minikube start - Error starting host, machine does not exist

[bmarks-mylo]

Vitals:
Windows 7 x64
minikube v0.7.1

Behavior:

BMarks@BMARKS-LT MINGW64 /c/Users/BMarks
$ minikube delete
Deleting local Kubernetes cluster...
Machine deleted.

BMarks@BMARKS-LT MINGW64 /c/Users/BMarks
$ rm -fr ~/.minikube/

BMarks@BMARKS-LT MINGW64 /c/Users/BMarks
$ minikube start
Starting local Kubernetes cluster...
E0805 13:03:09.591146    6184 start.go:78] Error starting host:  Error getting state for host: machine does not exist

The frustrating thing is that I had minikube up and running earlier with no problems before deleting, but now no matter what I do I always get this error.

[bmarks-mylo]

Also:

BMarks@BMARKS-LT MINGW64 /c/Users/BMarks
$ minikube delete
Deleting local Kubernetes cluster...
Machine deleted.

BMarks@BMARKS-LT MINGW64 /c/Users/BMarks
$ minikube start --show-libmachine-logs
Starting local Kubernetes cluster...
Running pre-create checks...
Creating machine...
(minikubeVM) Downloading H:\.minikube\cache\boot2docker.iso from file://H:/.minikube/cache/iso/minikube-0.5.iso...
E0805 13:17:21.087411    3788 start.go:78] Error starting host:  Error getting state for host: machine does not exist

[tmrts]

I am able to reproduce the error with OSX 10.11 and Minikube v0.7.1

[dastergon]

I managed to solve a similar issue(see PR #431) on OSX 10.11 by removing the cached ISO manually:

rm ~/.minikube/cache/iso/minikube-0.5.iso

Then I downloaded a new ISO:

minikube start --iso-url="https://storage.googleapis.com/minikube/minikube-0.5.iso"

[bmarks-mylo]

I was hoping that would work @dastergon but I get the same thing.

BMarks@BMARKS-LT MINGW64 /c/Users/BMarks
$ ls -lrth ~/.minikube/cache/iso/
total 36M
-rw-r--r-- 1 BMarks 1049089 36M Aug 11 08:42 minikube-0.5.iso

BMarks@BMARKS-LT MINGW64 /c/Users/BMarks
$ rm ~/.minikube/cache/iso/minikube-0.5.iso

BMarks@BMARKS-LT MINGW64 /c/Users/BMarks
$ minikube start --iso-url="https://storage.googleapis.com/minikube/minikube-0.5.iso"
Starting local Kubernetes cluster...
E0811 08:44:25.324392    8032 start.go:78] Error starting host:  Error getting state for host: machine does not exist

[dlorenc]

@bmarks-mylo could you run "minikube delete", then attach the output of "minikube start --show-libmachine-logs"?

[dlorenc]

We should make this code more robust to this condition: https://github.com/kubernetes/minikube/blob/master/pkg/minikube/cluster/cluster.go#L64

and at least fix up the errors so they make more sense.

[bmarks-mylo]

@dlorenc see my 2nd comment

[pmentz]

Same situation for me (Win 7 x64), minikube 0.7.1, VirtualBox 5.0.16.
I removed .minikube folder completely and then:

>minikube start --iso-url="https://storage.googleapis.com/minikube/minikube-0.5.iso" --show-libmachine-logs --alsologtostderr
Starting local Kubernetes cluster...
Creating CA: C:\Users\xxx\.minikube\certs\ca.pem
Creating client certificate: C:\Users\xxx\.minikube\certs\cert.pem
Running pre-create checks...
Creating machine...
(minikubeVM) Downloading C:\Users\xxx\.minikube\cache\boot2docker.iso from file://C:/Users/xxx/.minikube/cache/iso/minikube-0.5.iso...
I0815 10:36:26.070738    9076 cluster.go:68] Machine exists!
I0815 10:36:26.155255    9076 cluster.go:76] Machine state:  Error
I0815 10:36:26.155755    9076 cluster.go:68] Machine exists!
I0815 10:36:26.236771    9076 cluster.go:76] Machine state:  Error
E0815 10:36:26.236771    9076 start.go:78] Error starting host:  Error getting state for host: machine does not exist

[diakula]

