Files
podman/docs/source/markdown/podman-machine.1.md
Brent Baude 5e1c2f8d7d Machine init --provider
Add the ability for users to override the default provider when creating mahcines.  The new flag is `--provider` and allows you to specifiy a valid vmtype for the platform.  This PR also removes the previous list test where we tested listing all providers.  I added a PR for testing --provider which includes a standard `machine ls` which defaults now to showing all providers.

Signed-off-by: Brent Baude <bbaude@redhat.com>
2025-10-29 07:59:34 -05:00

4.0 KiB

% podman-machine 1

NAME

podman-machine - Manage Podman's virtual machine

SYNOPSIS

podman machine subcommand

DESCRIPTION

podman machine is a set of subcommands that manage Podman's virtual machine.

Podman on MacOS and Windows requires a virtual machine. This is because containers are Linux - containers do not run on any other OS because containers' core functionality are tied to the Linux kernel. Podman machine must be used to manage MacOS and Windows machines, but can be optionally used on Linux.

All podman machine commands are rootless only.

NOTE: The podman-machine configuration file is managed under the $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/containers/podman/machine/ directory. Changing the $XDG_CONFIG_HOME environment variable while the machines are running can lead to unexpected behavior.

Podman machine behaviour can be modified via the [machine] section in the containers.conf(5) file.

Podman is based on virtual machine providers. The following table describes which providers are supported by platform. The asterisk denotes the default provider for the platform.

Platform Provider
Linux qemu*
MacOS libkrun*
MacOS applehv
Windows wsl*
Windows hyperv

SUBCOMMANDS

Command Man Page Description
cp podman-machine-cp(1) Securely copy contents between the host and the virtual machine
info podman-machine-info(1) Display machine host info
init podman-machine-init(1) Initialize a new virtual machine
inspect podman-machine-inspect(1) Inspect one or more virtual machines
list podman-machine-list(1) List virtual machines
os podman-machine-os(1) Manage a Podman virtual machine's OS
reset podman-machine-reset(1) Reset Podman machines and environment
rm podman-machine-rm(1) Remove a virtual machine
set podman-machine-set(1) Set a virtual machine setting
ssh podman-machine-ssh(1) SSH into a virtual machine
start podman-machine-start(1) Start a virtual machine
stop podman-machine-stop(1) Stop a virtual machine

SEE ALSO

podman(1), podman-machine-cp(1), podman-machine-info(1), podman-machine-init(1), podman-machine-list(1), podman-machine-os(1), podman-machine-rm(1), podman-machine-ssh(1), podman-machine-start(1), podman-machine-stop(1), podman-machine-inspect(1), podman-machine-reset(1), containers.conf(5)

Troubleshooting

See podman-troubleshooting(7) for solutions to common issues.

HISTORY

March 2021, Originally compiled by Ashley Cui acui@redhat.com