How to use multipass? A tutorial

Multipass from Linux dis­trib­u­tor Canonical is a solution for vir­tu­al­iza­tion, which lets users easily create and manage Ubuntu VMs (virtual machines) on different operating systems.

What is Multipass?

Multipass is a light­weight vir­tu­al­iza­tion software designed specif­i­cal­ly for de­vel­op­ers and system ad­min­is­tra­tors who want to test or use Ubuntu in an isolated en­vi­ron­ment or create a new Ubuntu en­vi­ron­ment with a single command. It allows you to create, start and manage Ubuntu VMs with minimal effort and offers a simple command line interface (CLI).

When comparing vir­tu­al­iza­tion software, Multipass stands out above all due to its Ubuntu focus and a quick VM setup. Its native cross-platform support for Windows, macOS, and Linux further sets it apart from other solutions, such as KVM, for example.

Re­quire­ments for the use of Multipass

To use Multipass, the following re­quire­ments must be met:

• Operating system: Multipass supports Windows 10 (64-bit), macOS and Linux dis­tri­b­u­tions.
• Hardware: A system with a 64-bit processor and at least 4 GB RAM is rec­om­mend­ed to run the virtual machine ef­fi­cient­ly.
• Ad­min­is­tra­tor rights: Ad­min­is­tra­tor rights are required for in­stalling and operating Multipass.

How to install Multipass step by step

The in­stal­la­tion of Multipass varies depending on the operating system.

In­stal­la­tion on Windows

On Windows, you need a dedicated in­stal­la­tion program to install Multipass.

Step 1: Download the in­stal­la­tion program

Visit the official Multipass website and download the in­stal­la­tion program for Windows.

Step 2: Run the in­stal­la­tion program

Next, ensure that your local network is set to private, as Multipass cannot start on Windows if the network is public. Once this is done, double-click the down­loaded file to launch the in­stal­la­tion program and follow the in­struc­tions provided by the in­stal­la­tion wizard.

Step 3: Complete the in­stal­la­tion

Once in­stal­la­tion is complete, you can use Multipass via the command prompt or Pow­er­Shell.

In­stal­la­tion on macOS

On macOS, you can download Multipass using the Homebrew package manager. If you haven’t installed Homebrew yet, follow this Homebrew in­stal­la­tion before in­stalling Multipass.

Step 1: Download via Homebrew

Firstly, launch your terminal and run the following command to update Homebrew and install Multipass:

brew install --cask multipass

Homebrew should now au­to­mat­i­cal­ly download and install Multipass.

Step 2: Check the in­stal­la­tion

You can check if Multipass has been suc­cess­ful­ly installed by entering the command multipass version in the terminal.

In­stal­la­tion on Linux

Various in­stal­la­tion methods are available for Ubuntu and other Linux dis­tri­b­u­tions:

Option 1: In­stal­la­tion on Ubuntu via APT

Update the package man­age­ment system APT and install Multipass on Ubuntu with the following commands:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install multipass

Option 2: In­stal­la­tion on other dis­tri­b­u­tions via Snap

If your dis­tri­b­u­tion supports the package man­age­ment Snap, you can install Multipass by executing the command below:

sudo snap install multipass

No matter which in­stal­la­tion method you use for Multipass on Linux, you can verify that the vir­tu­al­iza­tion tool has been installed correctly by running the command multipass version in your terminal.

How to create a virtual machine with Multipass?

Once Multipass is installed, you can start creating and managing Ubuntu VMs.

Step 1: Create a virtual machine

To create a new VM, use the launch command. This command downloads the latest Ubuntu image and starts a new VM. You can specify a custom name for the VM using the optional --name parameter, which is rec­om­mend­ed to avoid a random, less mean­ing­ful name being generated.

multipass launch --name test-vm

Step 2: Determine Ubuntu version

To use a specific version of Ubuntu, you can first list all available versions with this command:

multipass find

You’ll receive a list of different Ubuntu versions and their aliases. To view more in­for­ma­tion about a specific version, use the command multipass info [versionname/alias]. You can then specify your favorite version in the launch command. Ubuntu 22.04 LTS is installed here:

multipass launch --name test-vm 22.04

Step 3: Check the status of the VMs

To display a list of all active VMs, use the following command which displays all running VMs, their status, IP address and other relevant in­for­ma­tion.

multipass list

Step 4: Connect to a VM

To access a running VM, use the shell command:

multipass shell test-vm

The command launches an SSH session to the specified VM so that you can work with it directly.

Step 5: Manage and control VMs

Multipass offers a number of commands to manage your VMs:

• Suspend a VM: multipass suspend test-vm
• Start a pre­vi­ous­ly suspended VM: multipass start test-vm
• Deleting a VM: multipass delete test-vm
• Remove all deleted VMs: multipass purge (deleted VMs remain in deleted state until they are finally removed this way).