Same here, Win764bit, minikube 0.7.1, vbox 5.1.4

minikube start --memory=4096  --show-libmachine-logs=true --stderrthreshold=0 --iso-url=https://storage.googleapis.com/minikube/minikube-0.5.iso
Starting local Kubernetes cluster...
I0817 15:10:36.136056    9324 cluster.go:68] Machine exists!
I0817 15:10:46.634155    9324 cluster.go:76] Machine state:  Error
I0817 15:10:46.634655    9324 cluster.go:68] Machine exists!
I0817 15:10:46.698168    9324 cluster.go:76] Machine state:  Error
I0817 15:10:46.698168    9324 cluster.go:68] Machine exists!
I0817 15:10:46.766181    9324 cluster.go:76] Machine state:  Error
E0817 15:10:46.766181    9324 start.go:78] Error starting host:  Error getting state for host: machine does not exist

[pmentz]

With minikube 0.8.0 I got the following message:

>minikube start
Starting local Kubernetes cluster...
E0818 09:45:09.801671    9656 start.go:83] Error starting host: Error creating. Error creating machine: Error in driver during machine creation: open /Users/xxx/.minikube/cache/iso/minikube-0.6.iso: The system cannot find the path specified.. Retrying.
E0818 09:45:09.907671    9656 start.go:83] Error starting host: Error getting state for host: machine does not exist. Retrying.
E0818 09:45:09.998171    9656 start.go:83] Error starting host: Error getting state for host: machine does not exist. Retrying.
E0818 09:45:09.998171    9656 start.go:89] Error starting host:  Error creating. Error creating machine: Error in driver during machine creation: open /Users/xxx/.minikube/cache/iso/minikube-0.6.iso: The system cannot find the path specified.
Error getting state for host: machine does not exist
Error getting state for host: machine does not exist

which looks akward, as minikube uses *nix paths for my user directory, like it is detecting the wrong environment. I previously did all my tests in cmd and bash, so I switched to the Windows PowerShell and there it was able to setup minikube appropriately and everything seems to work just fine.

[diakula]

Which version of Powershell did you use? I used 4.0, and I still got the same error. I did get the improved output, and indeed minikube seems to try the wrong path:
Error in driver during machine creation: open /Users/xxx/.minikube/cache/iso/minikube-0.6.iso: The system cannot find the path specified.. Retrying.
Also tried cygwin, git-bash, con-emu.

[pmentz]

Ooooh, I think I got it. First of all I just learned, that Windows can handle Forward Slashes to navigate thru paths. Maybe it is because of the Shell extensions I installed with Git, but however. The trick is to be on the correct drive.

C:\Windows> cd /Users
C:\Users>

D:\Developer>cd /Users
The system cannot find the path specified.

I was always testing minikube while being on the D: drive, this is why it was not working. So the solution was not to use PowerShell, it was to be on the drive the Users directory is located on. After the first start the location does not seem to matter anymore. Maybe it is only a problem during the Virtualbox setup.

[bmarks-mylo]

@pmentz Bingo, this works for me too!

Our company has some insane policy that our profile/home directory needs to be a drive mounted to some network share and it has created some serious headaches. So depending on the software and whether you are on the network half your profile is in H:\ and the other is in C:\users. I'll just add this issue to the list.

[diakula]

Ok, cluster starting worked for me too, once I moved to the same drive as the user configuration store.
So not so high priority, still, plz fix this path issue.

[kevin-smets]

On macOS Sierra rm -rf ~/.minikube fixed it for me. After that, minikube start worked as expected.

minikube version v0.12.0

[ju-Skinner]

@kevin-smets you rock. That worked for me even though I'm on El Capitan. Thank

[kcd83]

If you are on another drive on Windows you will also get path does not exit error. E.g. D

D:\tmp> minikube start
...
Creating machine...
(minikube) Downloading C:\Users\username\.minikube\cache\boot2docker.iso from file://C:/Users/username/.minikube/cache/iso/minikube-0.7.iso...
E1121 10:09:18.183406    3616 start.go:92] Error starting host: Error creating host: Error creating machine: Error in driver during machine creation: open /Users/username/.minikube/cache/iso/minikube-0.7.iso: The system cannot find the path specified.. Retrying.

[jhuntoo]

The solution from @pmentz worked for me on Win7.

Run minikube start from the drive which contains your %USERPROFILE% directory

[buhtigexa]

[SOLVED]

I get the following error:
$ minikube start
E0116 01:49:45.855208 2991 start.go:102] Error starting host: Error getting state for host: machine does not exist

And, I solved doing :

$ minikube delete .

