diff --git a/pkg/limayaml/validate.go b/pkg/limayaml/validate.go
index e09f56b3a1b..5451466ba7a 100644
--- a/pkg/limayaml/validate.go
+++ b/pkg/limayaml/validate.go
@@ -396,6 +396,23 @@ func Validate(y *LimaYAML, warn bool) error {
 		warnExperimental(y)
 	}
 
+	if y.Rosetta.Enabled != nil && *y.Rosetta.Enabled {
+		if *y.VMType != VZ {
+			return fmt.Errorf("field `rosetta.enabled` can only be enabled for VMType %q; got %q", VZ, *y.VMType)
+		}
+		if !IsNativeArch(AARCH64) {
+			return fmt.Errorf("field `rosetta.enabled` can only be enabled on aarch64; got %q", *y.Arch)
+		}
+	}
+
+	if y.NestedVirtualization != nil && *y.NestedVirtualization && *y.VMType != VZ {
+		return fmt.Errorf("field `nestedVirtualization` can only be enabled for VMType %q; got %q", VZ, *y.VMType)
+	}
+
+	if err := validateMountType(y); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
 	// Validate Param settings
 	// Names must start with a letter, followed by any number of letters, digits, or underscores
 	validParamName := regexp.MustCompile(`^[a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9_]*$`)
@@ -432,6 +449,30 @@ func validateFileObject(f File, fieldName string) error {
 	return errs
 }
 
+func validateMountType(y *LimaYAML) error {
+	validMountTypes := map[string]bool{
+		REVSSHFS: true,
+		NINEP:    true,
+		VIRTIOFS: true,
+		WSLMount: true,
+	}
+
+	if !validMountTypes[*y.MountType] {
+		return fmt.Errorf("field `mountType` must be: %q, %q, %q, %q; got %q", REVSSHFS, NINEP, VIRTIOFS, WSLMount, *y.MountType)
+	}
+
+	// On Windows, only WSL and reverse-sshfs mount types are valid
+	if runtime.GOOS == "windows" && *y.MountType != WSLMount && *y.MountType != REVSSHFS {
+		return fmt.Errorf("field `mountType` on Windows must be %q or %q; got %q", WSLMount, REVSSHFS, *y.MountType)
+	}
+
+	if *y.MountType == VIRTIOFS && runtime.GOOS == "darwin" && *y.VMType != VZ {
+		return fmt.Errorf("field `mountType` %q on macOS requires vmType %q; got %q", *y.MountType, VZ, *y.VMType)
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}
+
 func validateNetwork(y *LimaYAML) error {
 	var errs error
 	interfaceName := make(map[string]int)
@@ -490,6 +531,9 @@ func validateNetwork(y *LimaYAML) error {
 				errs = errors.Join(errs, fmt.Errorf("field `%s.macAddress` must be a 48 bit (6 bytes) MAC address; actual length of %q is %d bytes", field, nw.MACAddress, len(hw)))
 			}
 		}
+		if nw.VZNAT != nil && *nw.VZNAT && *y.VMType != VZ {
+			return fmt.Errorf("field `%s.vzNAT` requires vmType %q; got %q", field, VZ, *y.VMType)
+		}
 		// FillDefault() will make sure that nw.Interface is not the empty string
 		if len(nw.Interface) >= 16 {
 			errs = errors.Join(errs, fmt.Errorf("field `%s.interface` must be less than 16 bytes, but is %d bytes: %q", field, len(nw.Interface), nw.Interface))
diff --git a/pkg/limayaml/validate_test.go b/pkg/limayaml/validate_test.go
index 5c9d696a0de..c8717e54772 100644
--- a/pkg/limayaml/validate_test.go
+++ b/pkg/limayaml/validate_test.go
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ package limayaml
 
 import (
 	"errors"
+	"runtime"
 	"testing"
 
