Minikube on Windows does nothing on start

Question

I have followed all the instructions on Minikube carefully (I thought). I installed it on Windows 10 (ver 1.7.2), started a Powershell console under Administrator, set the 3 PROXY variables (I am behind a proxy), enabled the Microsoft-Hyper-V, and ran the cmd: minikube start --vm-driver=hyperv It downloads the VM boot images, then I get the following line output: * Creating hyperv VM (CPUs=2,....etc) .... AND THAT'S IT! Nothing else!! If I start the Hyper-V Manager I don't see any VMs there. The .minikube directory is populated with several dirs and files. But for the rest I am completely blind! I have left it to run for half an hour or more. Still nothing. I have tried terminating the process, stopping, deleting (in this case I get the output 'Deleting Kubenetes cluster' but whether this means anything I don't know) and flushing the .minikube directory ... then running it all again off a clean base. NADA! NOTHING! same thing! Could someone please tell me what I am doing wrong? I thought this was supposed to work out of the box! Why don't I see my VM in Microsoft-Hyper-V manager for a start? I don't even get as far as seeing starting Kubenets cluster, yet I get no errors!

Answer 1

Try to follow this guide. It has a step by step instructions bout how to setup Docker and Minikube on windows 10 with Chocolatey.

Also here you will find an analogical issue with possible solutions.

Before you start again, remember to delete the .minikube folder after executing minikube delete to avoid any leftover configuration to persist.

Please let me know if that helped.

Answer 2

For the record, I flushed everything .. and tried several things from the above page, the K8 site and elsewhere. In a nutshell Docker for Desktop works and Minikube doesn't (not 100% anyway)! I was just curious back in February as to whether I could set up a local Kubenetes environment quickly and easily and I am afraid for me the answer is No: Minikube is not quick and easy. Also, you can enable Kubenetes on Docker Desktop now of course and it works out of the box as software should, so no more need for Minikube.

Answer 3

The following are the instructions for setting up and installing Minikube and its dependencies for use on Windows Pro or Enterprise with Docker Desktop and HyperV.

Install Kubectl

1. Create a new directory that you will move your kubectl binaries into. A good place would be C:\bin

2. Download the latest kubectl executable from the link on the Kubernetes doc page:

https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/tools/install-kubectl/#install-kubectl-on-windows

3. Move this downloaded .exe file into the bin directory you created.

4. Use Windows search to type “env” then select “Edit the system environment variables”

5. In the System Properties dialog box, click “Environment Variables”.

6. In System Variables click on the “Path” Variable and then click “Edit”

7. Click “New” and then type C:\bin

8. Drag the newly created path so that it is higher in order than Docker's binaries. This is very important and will ensure that you will not have an out of date kubectl client.

9. Click "OK"

10. Restart your terminal and test by typing kubectl into it. You should get the basic commands and help menu printed back to your screen. If this doesn't work try restarting your machine.

11. Run kubectl version to verify that you are using the newest version and not the out of date v1.10 version.

Install Minikube

1. Download the Windows installer here:

https://github.com/kubernetes/minikube/releases/latest/download/minikube-installer.exe

2. Double click the .exe file that was downloaded and run the installer. All default selections are appropriate.

3. Open up your terminal and test the installation by typing minikube. You should get the basic commands and help menu printed back to your screen. If this doesn't work try restarting your machine.

Configure HyperV

1. In Windows Search type "HyperV" and select "HyperV Manager"

2. In the right sidebar click "Virtual Switch Manager"

3. Leave selected "New Virtual network Switch" and "External" and click "Create Virtual Switch"

4. Name the switch "Minikube Switch" (or whatever you would like to name it)

5. Click Apply and acknowledge the "Pending changes" dialog box by clicking "yes"

6. Once the switch has been created, click "Ok"

Starting Up Minikube

Since by default Minikube expects VirtualBox to be used, you need to tell it to use the hyperv driver instead, as well as the Virtual Switch created earlier.

Start up a terminal as an Administrator. Then, in your terminal run:

minikube start --vm-driver hyperv --hyperv-virtual-switch "Minikube Switch"

NOTE: all minikube commands must be run in the context of an elevated Administrator.