[fossouo]

thks @buhtigexa that was my problem too delete before re-running

[thomasmodeneis]

I'm also having this problem when starting,
I've tried to delete the rm -rf ~/.minikube
and run minikube start

$ minikube start
Starting local Kubernetes cluster...
Starting VM...
E0330 15:09:14.275923   19010 start.go:113] Error starting host: Error starting stopped host: Error setting up host only network on machine start: The host-only adapter we just created is not visible. This is a well known VirtualBox bug. You might want to uninstall it and reinstall at least version 5.0.12 that is is supposed to fix this issue.

 Retrying.
E0330 15:09:14.276755   19010 start.go:119] Error starting host:  Error starting stopped host: Error setting up host only network on machine start: The host-only adapter we just created is not visible. This is a well known VirtualBox bug. You might want to uninstall it and reinstall at least version 5.0.12 that is is supposed to fix this issue

When checking for virtualbox cfgs;

VBoxNetAdpCtl: Error while adding new interface: VBoxNetAdpCtl: ioctl failed for /dev/vboxnetctl: Inappropriate ioctl for devic.

Result Code:
NS_ERROR_FAILURE (0x80004005)
Component:
HostNetworkInterfaceWrap
Interface:
IHostNetworkInterface {455f8c45-44a0-a470-ba20-27890b96dba9}

vbox version: Version 5.1.14 r112924 (Qt5.5.1)
minikube version: minikube version: v0.17.1

$ kubectl version
Client Version: version.Info{Major:"1", Minor:"6", GitVersion:"v1.6.0", GitCommit:"fff5156092b56e6bd60fff75aad4dc9de6b6ef37", GitTreeState:"clean", BuildDate:"2017-03-28T16:36:33Z", GoVersion:"go1.7.5", Compiler:"gc", Platform:"linux/amd64"}

kernel: Linux 4.8.0-44-generic #47~16.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Wed Mar 22 18:51:56 UTC 2017 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

[thomasmodeneis]

I've managed to fix this by not using virtualbox ... so, installing KVM, removing old installation and start minikube with KVM:
Install libvirt and qemu-kvm on your system

sudo curl -L https://github.com/dhiltgen/docker-machine-kvm/releases/download/v0.7.0/docker-machine-driver-kvm -o /usr/local/bin/docker-machine-driver-kvm
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker-machine-driver-kvm
sudo apt install libvirt-bin qemu-kvm

Add yourself to the libvirtd group (use libvirt group for rpm based distros) so you don't need to sudo

sudo usermod -a -G libvirtd $(whoami)

Update your current session for the group change to take effect

newgrp libvirtd

remove the old installation
rm -rf ~/.minikube

Start it again with KVM

minikube start --vm-driver kvm
Starting local Kubernetes cluster...
Starting VM...
Downloading Minikube ISO
 89.26 MB / 89.26 MB [==============================================] 100.00% 0s
SSH-ing files into VM...
Setting up certs...
Starting cluster components...
Connecting to cluster...
Setting up kubeconfig...
Kubectl is now configured to use the cluster.

Cheers.

[dmilind]

I had same issue. IMO when minikube vm is created on virtualbox,that same user should run all minikube command then your machine will be up and spinning. I was trying with root user but when I created minkibe vm , it was with my local user. I got cluster running on switching the user.

[joan38]

brew cask install virtualbox solved my issue on macOS Sierra 10.12.4 and Minikube v0.19.0

[thomasmodeneis]

@aaron-prindle why was this closed, is there a permanent resolution for the issue ? is it documented ?

[derberg]

brew cask install virtualbox also solved my issue on macOS Sierra 10.12.5 and Minikube v0.20.0
I wasn't able to make it work with xhyve driver

[gliptak]

brew is not a solution on Windows for which OS this issue was opened for

[r2d4]

@thomasmodeneis this is an old issue which has long been resolved - minikube has been passing all tests on windows platforms for many versions now. If you're still having issues with minikube on windows, please open up a different issue.

OP was able to resolve their particular issue with https://github.com/kubernetes/minikube/issues/459#issuecomment-240796185

[KrishnanBabu]

@r2d4 I am installing minukube inside my ubuntu VM.while starting minikube it can be able to create the minikube VM but facing ssh error.I need help pls.

