diff --git a/Sources/Containerization/LinuxContainer.swift b/Sources/Containerization/LinuxContainer.swift
index fbce21d2..eaa8707e 100644
--- a/Sources/Containerization/LinuxContainer.swift
+++ b/Sources/Containerization/LinuxContainer.swift
@@ -364,7 +364,7 @@ extension LinuxContainer {
         try await self.state.withLock { state in
             try state.validateForCreate()
 
-            let vm = try self.vmm.create(container: self)
+            let vm = try await self.vmm.create(container: self)
             try await vm.start()
             do {
                 let relayManager = UnixSocketRelayManager(vm: vm)
diff --git a/Sources/Containerization/VirtualMachineManager.swift b/Sources/Containerization/VirtualMachineManager.swift
index 3f991b93..11d9d5c7 100644
--- a/Sources/Containerization/VirtualMachineManager.swift
+++ b/Sources/Containerization/VirtualMachineManager.swift
@@ -16,5 +16,5 @@
 
 /// A protocol to implement for virtual machine isolated containers.
 public protocol VirtualMachineManager: Sendable {
-    func create(container: Container) throws -> any VirtualMachineInstance
+    func create(container: Container) async throws -> any VirtualMachineInstance
 }