sharing" in mullvad settings > vpn settings, and now I can launch instance and shell into it! Maybe you can add this to troubleshooting page

Thanks

[giuliazanchi]

That's great, @stone-w4tch3r , I'm glad you were able to fix this by looking at our docs! The Troubleshooting topic is still a work in progress, but the most frequent and common issues should be covered :)