[vyfster]

@r2d4 - Sorry, I have to disagree. The "solution" is a workaround. This issue is still present and very easy to replicate.

Open a powershell / cmd on Windows. Change directory to a drive that is not the same drive where the "Users" directory is located and try install minikube. You end up with the error "system cannot find the path specified". I ran into this issue now. My 2c.

[carldowns]

FWIW, I had the same error but my situation was caused by changing the minikube VM setup in VirtualBox UI.

My steps to rebuild minikube:

Delete the location there minikube downloads its ISO:

$ rm -rf ~/.minikube

update brew and reinstall minikube

$ brew update
$ brew cask reinstall minikube

start minikube. The ISO is pulled down as ~/.minikube is rebuilt.

$ minikube start

[KotieSmit]

$ rm -rf ~/.minikube
Worked for me.
Thanx @carldowns

[lbenevid]

I only did:

$ rm -rf ~/.minikube
$ minikube start

And it worked for me.

[EriksonMurrugarra]

Make Sure you are running as root or administrator.

[lutaiphong]

On Windows, I got to pass by run:

minikube delete

before:

minikube start

[BuddhaBuddy1]

@r2dr Just because no one created a test case for this issue doesn't mean it doesn't have to be fixd. It is not acceptable for any package to not be able to find it's own config directory, especially one that IT JUST CREATED. Why would the script assume it knows where the user profile is when it is so easy to just ask the system? Please re-open the issue. It is not "resolved". There are half a dozen various workarounds, none of which work for everyone. I'll be happy to make a test case for you.

OS: Windows, all supported versions
Environment: fresh environment, Virtaul Box installed, VT-x/AMD-v enabled, minikube and kubectl in path
Step 1: cd d
Step 2: minikube start

Results:
Error starting host: Error creating host: Error executing step: Creating VM.
: open /Users/<user>/.minikube/cache/iso/minikube-v0.25.1.iso: The system cannot find the path specified..

Expected Results:
Minikube started

Observatios:
<UserHome>/.minikube folder exists, iso was just downloaded there, but system still can't find it.

[vahidsheikhalizadeh]

on macOS high siera and kubernetes version 1.10.0 had the same problem.
you should delet the cashed minikube ISO files
rm -rf ~/.minikube
after run minikube start

[abhishekkarigar]

just delete the previous created cluster
$ minikube delete
and then start the new cluster
$ minikube start

[JannikSchmuck]

I'm had the same issue with Windows 10 Pro, a couple of days ago, for me it's helps to run the cmd/powershell as administrator to getting minikube started.

[swhwong]

I'm getting the same issue on Windows 7. Previously I ran Powershell as an administrator, and today I have forgotten to run as administrator so minikube cannot start and display the message "machine does not exists". Once i restart Powershell and ran as administrator, this works.

[caozilu]

tried every way mentioned above……

C:\windows\system32>minikube start
Starting local Kubernetes v1.10.0 cluster...
Starting VM...
E0717 14:40:08.523169 21492 start.go:168] Error starting host: Error creating host: Error executing step: Bootstrapping certs.
: Failed to decode PEM data.

Retrying.
E0717 14:40:08.532017 21492 start.go:174] Error starting host: Error creating host: Error executing step: Bootstrapping certs.
: Failed to decode PEM data
E0717 14:40:09.005097 21492 util.go:151] Error uploading error message: : Post https://clouderrorreporting.googleapis.com/v1beta1/projects/k8s-minikube/events:report?key=AIzaSyACUwzG0dEPcl-eOgpDKnyKoUFgHdfoFuA: remote error: tls: access denied

[harpratap]

