! StartHost failed, but will try again: error loading existing host

[NinadD26]

! StartHost failed, but will try again: error loading existing host. Please try running [minikube delete], then run [minikube start] again: filestore "minikube": open C:\Users\HP.minikube\machines\minikube\config.json: The system cannot find the file specified.

• Failed to start virtualbox VM. Running "minikube delete" may fix it: error loading existing host. Please try running [minikube delete], then run [minikube start] again: filestore "minikube": open C:\Users\HP.minikube\machines\minikube\config.json: The system cannot find the file specified.

X Exiting due to GUEST_NOT_FOUND: Failed to start host: error loading existing host. Please try running [minikube delete], then run [minikube start] again: filestore "minikube": open C:\Users\HP.minikube\machines\minikube\config.json: The system cannot find the file specified.

• Suggestion: minikube is missing files relating to your guest environment. This can be fixed by running 'minikube delete'

[Yensan]

+1 , It occurred in my case.
OS: openSUSE Leap 15.4, kernel 5.14.21-150400.22
minikube version: v1.26.0 commit: f4b4128
log:

$ minikube logs --file=logs.txt
E0626 18:37:28.624418    6551 logs.go:192] command /bin/bash -c "sudo /var/lib/minikube/binaries/v1.24.1/kubectl describe nodes --kubeconfig=/var/lib/minikube/kubeconfig" failed with error: /bin/bash -c "sudo /var/lib/minikube/binaries/v1.24.1/kubectl describe nodes --kubeconfig=/var/lib/minikube/kubeconfig": Process exited with status 1
stdout:

stderr:
The connection to the server localhost:8443 was refused - did you specify the right host or port?
 output: "\n** stderr ** \nThe connection to the server localhost:8443 was refused - did you specify the right host or port?\n\n** /stderr **"

❗  unable to fetch logs for: describe nodes

I try many times. Both in virtualbox and kvm2. Enter the VM, docker images all done. No one containers at all.

$ minikube ssh
                         _             _

$ crictl --runtime-endpoint unix:///var/run/cri-dockerd.sock ps -a | grep kube | grep -v pause
$ docker images
REPOSITORY                                                                    TAG       IMAGE ID       CREATED         SIZE
registry.cn-hangzhou.aliyuncs.com/google_containers/kube-apiserver            v1.24.1   e9f4b425f919   4 weeks ago     130MB
registry.cn-hangzhou.aliyuncs.com/google_containers/kube-controller-manager   v1.24.1   b4ea7e648530   4 weeks ago     119MB
registry.cn-hangzhou.aliyuncs.com/google_containers/kube-proxy                v1.24.1   beb86f5d8e6c   4 weeks ago     110MB
registry.cn-hangzhou.aliyuncs.com/google_containers/kube-scheduler            v1.24.1   18688a72645c   4 weeks ago     51MB
registry.cn-hangzhou.aliyuncs.com/google_containers/etcd                      3.5.3-0   aebe758cef4c   2 months ago    299MB
registry.cn-hangzhou.aliyuncs.com/google_containers/pause                     3.7       221177c6082a   3 months ago    711kB
registry.cn-hangzhou.aliyuncs.com/google_containers/coredns                   v1.8.6    a4ca41631cc7   8 months ago    46.8MB
registry.cn-hangzhou.aliyuncs.com/google_containers/storage-provisioner       v5        6e38f40d628d   15 months ago   31.5MB
$ docker ps -a
CONTAINER ID   IMAGE     COMMAND   CREATED   STATUS    PORTS     NAMES
$ journalctl -xeu kubelet
Jun 26 10:47:53 minikube kubelet[3668]: E0626 10:47:53.032295    3668 kubelet.go:2419] "Error getting node" err="node \"minikube\" not found"
Jun 26 10:47:53 minikube kubelet[3668]: I0626 10:47:53.037964    3668 kubelet_node_status.go:70] "Attempting to register node" node="minikube"
Jun 26 10:47:53 minikube kubelet[3668]: E0626 10:47:53.038914    3668 kubelet_node_status.go:92] "Unable to register node with API server" err="Post \"https://control-plane.min
Jun 26 10:47:53 minikube kubelet[3668]: E0626 10:47:53.149120    3668 kubelet.go:2419] "Error getting node" err="node \"minikube\" not found"
Jun 26 10:47:56 minikube kubelet[3668]: E0626 10:47:56.659005    3668 controller.go:144] failed to ensure lease exists, will retry in 7s, error: Get "https://control-plane.mini
Jun 26 10:47:56 minikube kubelet[3668]: E0626 10:47:56.694653    3668 kubelet.go:2419] "Error getting node" err="node \"minikube\" not found"
Jun 26 10:47:57 minikube kubelet[3668]: E0626 10:47:57.103979    3668 eviction_manager.go:254] "Eviction manager: failed to get summary stats" err="failed to get node info: nod
Jun 26 10:47:57 minikube kubelet[3668]: E0626 10:47:57.809917    3668 kubelet.go:2419] "Error getting node" err="node \"minikube\" not found"
Jun 26 10:47:57 minikube kubelet[3668]: E0626 10:47:57.885258    3668 event.go:276] Unable to write event: '&v1.Event{TypeMeta:v1.TypeMeta{Kind:"", APIVersion:""}, ObjectMeta:v
Jun 26 10:47:57 minikube kubelet[3668]: E0626 10:47:57.910072    3668 kubelet.go:2419] "Error getting node" err="node \"minikube\" not found"
Jun 26 10:47:58 minikube kubelet[3668]: E0626 10:47:58.518238    3668 remote_runtime.go:212] "RunPodSandbox from runtime service failed" err="rpc error: code = Unknown desc = f
Jun 26 10:47:58 minikube kubelet[3668]: E0626 10:47:58.518361    3668 kuberuntime_sandbox.go:70] "Failed to create sandbox for pod" err="rpc error: code = Unknown desc = failed
Jun 26 10:47:58 minikube kubelet[3668]: E0626 10:47:58.518475    3668 kuberuntime_manager.go:815] "CreatePodSandbox for pod failed" err="rpc error: code = Unknown desc = failed
Jun 26 10:47:58 minikube kubelet[3668]: E0626 10:47:58.518699    3668 pod_workers.go:951] "Error syncing pod, skipping" err="failed to \"CreatePodSandbox\" for \"kube-controlle
Jun 26 10:47:58 minikube kubelet[3668]: E0626 10:47:58.616441    3668 kubelet.go:2419] "Error getting node" err="node \"minikube\" not found"
be kubelet[3668]: E0626 10:47:59.949652    3668 kubelet.go:2419] "Error getting node" err="node \"minikube\" not found"
Jun 26 10:48:00 minikube kubelet[3668]: E0626 10:48:00.050469    3668 kubelet.go:2419] "Error getting node" err="node \"minikube\" not found"
Jun 26 10:48:00 minikube kubelet[3668]: I0626 10:48:00.055903    3668 kubelet_node_status.go:70] "Attempting to register node" node="minikube"
Jun 26 10:48:00 minikube kubelet[3668]: E0626 10:48:00.056275    3668 kubelet_node_status.go:92] "Unable to register node with API server" err="Post \"https://control-plane.min
Jun 26 10:48:00 minikube kubelet[3668]: E0626 10:48:00.165122    3668 kubelet.go:2419] "Error getting node" err="node \"minikube\" not found"
Jun 26 10:48:01 minikube kubelet[3668]: E0626 10:48:01.512736    3668 remote_runtime.go:212] "RunPodSandbox from runtime service failed" err="rpc error: code = Unknown desc = f
Jun 26 10:48:01 minikube kubelet[3668]: E0626 10:48:01.512843    3668 kuberuntime_sandbox.go:70] "Failed to create sandbox for pod" err="rpc error: code = Unknown desc = failed
Jun 26 10:48:01 minikube kubelet[3668]: E0626 10:48:01.512884    3668 kuberuntime_manager.go:815] "CreatePodSandbox for pod failed" err="rpc error: code = Unknown desc = failed
Jun 26 10:48:01 minikube kubelet[3668]: E0626 10:48:01.512956    3668 pod_workers.go:951] "Error syncing pod, skipping" err="failed to \"CreatePodSandbox\" for \"kube-scheduler
Jun 26 10:48:01 minikube kubelet[3668]: E0626 10:48:01.601627    3668 kubelet.go:2419] "Error getting node" err="node \"minikube\" not found"
$ exit

