Change Docker machine location - Windows

Question

I am using docker toolbox on Windows 7 to run docker. (docker version 1.9.1)

As it turns out, the docker machine creates its VM at C:\\Users\\username\\.docker\\mach

Answer 1

I use windows 10 and Docker desktop (community) Version 2.0.0.0, I want to move vhdx file to another Drive.

Right click over Docker Desktop -> Settings then the Docker Desktop UI will open go to Advance -> Disk image location just change the path to new destination, the whole process was smooth and fast for me - it's automatically copy the vhdx file from original path to new path restart docker and all work as expected  

Answer 2

Since 2015, there is now (June 2017) Hyper-V, which allows you to define where you want your VHDX files:

See Docker for Windows 1.13.0, 2017-01-19 (stable):

VHDX file containing images and non-host mounted volumes can be moved (using “advanced” tab in the UI)

That will modify the %APPDATA%\Docker\settings.json with a line:

"MobyVhdPathOverride":"C:\\Users\\Public\\Documents\\Hyper-V\\New folder\\MobyLinuxVM.vhdx"

See this thread for more.

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Original answer

Currently 2015 , docker-machine forces the use of %USERPROFILE%:
See libmachine/mcnutils/utils.go#L17-L25

As commented in issue 499:

In the meantime, how will users be able to specify where the .docker/machine/* files are stored?

you can by specifying --storage-path on the command line or using the environment variable MACHINE_STORAGE_PATH.

(You can see it implemented in PR 1941)

Joost Den Boer points out in the comments

Just tried '-s <path>' on a Mac and it seems to work fine.
What might not be obvious is that the path option goes before the command.
Running "docker-machine -s /Volumes/other/location' create --driver=virtualbox" created a new VirtualBox image at the other location.

Answer 3

I have had a bit of trouble with any of the solutions above but this is what worked for me:

• define the MACHINE_STORAGE_PATH environment variable to point to your desired directory/folder.
• Install docker-toolbox as normal, if this works for you then fine, but for me it was still installing inside .docker directory.
• To fix this I have then stopped and removed the default machine that was created along with .docker folder from the Users directory.
• Edited the start.sh script and added the line at the top:

e.g.

export MACHINE_STORAGE_PATH=D:\\Docker

• Run the Docker Quickstart Terminal Shortcut, which rebuilt the default machine inside the desired folder

Answer 4

This is what worked perfectly for me on Windows 7:

1. Setup the MACHINE_STORAGE_PATH environment variable as the root of the location you want to use for the Docker machines/VMs, cache, etc.
2. Install Docker Toolbox
3. Run Docker Quickstart Terminal

Docker Toolbox will now create all the files at the location pointed at by MACHINE_STORAGE_PATH.

UPDATE:

Note that creating a new VM with the new storage path is not ideal, as the Docker Quickstart Terminal scripts don't seem to work with anything not named "default".

If you've already got a VM sitting in the C: drive, then the simplest thing to do would be to go to Oracle VirtualBox and delete the "default" VM, uninstall Docker Toolbox, delete C:\Users\<username>.docker\, and then follow the 3 steps above.

Note: uninstalling and reinstalling Docker Toolbox may not be required. But I haven't tested without it.

Update

To move Docker certificates also, set the DOCKER_CERT_PATH variable to point to the path of the new drive. Thanks to @Nutle for the tip.

Answer 5

I found lots of these answers were out of data, at least they did not work in my environment: win10 PRO, docker desktop community 2.0.0.3. Finally, I resolved this problem by this method:

1. uninstall docker

2. open Hyper-V manager (press WIN key and then enter "Hyper")

3. Change the default virtual hard disk locations in the Hyper-V settings (not on the VM settings) and confirm

4. install docker

5. check the disk image location in advanced options of docker settings

Answer 6

Create file called c:\programdata\docker\config\daemon.json with content below where e:\images is location where do you want to store all you images etc. restart docker.

{ "graph": "e:\\images" }

This Worked like a charm

Reference - https://forums.docker.com/t/where-are-images-stored/9794/11