Minikube: ln: failed to create symbolic link '/var/lib/minikube/etcd/minikube': File exists

[tstromberg]

Subsequent error on minikube restart:

  minikube v1.4.0 on Darwin 10.14.3
💡  Tip: Use 'minikube start -p <name>' to create a new cluster, or 'minikube delete' to delete this one.
🏃  Using the running virtualbox "minikube" VM ...
⌛  Waiting for the host to be provisioned ...
🐳  Preparing Kubernetes v1.16.0 on Docker 18.09.8 ...
🔄  Relaunching Kubernetes using kubeadm ...
E0920 14:15:18.905571   77264 kubeadm.go:415] failed to create compat symlinks: cmd failed: sudo ln -s /data/minikube /var/lib/minikube/etcd
ln: failed to create symbolic link '/var/lib/minikube/etcd/minikube': File exists

: Process exited with status 1

_Originally posted by @vsethi in https://github.com/kubernetes/minikube/issues/5415#issuecomment-533848677_

[tstromberg]

My suspicion is that this regression may be tied only to restart on older ISO's.

[seancarroll]

Hit this issue today. Let me know if there is information that would be helpful to include.

[medyagh]

Hit this issue today. Let me know if there is information that would be helpful to include.

@seancarroll @dbamaster I am curious, does this issue happen consistently or only happens sometimes ?

if this issue is still happening for you, I wonder if deleting the ISO cache would solve your problem ?

rm ~/.minikube/cache/iso/*

or if minikube delete and starting it fresh would solve the problem ?

[seancarroll]

Since I first encountered it its been consistent. I deleted minikube but didnt help so I tried to reinstalled virtualbox as well but that too hasnt resolved the issue for me.

[tstromberg]

Interesting. As far as I knew, this issue should only happen on existing VM's with older ISO's, so minikube delete should have solved the issue.

[dbamaster]

Hit this issue today. Let me know if there is information that would be helpful to include.

@seancarroll @dbamaster I am curious, does this issue happen consistently or only happens sometimes ?

if this issue is still happening for you, I wonder if deleting the ISO cache would solve your problem ?

rm ~/.minikube/cache/iso/*

or if minikube delete and starting it fresh would solve the problem ?

It happened after the last update.
Deleting minikube is not an option for me. I have a few deployments there, unfortunately I didn't save the actual file :(

[opensourceonly]