 	"gotest.tools/v3/assert"
@@ -388,3 +389,168 @@ func TestValidateAgainstLatestConfig(t *testing.T) {
 		})
 	}
 }
+
+func TestValidateRosetta(t *testing.T) {
+	if runtime.GOOS != "darwin" {
+		t.Skip("Skipping Rosetta validation test on non-macOS platform")
+	}
+
+	images := `images: [{"location": "/"}]`
+
+	nilData := ``
+	y, err := Load([]byte(nilData+"\n"+images), "lima.yaml")
+	assert.NilError(t, err)
+
+	err = Validate(y, false)
+	assert.NilError(t, err)
+
+	invalidRosetta := `rosetta:
+  enabled: true
+vmType: "qemu"
+` + images
+	y, err = Load([]byte(invalidRosetta), "lima.yaml")
+	assert.NilError(t, err)
+
+	err = Validate(y, false)
+	if IsNativeArch(AARCH64) {
+		assert.Error(t, err, "field `rosetta.enabled` can only be enabled for VMType \"vz\"; got \"qemu\"")
+	} else {
+		assert.NilError(t, err)
+	}
+
+	validRosetta := `rosetta:
+  enabled: true
+vmType: "vz"
+` + images
+	y, err = Load([]byte(validRosetta), "lima.yaml")
+	assert.NilError(t, err)
+
+	err = Validate(y, false)
+	assert.NilError(t, err)
+
+	rosettaDisabled := `rosetta:
+  enabled: false
+vmType: "qemu"
+` + images
+	y, err = Load([]byte(rosettaDisabled), "lima.yaml")
+	assert.NilError(t, err)
+
+	err = Validate(y, false)
+	assert.NilError(t, err)
+}
+
+func TestValidateNestedVirtualization(t *testing.T) {
+	if runtime.GOOS != "darwin" {
+		t.Skip("Skipping nested virtualization validation test on non-macOS platform")
+	}
+
+	images := `images: [{"location": "/"}]`
+
+	validYAML := `
+nestedVirtualization: true
+vmType: vz
+` + images
+
+	y, err := Load([]byte(validYAML), "lima.yaml")
+	assert.NilError(t, err)
+
+	err = Validate(y, false)
+	assert.NilError(t, err)
+
+	invalidYAML := `
+nestedVirtualization: true
+vmType: qemu
+` + images
+
+	y, err = Load([]byte(invalidYAML), "lima.yaml")
+	assert.NilError(t, err)
+
+	err = Validate(y, false)
+	assert.Error(t, err, "field `nestedVirtualization` can only be enabled for VMType \"vz\"; got \"qemu\"")
+}
+
+func TestValidateMountTypeOS(t *testing.T) {
+	images := `images: [{"location": "/"}]`
+
+	nilMountConf := ``
+	y, err := Load([]byte(nilMountConf+"\n"+images), "lima.yaml")
+	assert.NilError(t, err)
+
+	err = Validate(y, false)
+	assert.NilError(t, err)
+
+	inValidMountTypeLinux := `
+mountType: "random"
+`
+	y, err = Load([]byte(inValidMountTypeLinux+"\n"+images), "lima.yaml")
+	assert.NilError(t, err)
+
+	err = Validate(y, true)
+	assert.Error(t, err, "field `mountType` must be: \"reverse-sshfs\", \"9p\", \"virtiofs\", \"wsl2\"; got \"random\"")
+
+	// Skip macOS-specific tests on non-macOS platforms
+	if runtime.GOOS != "darwin" {
+		return
+	}
+
+	validMountTypeLinux := `
+mountType: "virtiofs"
+`
+	y, err = Load([]byte(validMountTypeLinux+"\n"+images), "lima.yaml")
+	assert.NilError(t, err)
+
+	err = Validate(y, true)
+	if IsNativeArch(AARCH64) {
+		assert.Error(t, err, "field `mountType` \"virtiofs\" on macOS requires vmType \"vz\"; got \"qemu\"")
+	} else {
+		assert.NilError(t, err)
+	}
+
+	validMountTypeMac := `
+mountType: "virtiofs"
+vmType: "vz"
+`
+	y, err = Load([]byte(validMountTypeMac+"\n"+images), "lima.yaml")
+	assert.NilError(t, err)
+
+	err = Validate(y, false)
+	assert.NilError(t, err)
+
+	invalidMountTypeMac := `
+mountType: "virtiofs"
+vmType: "qemu"
+`
+	y, err = Load([]byte(invalidMountTypeMac+"\n"+images), "lima.yaml")
+	assert.NilError(t, err)
+
+	err = Validate(y, false)
+	assert.Error(t, err, "field `mountType` \"virtiofs\" on macOS requires vmType \"vz\"; got \"qemu\"")
+}
+
+func TestValidateWindowsMountType(t *testing.T) {
+	if runtime.GOOS != "windows" {
+		t.Skip("Skipping Windows-specific mount type validation test on non-Windows platform")
+	}
+
+	images := `images: [{"location": "/"}]`
+
+	invalidMountTypes := []string{"9p", "virtiofs"}
+	for _, mountType := range invalidMountTypes {
+		invalidMountTypeWindows := `mountType: "` + mountType + `"`
+		y, err := Load([]byte(invalidMountTypeWindows+"\n"+images), "lima.yaml")
+		assert.NilError(t, err)
+
+		err = Validate(y, false)
+		assert.Error(t, err, `field `+"`mountType`"+` on Windows must be "wsl2" or "reverse-sshfs"; got "`+mountType+`"`)
+	}
+
+	validMountTypes := []string{"wsl2", "reverse-sshfs"}
+	for _, mountType := range validMountTypes {
+		validMountTypeWindows := `mountType: "` + mountType + `"`
+		y, err := Load([]byte(validMountTypeWindows+"\n"+images), "lima.yaml")
+		assert.NilError(t, err)
+
+		err = Validate(y, false)
+		assert.NilError(t, err)
+	}
+}