NOTE: For running Podman on Windows, refer to the Podman for Windows guide, which uses the recommended approach of a Podman-managed Linux backend. For Mac, see the Podman installation instructions. This guide covers the advanced usage of Podman with a custom Linux VM.
This is an experimental setup using QEMU VM for running Podman for the already supported Podman-remote client on Windows. The officially supported and recommended way of running Podman on Windows is using Podman machine.
- Windows 10 Build 18362 or later (Build 19044/Version 21H2 or later recommended)
- SSH client feature installed on the machine
- Hyper-V acceleration should be operational on the machine
- Directory
C:\qemu-remote\will be used for storing needed assets - Port
57561is free to use for ssh over a loopback interface
Download QEMU (7.2.0 minimal) from https://qemu.weilnetz.de/w64/
Then download the Fedora CoreOS (FCOS) image for QEMU from https://getfedora.org/coreos/download?tab=metal_virtualized&stream=testing&arch=x86_64
One will need .xz format extraction tool like xz itself or 7-zip. Use it to extract the .qcow2 image to C:\qemu-remote\fedora-coreos-37.20221127.2.0-qemu.x86_64.qcow2
With xz the command line (when run from the same directory) will be
xz -d fedora-coreos-37.20221127.2.0-qemu.x86_64.qcow2.xz
Download and install the latest release of Podman for Windows. Podman releases can be obtained from the official Podman GitHub release page: https://github.com/containers/podman/releases
When using older Podman releases (4.3.x and earlier), where gvproxy.exe is missing from the installation directory,
it could be obtained from the official releases https://github.com/containers/gvisor-tap-vsock/releases
One would need version 0.5.0 or a more recent release. Download gvproxy-windows.exe and copy it to
the Podman installation directory (or any other location, which is added to the PATH environment variable)
renaming the binary to gvproxy.exe.
Generate ssh keys with an empty passphrase
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -f C:\qemu-remote\remote
Create ignition file C:\qemu-remote\remote.ign with the content of
{"ignition":{"config":{"replace":{"verification":{}}},"proxy":{},"security":{"tls":{}},"timeouts":{},"version":"3.2.0"},"passwd":{"users":[{"name":"core","sshAuthorizedKeys":["YOURSSHKEYHERE"],"uid":501},{"name":"root","sshAuthorizedKeys":["YOURSSHKEYHERE"]}]},"storage":{"directories":[{"group":{"name":"core"},"path":"/home/core/.config","user":{"name":"core"},"mode":493},{"group":{"name":"core"},"path":"/home/core/.config/containers","user":{"name":"core"},"mode":493},{"group":{"name":"core"},"path":"/home/core/.config/systemd","user":{"name":"core"},"mode":493},{"group":{"name":"core"},"path":"/home/core/.config/systemd/user","user":{"name":"core"},"mode":493},{"group":{"name":"core"},"path":"/home/core/.config/systemd/user/default.target.wants","user":{"name":"core"},"mode":493},{"group":{"name":"root"},"path":"/etc/containers/registries.conf.d","user":{"name":"root"},"mode":493},{"group":{"name":"root"},"path":"/etc/systemd/system.conf.d","user":{"name":"root"},"mode":493},{"group":{"name":"root"},"path":"/etc/environment.d","user":{"name":"root"},"mode":493}],"files":[{"group":{"name":"core"},"path":"/home/core/.config/systemd/user/linger-example.service","user":{"name":"core"},"contents":{"source":"data:,%5BUnit%5D%0ADescription=A%20systemd%20user%20unit%20demo%0AAfter=network-online.target%0AWants=network-online.target%20podman.socket%0A%5BService%5D%0AExecStart=%2Fusr%2Fbin%2Fsleep%20infinity%0A","verification":{}},"mode":484},{"group":{"name":"core"},"path":"/home/core/.config/containers/containers.conf","user":{"name":"core"},"contents":{"source":"data:,%5Bcontainers%5D%0Anetns=%22bridge%22%0A","verification":{}},"mode":484},{"group":{"name":