Can't seem to fix it after I tried installing KVM and KVM2 drivers

Starting local Kubernetes v1.10.0 cluster...
Starting VM...
Getting VM IP address...
Moving files into cluster...
Downloading kubelet v1.10.0
Downloading kubeadm v1.10.0
Finished Downloading kubeadm v1.10.0
Finished Downloading kubelet v1.10.0
Setting up certs...
Connecting to cluster...
Setting up kubeconfig...
Starting cluster components...
E0803 15:58:34.499119 7629 start.go:300] Error starting cluster: kubeadm init error
sudo /usr/bin/kubeadm init --config /var/lib/kubeadm.yaml --ignore-preflight-errors=DirAvailable--etc-kubernetes-manifests --ignore-preflight-errors=DirAvailable--data-minikube --ignore-preflight-errors=Port-10250 --ignore-preflight-errors=FileAvailable--etc-kubernetes-manifests-kube-scheduler.yaml --ignore-preflight-errors=FileAvailable--etc-kubernetes-manifests-kube-apiserver.yaml --ignore-preflight-errors=FileAvailable--etc-kubernetes-manifests-kube-controller-manager.yaml --ignore-preflight-errors=FileAvailable--etc-kubernetes-manifests-etcd.yaml --ignore-preflight-errors=Swap --ignore-preflight-errors=CRI &&
sudo /usr/bin/kubeadm alpha phase addon kube-dns
running command: : running command:
sudo /usr/bin/kubeadm init --config /var/lib/kubeadm.yaml --ignore-preflight-errors=DirAvailable--etc-kubernetes-manifests --ignore-preflight-errors=DirAvailable--data-minikube --ignore-preflight-errors=Port-10250 --ignore-preflight-errors=FileAvailable--etc-kubernetes-manifests-kube-scheduler.yaml --ignore-preflight-errors=FileAvailable--etc-kubernetes-manifests-kube-apiserver.yaml --ignore-preflight-errors=FileAvailable--etc-kubernetes-manifests-kube-controller-manager.yaml --ignore-preflight-errors=FileAvailable--etc-kubernetes-manifests-etcd.yaml --ignore-preflight-errors=Swap --ignore-preflight-errors=CRI &&
sudo /usr/bin/kubeadm alpha phase addon kube-dns

output: [init] Using Kubernetes version: v1.10.0
[init] Using Authorization modes: [Node RBAC]
[preflight] Running pre-flight checks.
[WARNING SystemVerification]: docker version is greater than the most recently validated version. Docker version: 18.06.0-ce. Max validated version: 17.03
[WARNING Swap]: running with swap on is not supported. Please disable swap
[WARNING FileExisting-ethtool]: ethtool not found in system path
[WARNING FileExisting-socat]: socat not found in system path
[WARNING FileExisting-crictl]: crictl not found in system path
Suggestion: go get github.com/kubernetes-incubator/cri-tools/cmd/crictl
Flag --admission-control has been deprecated, Use --enable-admission-plugins or --disable-admission-plugins instead. Will be removed in a future version.
[certificates] Using the existing ca certificate and key.
[certificates] Using the existing apiserver certificate and key.
[certificates] Generated apiserver-kubelet-client certificate and key.
[certificates] Generated etcd/ca certificate and key.
[certificates] Generated etcd/server certificate and key.
[certificates] etcd/server serving cert is signed for DNS names [localhost] and IPs [127.0.0.1]
[certificates] Generated etcd/peer certificate and key.
[certificates] etcd/peer serving cert is signed for DNS names [minikube] and IPs [10.0.2.15]
[certificates] Generated etcd/healthcheck-client certificate and key.
[certificates] Generated apiserver-etcd-client certificate and key.
[certificates] Generated sa key and public key.
[certificates] Generated front-proxy-ca certificate and key.
[certificates] Generated front-proxy-client certificate and key.
[certificates] Valid certificates and keys now exist in "/var/lib/localkube/certs/"
[kubeconfig] Wrote KubeConfig file to disk: "/etc/kubernetes/admin.conf"
a kubeconfig file "/etc/kubernetes/kubelet.conf" exists already but has got the wrong CA cert
: running command:
sudo /usr/bin/kubeadm init --config /var/lib/kubeadm.yaml --ignore-preflight-errors=DirAvailable--etc-kubernetes-manifests --ignore-preflight-errors=DirAvailable--data-minikube --ignore-preflight-errors=Port-10250 --ignore-preflight-errors=FileAvailable--etc-kubernetes-manifests-kube-scheduler.yaml --ignore-preflight-errors=FileAvailable--etc-kubernetes-manifests-kube-apiserver.yaml --ignore-preflight-errors=FileAvailable--etc-kubernetes-manifests-kube-controller-manager.yaml --ignore-preflight-errors=FileAvailable--etc-kubernetes-manifests-etcd.yaml --ignore-preflight-errors=Swap --ignore-preflight-errors=CRI &&
sudo /usr/bin/kubeadm alpha phase addon kube-dns

