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Creating a Podman machine

On macOS and Windows, running the Podman container engine requires running a Linux virtual machine.

By default, Podman Desktop initializes a Podman machine with a standard configuration.

Consider creating a custom Podman machine to:

  • Control the assigned resources: CPUs, memory, and disk size.
  • Use a custom boot image.
  • Use the rootful connection by default, for example to run Kind.
  • (On Windows) Route the traffic through the network connection from your Windows session.

Prerequisites​

  • The Podman executable is installed.

Procedure​

  1. Go to Settings > Resources.

  2. In the Podman tile, click Create new.

  3. In the Create a Podman machine screen:

    1. Name: Enter a name, such as podman-machine-default.
    2. CPU(s): Select the number of CPUs.
    3. Memory: Select the memory size.
    4. Disk size: Select the disk size.
    5. Optional: Provide a bootable image using one of the following options:
      • Image Path: Select an image, such as podman-machine.aarch64.applehv.raw.zst from your local machine.
      • Image URL or image reference: Enter an image URL or a registry path. You can use an image URL from the Podman releases page or use a valid registry path in the format registry/repo/image:version.
    6. Machine with root privileges: Enable to use the rootful connection by default. Required to use Kind on Windows.
    7. Additional settings based on your operating system:
      • (On Windows) User mode networking (traffic relayed by a user process): Enable to route the traffic through the network connection from your Windows session. This setting is required to access resources behind your VPN connection.
      • (On macOS) Provider Type: The default value is Apple HyperVisor. Before switching to GPU enabled (LibKrun), ensure that you have configured the machine provider manually.
    8. Click Create.

    Create a Podman machine