got error
💣 Error restarting cluster: addon phase: command failed: sudo env PATH=/var/lib/minikube/binaries/v1.16.0:$PATH kubeadm init phase addon all --config /var/tmp/minikube/kubeadm.yaml
stdout:
stderr: error execution phase addon/coredns: unable to fetch CoreDNS current installed version and ConfigMap.: multiple DNS addon deployments found: [{{ } {coredns kube-system /apis/apps/v1/namespaces/kube-system/deployments/coredns c0600e1f-a2ac-41ad-9fd3-2c40d6e8d0d9 2098 1 2019-10-26 13:15:06 +0000 UTC map[k8s-app:kube-dns] map[deployment.kubernetes.io/revision:1] [] [] []} {0xc0006a796c &LabelSelector{MatchLabels:map[string]string{k8s-app: kube-dns,},MatchExpressions:[]LabelSelectorRequirement{},} {{ 0 0001-01-01 00:00:00 +0000 UTC map[k8s-app:kube-dns] map[] [] [] []} {[{config-volume {nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil &ConfigMapVolumeSource{LocalObjectReference:LocalObjectReference{Name:coredns,},Items:[]KeyToPath{KeyToPath{Key:Corefile,Path:Corefile,Mode:nil,},},DefaultMode:420,Optional:nil,} nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil}}] [] [{coredns k8s.gcr.io/coredns:1.6.2 [] [-conf /etc/coredns/Corefile] [{dns 0 53 UDP } {dns-tcp 0 53 TCP } {metrics 0 9153 TCP }] [] [] {map[memory:{{178257920 0} {} 170Mi BinarySI}] map[cpu:{{100 -3} {} 100m DecimalSI} memory:{{73400320 0} {} 70Mi BinarySI}]} [{config-volume true /etc/coredns }] [] &Probe{Handler:Handler{Exec:nil,HTTPGet:&HTTPGetAction{Path:/health,Port:{0 8080 },Host:,Scheme:HTTP,HTTPHeaders:[]HTTPHeader{},},TCPSocket:nil,},InitialDelaySeconds:60,TimeoutSeconds:5,PeriodSeconds:10,SuccessThreshold:1,FailureThreshold:5,} &Probe{Handler:Handler{Exec:nil,HTTPGet:&HTTPGetAction{Path:/ready,Port:{0 8181 },Host:,Scheme:HTTP,HTTPHeaders:[]HTTPHeader{},},TCPSocket:nil,},InitialDelaySeconds:0,TimeoutSeconds:1,PeriodSeconds:10,SuccessThreshold:1,FailureThreshold:3,} nil nil /dev/termination-log File IfNotPresent &SecurityContext{Capabilities:&Capabilities{Add:[NET_BIND_SERVICE],Drop:[all],},Privileged:nil,SELinuxOptions:nil,RunAsUser:nil,RunAsNonRoot:nil,ReadOnlyRootFilesystem:true,AllowPrivilegeEscalation:false,RunAsGroup:nil,ProcMount:nil,WindowsOptions:nil,} false false false}] [] Always 0xc0006a7de0 Default map[beta.kubernetes.io/os:linux] coredns coredns false false false &PodSecurityContext{SELinuxOptions:nil,RunAsUser:nil,RunAsNonRoot:nil,SupplementalGroups:[],FSGroup:nil,RunAsGroup:nil,Sysctls:[]Sysctl{},WindowsOptions:nil,} [] nil default-scheduler [{CriticalAddonsOnly Exists } {node-role.kubernetes.io/master NoSchedule }] [] system-cluster-critical nil [] map[] []}} {RollingUpdate &RollingUpdateDeployment{MaxUnavailable:1,MaxSurge:25%,}} 0 0xc0006a7ec0 false 0xc0006a7ec4} {1 2 2 0 0 2 [{Available False 2019-10-26 13:15:29 +0000 UTC 2019-10-26 13:15:29 +0000 UTC MinimumReplicasUnavailable Deployment does not have minimum availability.} {Progressing False 2019-10-26 13:25:30 +0000 UTC 2019-10-26 13:25:30 +0000 UTC ProgressDeadlineExceeded ReplicaSet "coredns-5644d7b6d9" has timed out progressing.}] }} {{ } {kube-dns kube-system /apis/apps/v1/namespaces/kube-system/deployments/kube-dns 6c669dd9-b474-11e8-b560-080027dd2040 995 1 2018-09-09 21:07:56 +0000 UTC map[k8s-app:kube-dns] map[deployment.kubernetes.io/revision:1] [] [] []} {0xc0006a7fd8 &LabelSelector{MatchLabels:map[string]string{k8s-app: kube-dns,},MatchExpressions:[]LabelSelectorRequirement{},} {{ 0 0001-01-01 00:00:00 +0000 UTC map[k8s-app:kube-dns] map[] [] [] []} {[{kube-dns-config {nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil &ConfigMapVolumeSource{LocalObjectReference:LocalObjectReference{Name:kube-dns,},Items:[]KeyToPath{},DefaultMode:420,Optional:*true,} nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil}}] [] [{kubedns k8s.gcr.io/k8s-dns-kube-dns-amd64:1.14.8 [] [--domain=cluster.local. --dns-port=10053 --config-dir=/kube-dns-config --v=2] [{dns-local 0 10053 UDP } {dns-tcp-local 0 10053 TCP } {metrics 0 10055 TCP }] [] [{PROMETHEUS_PORT 10055 nil}] {map[memory:{{178257920 0} {} 170Mi BinarySI}] map[cpu:{{100 -3} {} 100m DecimalSI} memory:{{73400320 0} {} 70Mi BinarySI}]} [{kube-dns-config false /kube-dns-config }] [] &Probe{Handler:Handler{Exec:nil,HTTPGet:&HTTPGetAction{Path:/healthcheck/kubedns,Port:{0 10054 },Host:,Scheme:HTTP,HTTPHeaders:[]HTTPHeader{},},TCPSocket:nil,},InitialDelaySeconds:60,TimeoutSeconds:5,PeriodSeconds:10,SuccessThreshold:1,FailureThreshold:5,} &Probe{Handler:Handler{Exec:nil,HTTPGet:&HTTPGetAction{Path:/readiness,Port:{0 8081 },Host:,Scheme:HTTP,HTTPHeaders:[]HTTPHeader{},},TCPSocket:nil,},InitialDelaySeconds:3,TimeoutSeconds:5,PeriodSeconds:10,SuccessThreshold:1,FailureThreshold:3,} nil nil /dev/termination-log File IfNotPresent nil false false false} {dnsmasq k8s.gcr.io/k8s-dns-dnsmasq-nanny-amd64:1.14.8 [] [-v=2 -logtostderr -configDir=/etc/k8s/dns/dnsmasq-nanny -restartDnsmasq=true -- -k --cache-size=1000 --no-negcache --log-facility=- --server=/cluster.local/127.0.0.1#10053 --server=/in-addr.arpa/127.0.0.1#10053 --server=/ip6.arpa/127.0.0.1#10053] [{dns 0 53 UDP } {dns-tcp 0 53 TCP }] [] [] {map[] map[cpu:{{150 -3} {} 150m DecimalSI} memory:{{20971520 0} {} 20Mi BinarySI}]} [{kube-dns-config false /etc/k8s/dns/dnsmasq-nanny }] [] &Probe{Handler:Handler{Exec:nil,HTTPGet:&HTTPGetAction{Path:/healthcheck/dnsmasq,Port:{0 10054 },Host:,Scheme:HTTP,HTTPHeaders:[]HTTPHeader{},},TCPSocket:nil,},InitialDelaySeconds:60,TimeoutSeconds:5,PeriodSeconds:10,SuccessThreshold:1,FailureThreshold:5,} nil nil nil /dev/termination-log File IfNotPresent nil false false false} {sidecar k8s.gcr.io/k8s-dns-sidecar-amd64:1.14.8 [] [--v=2 --logtostderr --probe=kubedns,127.0.0.1:10053,kubernetes.default.svc.cluster.local,5,SRV --probe=dnsmasq,127.0.0.1:53,kubernetes.default.svc.cluster.local,5,SRV] [{metrics 0 10054 TCP }] [] [] {map[] map[cpu:{{10 -3} {} 10m DecimalSI} memory:{{20971520 0} {} 20Mi BinarySI}]} [] [] &Probe{Handler:Handler{Exec:nil,HTTPGet:&HTTPGetAction{Path:/metrics,Port:{0 10054 },Host:,Scheme:HTTP,HTTPHeaders:[]HTTPHeader{},},TCPSocket:nil,},InitialDelaySeconds:60,TimeoutSeconds:5,PeriodSeconds:10,SuccessThreshold:1,FailureThreshold:5,} nil nil nil /dev/termination-log File IfNotPresent nil false false false}] [] Always 0xc000718350 Default map[] kube-dns kube-dns false false false &PodSecurityContext{SELinuxOptions:nil,RunAsUser:nil,RunAsNonRoot:nil,SupplementalGroups:[],FSGroup:nil,RunAsGroup:nil,Sysctls:[]Sysctl{},WindowsOptions:nil,} [] &Affinity{NodeAffinity:&NodeAffinity{RequiredDuringSchedulingIgnoredDuringExecution:&NodeSelector{NodeSelectorTerms:[]NodeSelectorTerm{NodeSelectorTerm{MatchExpressions:[]NodeSelectorRequirement{NodeSelectorRequirement{Key:beta.kubernetes.io/arch,Operator:In,Values:[amd64],},},MatchFields:[]NodeSelectorRequirement{},},},},PreferredDuringSchedulingIgnoredDuringExecution:[]PreferredSchedulingTerm{},},PodAffinity:nil,PodAntiAffinity:nil,} default-scheduler [{CriticalAddonsOnly Exists } {node-role.kubernetes.io/master NoSchedule }] [] nil [] map[] []}} {RollingUpdate &RollingUpdateDeployment{MaxUnavailable:0,MaxSurge:10%,}} 0 0xc0007183f0 false 0xc0007183f4} {1 1 1 0 0 1 [{Progressing True 2018-09-09 21:08:45 +0000 UTC 2018-09-09 21:08:01 +0000 UTC NewReplicaSetAvailable ReplicaSet "kube-dns-86f4d74b45" has successfully progressed.} {Available False 2019-10-26 13:15:29 +0000 UTC 2019-10-26 13:15:29 +0000 UTC MinimumReplicasUnavailable Deployment does not have minimum availability.}] }}]
To see the stack trace of this error execute with --v=5 or higher
: Process exited with status 1