.: exit status 1

[sandeep450]

minikube start
Starting local Kubernetes v1.10.0 cluster...
Starting VM...
E0918 11:13:20.066833 3568 start.go:174] Error starting host: Error starting stopped host: Maximum number of retries (5) exceeded.
Retrying.
E0918 11:13:20.071763 3568 start.go:180] Error starting host: Error starting stopped host: Maximum number of retries (5) exceeded

can any of you help me with this error

[abhishekkarigar]

Hi,

try deleting the minikube then start

minikube delete
minikube start --vm-driver

On Wed, Sep 19, 2018 at 12:05 AM sandeep [e-mail] wrote:

minikube start
Starting local Kubernetes v1.10.0 cluster...
Starting VM...
E0918 11:13:20.066833 3568 start.go:174] Error starting host: Error
starting stopped host: Maximum number of retries (5) exceeded.
Retrying.
E0918 11:13:20.071763 3568 start.go:180] Error starting host: Error
starting stopped host: Maximum number of retries (5) exceeded

can any of you help me with this error

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[tartley]

On macOS Sierra rm -rf ~/.minikube fixed it for me. After that, minikube start worked as expected.

minikube version v0.12.0

This also fixed it for me on RHEL 7.5

[Sandeepkallazhi]

I am on windows 10. I was able to start minikube from powershell, but then while it was starting the cluster components I got restless and opened the virtual machine by clicking on it from the virtual box and that killed the cluster formation and eventually freezing the virtual box. I removed the machine from virtual box and started over with a fresh download of minikube and kubectl but no luck it wouldn't start and gave me the following error.
"Error starting host: Error getting state for host: machine does not exist."
Reinstalling virtual box also didn't work.

But then I realized there is some cache somewhere of the ISO which it downloaded which I can't find it in the system32 folder. But I found somewhere that I need to just run the below command

minikube delete

That did the trick, it deleted the local Kubernetes cluster and I was then able to start over with the below command

minikube start

This time it gave me the following and I think I am good. One caution while its doing its thing don't start or click on the virtual machine which shows up on the virtual box

Starting local Kubernetes v1.10.0 cluster...
Starting VM...
Getting VM IP address...
Moving files into cluster...
Setting up certs...
Connecting to cluster...
Setting up kubeconfig...
Starting cluster components...

Cheers
Sandeep

[gauravzambare]

[SOLVED]

I get the following error:
$ minikube start
E0116 01:49:45.855208 2991 start.go:102] Error starting host: Error getting state for host: machine does not exist

And, I solved doing :

$ minikube delete .

This solved my issue...Thanks

[cr6588]

Ooooh, I think I got it. First of all I just learned, that Windows can handle Forward Slashes to navigate thru paths. Maybe it is because of the Shell extensions I installed with Git, but however. The trick is to be on the correct drive.

C:\Windows> cd /Users
C:\Users>

D:\Developer>cd /Users The system cannot find the path specified.
I was always testing minikube while being on the D: drive, this is why it was not working. So the solution was not to use PowerShell, it was to be on the drive the Users directory is located on. After the first start the location does not seem to matter anymore. Maybe it is only a problem during the Virtualbox setup.

@pmentz Thanks. I started to install the minikube on the d drive. After I uninstalled it and reinstalled it in the c drive, it worked fine.

[ajzabel]

brew cask install virtualbox also solved my issue on macOS Sierra 10.12.5 and Minikube v0.20.0
I wasn't able to make it work with xhyve driver

Same for macOS Mojave 10.14.1 and Minikube v0.30.0

In general I think people have been describing similar errors but different root causes of said error. For me $ rm -rf ~/.minikube did not work at all because the VM wasn't properly installed. For others, the cache is the issue. Simply doing $ rm -rf ~/.minikube is the same as deleting the iso file in ~/.minikube/cache/iso as deleting the .minikube file and starting minikube again will update a new iso file to pull cache from (similar to just reinstalling a software).

I think it'd be advantageous for people to specify why their fix solved the issue as that get's to the root problem and doesn't create the multiple 'work arounds' mentioned. For some it's a tainted cache, some it's a wrongly installed VM (like myself).

[kanouken]

@ajzabel cool

[ahoehma]

@cr6588 ... thanks for your hint! this fixed my problem :)
So if you are on windows in a "bit-bash" ... you MUST do
a "cd c:" before "minikube start" works

[Broich]

Had this problem too on OS X 10.14.2 and aside from executing $ rm -rf ~/.minikube I had to restart my computer.

minikube version: v0.32.0

[stelukutla]

I am able to reproduce the issue in Mac Os Mojave.

