Create a new Docker machine on Windows via Command Prompt

As you may know from the previous post (How I've installed Docker on Windows 7), I've just installed Docker on my Windows. Now, if you are in my case also, and you want to create a new Docker machine, here it is how I did it:

1. In order to create a new Docker machine via Windows Command Prompt, you need to set the ssh.exe in your PATH environment variable. This is in the Git\bin\ folder, which is commonly installed in C:\Program Files or C:\Program Files(x86).So, I opened a new Command Prompt, and add ssh.exe in PATH.

Command: set PATH=%PATH%; C:\Program Files\Git\bin

2. Further, we can list the existing Docker machines like this (we do this now, and after we add the new machine). As you can see, I have a single Docker machine, the default one.

Command: docker-machine ls

3. Now, I will use the same virtualbox driver to create a new machine named, my-machine.

Command: docker-machine create --driver virtualbox my-machine

4. Further, we need to connect the Docker with this machine.

Command: docker-machine env my-machine

5. Next, get the environment commands for my-machine.

Command: docker-machine env --shell cmd my-machine

6.This points a new command as you can see in the above picture.

Command: FOR /f "tokens=*" %i IN ('docker-machine env --shell cmd my-machine') DO %i

7. Run the hello-world container.

Command: docker run hello-world

Done!

You can list the Docker machines again and notice that my-machine is active and running:

You can easy stop/start the Docker machine:

Command start: docker-machine stop my-machine

Command stop: docker-machine start my-machine

Note: In order to see all the options for docker-machine command try:

Command: docker-machine --help

Must listen: Docker and Kubernetes Recipes for Java Developers by Arun Gupta