then I want fix it. enter VM --> enter container, pull busybox, paly with it, all things going well. I can't image what is wrong with it, I can't fix it.

$ minikube ssh
                         _             _
$ docker pull busybox
Using default tag: latest
latest: Pulling from library/busybox
19d511225f94: Pull complete
Digest: sha256:3614ca5eacf0a3a1bcc361c939202a974b4902b9334ff36eb29ffe9011aaad83
Status: Downloaded newer image for busybox:latest
docker.io/library/busybox:latest
$ docker run -it --rm busybox
/ # w
USER		TTY		IDLE	TIME		 HOST
/ # who
/ # whoami
root
/ # exit

[Yensan]

$ minikube version
minikube version: v1.25.2
commit: 362d5fdc0a3dbee389b3d3f1034e8023e72bd3a7

rollback to v1.25.2, every thing is OK.

[klaases]

• Suggestion: minikube is missing files relating to your guest environment. This can be fixed by running 'minikube delete'

Hi @NinadD26, were you able to try minikube delete as suggested above? Does the issue persist?

[klaases]

Hi @NinadD26 – is this issue still occurring? Are additional details available? If so, please feel free to re-open the issue by commenting with /reopen. This issue will be closed as additional information was unavailable and some time has passed.

Additional information that may be helpful:

• Whether the issue occurs with the latest minikube release

• The exact minikube start command line used

• Attach the full output of minikube logs, run minikube logs --file=logs.txt to create a log file

Thank you for sharing your experience!

[plan9better]

/reopen
minikube v1.34.0 on Darwin 15.1 (arm64)

installed with nix. Tried removing docker network with docker network rm minikube, removing ~/.minikube, as well as running minikube delete and issue persists.

logs.txt: https://gist.github.com/plan9better/a87883db748873095ead09d00709ff92

exact command used to start minikube: minikube start

one thing that comes to mind is i have orbstack installed but switched the docker context to desktop-linux which was the default for me before installing orbstack (docker installed through docker desktop)

[k8s-ci-robot]

@plan9better: You can't reopen an issue/PR unless you authored it or you are a collaborator.

In response to this:

/reopen
minikube v1.34.0 on Darwin 15.1 (arm64)

installed with nix. Tried removing docker network with docker network rm minikube, removing ~/.minikube, as well as running minikube delete and issue persists.

logs.txt: https://gist.github.com/plan9better/a87883db748873095ead09d00709ff92

Instructions for interacting with me using PR comments are available here. If you have questions or suggestions related to my behavior, please file an issue against the kubernetes-sigs/prow repository.

[plan9better]

What fixed it for me was removing the minikube docker container, removing the docker network, the ~/.minikube directory and completely restarting the computer, not just docker.