How to fix "error in run: Failed to get machine "boot2docker-vm": machine does not exist"?

Question

Running boot2docker with the start|info|stop|delete arguments result in an error message:

snowch$ boot2docker start error in run: Failed to get machine "boot2docker-vm": machine does not exist     snowch$ boot2docker info error in run: Failed to get machine "boot2docker-vm": machine does not exist snowch$ boot2docker stop error in run: Failed to get machine "boot2docker-vm": machine does not exist snowch$ boot2docker delete error in run: Failed to get machine "boot2docker-vm": machine does not exist 

The init error was slightly different

snowch$ boot2docker init error in run: Failed to initialize machine "boot2docker-vm": exit status 1 

How can I fix this?

Answer 1

In the end, I removed the boot2docker-vm virtual machine:

snowch$ rm -rfi ~/VirtualBox\ VMs/boot2docker-vm/ 

Original source of the answer: https://github.com/boot2docker/boot2docker/issues/436

Note: this method is probably the quickest but you will lose your existing boot2docker virtual machine. If you want to keep your existing boot2docker virtual machine, you could try Patrick Henning's answer

Answer 2

Update: Boot2Docker is now legacy. See here for official deprecation notice: https://docs.docker.com/installation/mac/, and here for info on migrating a preexisting Boot2Docker vm to Docker Machine: https://docs.docker.com/machine/migrate-to-machine/.

I've yet to see whether this issue continues to exist or if an analogous solution to that below, running docker-machine with the appropriate flags in place of boot2docker, would help remedy it.

---

This worked for me and I kept all my images/containers. I followed Anthony A's response: https://stackoverflow.com/a/26592419/4377364.

Here are the exact steps:

$ boot2docker -v info

{     "Name": "boot2docker-vm",     "UUID": "470abff4-f4fe-4c24-90c5-32b3ef7bfbe2",     "Iso": "/Users/pat/.boot2docker/boot2docker.iso",     "State": "saved",     "CPUs": 4,     "Memory": 2048,     "VRAM": 8,     "CfgFile": "/Users/pat/VirtualBox VMs/boot2docker-vm/boot2docker-vm.vbox",     "BaseFolder": "/Users/pat/VirtualBox VMs/boot2docker-vm",     "OSType": "",     "Flag": 0,     "BootOrder": null,     "DockerPort": 0,     "SSHPort": 2022,     "SerialFile": "/Users/pat/.boot2docker/boot2docker-vm.sock" } 

Note: "State": "saved".

Identified the .vbox file:

"CfgFile": "/Users/pat/VirtualBox VMs/boot2docker-vm/boot2docker-vm.vbox"

Used this as input to start the VM:

$ VBoxManage startvm "/Users/pat/VirtualBox VMs/boot2docker-vm/boot2docker-vm.vbox"

Then to shut it down:

$ VBoxManage controlvm "/Users/pat/VirtualBox VMs/boot2docker-vm/boot2docker-vm.vbox" acpipowerbutton

Verified it had actually shut down:

$ boot2docker -v info

{     "Name": "boot2docker-vm",     "UUID": "470abff4-f4fe-4c24-90c5-32b3ef7bfbe2",     "Iso": "/Users/pat/.boot2docker/boot2docker.iso",     "State": "poweroff",     "CPUs": 4,     "Memory": 2048,     "VRAM": 8,     "CfgFile": "/Users/pat/VirtualBox VMs/boot2docker-vm/boot2docker-vm.vbox",     "BaseFolder": "/Users/pat/VirtualBox VMs/boot2docker-vm",     "OSType": "",     "Flag": 0,     "BootOrder": null,     "DockerPort": 0,     "SSHPort": 2022,     "SerialFile": "/Users/pat/.boot2docker/boot2docker-vm.sock" } 

Note: "State": "poweroff".

Started the boot2docker VM:

$ boot2docker up

Waiting for VM and Docker daemon to start... .................ooo Started.