Performed the below 2 steps. No more issue.

1) Remove the existing .minicube folder.
api:~ Neel$ rm -rf .minikube
2) Start the minikube
api:~ Neel$ /usr/local/bin/minikube start

Starting local Kubernetes v1.13.2 cluster...
Starting VM...
Downloading Minikube ISO
181.48 MB / 181.48 MB [============================================] 100.00% 0s
Getting VM IP address...
Moving files into cluster...
Downloading kubeadm v1.13.2
Downloading kubelet v1.13.2
Finished Downloading kubeadm v1.13.2
Finished Downloading kubelet v1.13.2
Setting up certs...
Connecting to cluster...
Setting up kubeconfig...
Stopping extra container runtimes...
Starting cluster components...
Verifying kubelet health ...
Verifying apiserver health ...
Kubectl is now configured to use the cluster.
Loading cached images from config file.

Everything looks great. Please enjoy minikube!

[henioStraszny]

I've had a problem with deleting and starting new minikubes on Windows 10.

The problems was not existing on cmd, but only in powershell.

Now I use only cmd to administrate minikube.

[dongwangdw]

I can not survive from this issue with any of the solutions above.
minikube version 1.3. 1

```[mini] minikube v1.3.1 on Ubuntu 18.04
🔄 Starting existing kvm2 VM for "mini" ...
E0904 07:02:21.144855 29925 start.go:723] StartHost: start: getting ip during machine start: host is not running

💣 Unable to start VM: start: getting ip during machine start: host is not running

😿 Sorry that minikube crashed. If this was unexpected, we would love to hear from you:
👉 https://github.com/kubernetes/minikube/issues/new/choose```

docker-machine-driver-kvm2 version:
This is a Docker Machine plugin binary.
Plugin binaries are not intended to be invoked directly.
Please use this plugin through the main 'docker-machine' binary.
(API version: 1)

[DevenSuji]

I'm getting NSIS Error when using minikube start on PowerShell Version 5.1.14393.2879.

How do I fix this issue?

[danielolabanji]

On macOS Sierra rm -rf ~/.minikube fixed it for me. After that, minikube start worked as expected.

minikube version v0.12.0

Thank you so much ...I struggle with this for days

[mtalalkhan]

StartHost failed, but will try again: creating host: create: precreate: We support Virtualbox starting with version 5. Your VirtualBox install is "WARNING: The vboxdrv kernel module is not loaded. Either there is no module\n available for the current kernel (5.4.0-48-generic) or it failed to\n load. Please recompile the kernel module and install it by\n\n sudo /sbin/vboxconfig\n\n You will not be able to start VMs until this problem is fixed.\n6.1.14r140239". Please upgrade at https://www.virtualbox.org
🔥 Creating virtualbox VM (CPUs=2, Memory=3700MB, Disk=20000MB) ...
😿 Failed to start virtualbox VM. Running "minikube delete" may fix it: creating host: create: precreate: We support Virtualbox starting with version 5. Your VirtualBox install is "WARNING: The vboxdrv kernel module is not loaded. Either there is no module\n available for the current kernel (5.4.0-48-generic) or it failed to\n load. Please recompile the kernel module and install it by\n\n sudo /sbin/vboxconfig\n\n You will not be able to start VMs until this problem is fixed.\n6.1.14r140239". Please upgrade at https://www.virtualbox.org

❌ Exiting due to PR_VBOX_MODULE: Failed to start host: creating host: create: precreate: We support Virtualbox starting with version 5. Your VirtualBox install is "WARNING: The vboxdrv kernel module is not loaded. Either there is no module\n available for the current kernel (5.4.0-48-generic) or it failed to\n load. Please recompile the kernel module and install it by\n\n sudo /sbin/vboxconfig\n\n You will not be able to start VMs until this problem is fixed.\n6.1.14r140239". Please upgrade at https://www.virtualbox.org
💡 Suggestion: Reinstall VirtualBox and reboot. Alternatively, try the kvm2 driver: https://minikube.sigs.k8s.io/docs/reference/drivers/kvm2/
🍿 Related issues:
▪ https://github.com/kubernetes/minikube/issues/4043
▪ https://github.com/kubernetes/minikube/issues/4711

[priyawadhwa]

Hey @mtalalkhan would you mind opening a new issue with this information?