[WtfJoke]

rm ~/.minikube/cache/iso/*

This didnt helped in my case. However minikube delete did work. :tada:

Deleting minikube is not an option for me. I have a few deployments there, unfortunately I didn't save the actual file :(

@dbamaster what about temporary downgrading and doing: kubectl get deployment FOO -o yaml > my-deployment-foo.yml to save your deployments

[dbamaster]

rm ~/.minikube/cache/iso/*

This didnt helped in my case. However minikube delete did work. 🎉

Deleting minikube is not an option for me. I have a few deployments there, unfortunately I didn't save the actual file :(

@dbamaster what about temporary downgrading and doing: kubectl get deployment FOO -o yaml > my-deployment-foo.yml to save your deployments

I did that thank you, I will try to re-install Minikube and see how it goes.

[fejta-bot]

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[medyagh]

@seancarroll @WtfJoke @dbamaster @tstromberg is this still an issue ? I have not see this issue in a while, could it have been fixed by the latest version ?

[WtfJoke]

@medyagh I only experienced this error once and since then I havent worked much with k8/minikube anymore. So I cant tell if its really fixed, but will let you know if I experience it again

[dbamaster]

@seancarroll @WtfJoke @dbamaster @tstromberg is this still an issue ? I have not see this issue in a while, could it have been fixed by the latest version ?

Hey @medyagh thanks for the follow-up, I will check and update.
It is a long time since I uninstalled minikube from my laptop.

Regards,

[ciyer]

FWIW, I had this problem today and minikube delete solved it for me.

[MEOWMEOW114]

I had this problem after upgrading mac OS to catalina, andminikube deletedid solve the issue