Troubleshooting Minikube Parallels VM: How to Delete and Resolve Startup Issues

Are you encountering issues starting Minikube with the Parallels driver on your macOS system? Specifically, are you seeing errors related to a missing or failed Parallels virtual machine (VM), such as “GUEST_DOES_NOT_EXIST”? This guide will walk you through a common and effective solution: deleting your Parallels VM associated with Minikube.

Often, when Minikube fails to start correctly with Parallels Desktop, it can leave behind a corrupted or stale VM. This can happen due to various reasons, including unexpected system shutdowns, incomplete Minikube operations, or configuration conflicts. The error messages you might encounter often suggest running minikube delete, and for good reason.

Let’s examine a typical scenario where you might need to delete your Parallels VM to get Minikube running again. You might see error logs similar to this when trying to start Minikube:

minikube start
😄  minikube v1.24.0 on Darwin 10.15.7
✨  Using the parallels driver based on user configuration
👍  Starting control plane node minikube in cluster minikube
🔥  Creating parallels VM (CPUs=2, Memory=4000MB, Disk=20000MB) ...
🤦  StartHost failed, but will try again: creating host: create: creating: exit status 255
🔄  Restarting existing parallels VM for "minikube" ...
😿  Failed to start parallels VM. Running "minikube delete" may fix it: driver start: machine does not exist
❌  Exiting due to GUEST_DOES_NOT_EXIST: Failed to start host: driver start: machine does not exist
💡  Suggestion: Run 'minikube delete' to delete the stale VM, or and ensure that minikube is running as the same user you are issuing this command with
🍿  Related issues:
    ▪ https://github.com/kubernetes/minikube/issues/3864
    ▪ https://github.com/kubernetes/minikube/issues/6087

This error clearly indicates that Minikube is having trouble starting the Parallels VM. The suggestion to run minikube delete is the key to resolving this. This command effectively removes the existing, problematic VM and allows Minikube to create a fresh, new one upon the next minikube start.

Steps to Delete the Parallels VM via Minikube

The process is straightforward. Open your terminal and execute the following command:

minikube delete

This command will instruct Minikube to remove all components of the cluster, including the Parallels VM. You should see output similar to this:

minikube delete
🔥  Removing /Users/me/.minikube/machines/minikube ...
💀  Removed all traces of the "minikube" cluster.

After successfully deleting the VM, you can attempt to start Minikube again. It’s often a good practice to ensure your Parallels driver is correctly configured before restarting. You can explicitly set the driver to Parallels using:

minikube config set driver parallels

You will see a confirmation that the driver setting has been updated and will take effect after a delete and start:

minikube config set driver parallels
❗  These changes will take effect upon a minikube delete and then a minikube start

Now, proceed to start Minikube:

minikube start

Minikube will now create a new Parallels VM. The output should look something like this during a successful startup:

minikube start
😄  minikube v1.24.0 on Darwin 10.15.7
✨  Using the parallels driver based on user configuration
💿  Downloading VM boot image ...
    > minikube-v1.24.0.iso.sha256: 65 B / 65 B [-------------] 100.00% ? p/s 0s
    > minikube-v1.24.0.iso: 225.58 MiB / 225.58 MiB [ 100.00% 11.18 MiB p/s 20s
👍  Starting control plane node minikube in cluster minikube
💾  Downloading Kubernetes v1.22.3 preload ...
    > preloaded-images-k8s-v13-v1...: 501.73 MiB / 501.73 MiB 100.00% 11.66 Mi
🔥  Creating parallels VM (CPUs=2, Memory=4000MB, Disk=20000MB) ...

If the issue was indeed a corrupted or non-startable Parallels VM, deleting it and allowing Minikube to recreate it should resolve the “GUEST_DOES_NOT_EXIST” error and get your local Kubernetes environment up and running again.

Why Deleting the Parallels VM Works

The minikube delete command is a powerful troubleshooting tool because it ensures a clean slate. Here’s why it’s effective in this scenario:

• Removes Stale Configurations: Sometimes, incorrect configurations or leftover data from previous Minikube attempts can interfere with the VM startup process. Deleting the VM removes these potential conflicts.
• Clears Corrupted VM Images: The underlying VM image might become corrupted, preventing Parallels from starting it correctly. Deletion forces Minikube to download and create a new VM image.
• Resolves Driver Issues: Although less common, issues with the Parallels driver integration within Minikube can sometimes be resolved by deleting and recreating the VM.

By deleting the Parallels VM, you are essentially resetting the virtualized environment for Minikube, providing a fresh start and often bypassing the errors that were preventing startup.

Conclusion

When faced with “GUEST_DOES_NOT_EXIST” or similar errors when starting Minikube with the Parallels driver, deleting the Parallels VM using minikube delete is a highly recommended first step. This simple command often resolves the underlying issues by clearing out stale configurations or corrupted VM components. By following the steps outlined in this guide, you can quickly get back to using Minikube for your local Kubernetes development. If you continue to experience issues after deleting the VM, further investigation into your Parallels Desktop setup or Minikube configuration might be necessary.