"root"},"overwrite":true,"path":"/etc/subuid","user":{"name":"root"},"contents":{"source":"data:,core:100000:1000000","verification":{}},"mode":484},{"group":{"name":"root"},"overwrite":true,"path":"/etc/subgid","user":{"name":"root"},"contents":{"source":"data:,core:100000:1000000","verification":{}},"mode":484},{"group":{"name":"root"},"path":"/etc/systemd/system/user@.service.d/delegate.conf","user":{"name":"root"},"contents":{"source":"data:,%5BService%5D%0ADelegate=memory%20pids%20cpu%20io%0A","verification":{}},"mode":420},{"group":{"name":"core"},"path":"/var/lib/systemd/linger/core","user":{"name":"core"},"contents":{"verification":{}},"mode":420},{"group":{"name":"root"},"path":"/etc/containers/containers.conf","user":{"name":"root"},"contents":{"source":"data:,%5Bengine%5D%0Amachine_enabled=true%0A","verification":{}},"mode":420},{"group":{"name":"root"},"path":"/etc/containers/podman-machine","user":{"name":"root"},"contents":{"source":"data:,qemu%0A","verification":{}},"mode":420},{"group":{"name":"root"},"path":"/etc/containers/registries.conf.d/999-podman-machine.conf","user":{"name":"root"},"contents":{"source":"data:,unqualified-search-registries=%5B%22docker.io%22%5D%0A","verification":{}},"mode":420},{"group":{},"path":"/etc/tmpfiles.d/podman-docker.conf","user":{},"contents":{"source":"data:,L+%20%20%2Frun%2Fdocker.sock%20%20%20-%20%20%20%20-%20%20%20%20-%20%20%20%20%20-%20%20%20%2Frun%2Fpodman%2Fpodman.sock%0A","verification":{}},"mode":420},{"group":{"name":"root"},"path":"/etc/profile.d/docker-host.sh","user":{"name":"root"},"contents":{"source":"data:,export%20DOCKER_HOST=%22unix:%2F%2F$%28podman%20info%20-f%20%22%7B%7B.Host.RemoteSocket.Path%7D%7D%22%29%22%0A","verification":{}},"mode":420}],"links":[{"group":{"name":"core"},"path":"/home/core/.config/systemd/user/default.target.wants/linger-example.service","user":{"name":"core"},"hard":false,"target":"/home/core/.config/systemd/user/linger-example.service"},{"group":{"name":"root"},"overwrite":true,"path":"/usr/local/bin/docker","user":{"name":"root"},"hard":false,"target":"/usr/bin/podman"},{"group":{"name":"root"},"overwrite":false,"path":"/etc/localtime","user":{"name":"root"},"hard":false,"target":"\\usr\\share\\zoneinfo"}]},"systemd":{"units":[{"enabled":true,"name":"podman.socket"},{"contents":"[Unit]\nRequires=dev-virtio\\\\x2dports-vport1p1.device\nAfter=remove-moby.service sshd.socket sshd.service\nOnFailure=emergency.target\nOnFailureJobMode=isolate\n[Service]\nType=oneshot\nRemainAfterExit=yes\nExecStart=/bin/sh -c '/usr/bin/echo Ready \u003e/dev/vport1p1'\n[Install]\nRequiredBy=default.target\n","enabled":true,"name":"ready.service"},{"enabled":false,"mask":true,"name":"docker.service"},{"enabled":false,"mask":true,"name":"docker.socket"},{"contents":"[Unit]\nDescription=Remove moby-engine\n# Run once for the machine\nAfter=systemd-machine-id-commit.service\nBefore=zincati.service\nConditionPathExists=!/var/lib/%N.stamp\n\n[Service]\nType=oneshot\nRemainAfterExit=yes\nExecStart=/usr/bin/rpm-ostree override remove moby-engine\nExecStart=/usr/bin/rpm-ostree ex apply-live --allow-replacement\nExecStartPost=/bin/touch /var/lib/%N.stamp\n\n[Install]\nWantedBy=default.target\n","enabled":true,"name":"remove-moby.service"},{"contents":"[Unit]\nDescription=Environment setter from QEMU FW_CFG\n[Service]\nType=oneshot\nRemainAfterExit=yes\nEnvironment=FWCFGRAW=/sys/firmware/qemu_fw_cfg/by_name/opt/com.coreos/environment/raw\nEnvironment=SYSTEMD_CONF=/etc/systemd/system.conf.d/default-env.conf\nEnvironment=ENVD_CONF=/etc/environment.d/default-env.conf\nEnvironment=PROFILE_CONF=/etc/profile.d/default-env.sh\nExecStart=/usr/bin/bash -c '/usr/bin/test -f ${FWCFGRAW} \u0026\u0026\\\n\techo \"[Manager]\\n#Got from QEMU FW_CFG\\nDefaultEnvironment=$(/usr/bin/base64 -d ${FWCFGRAW} | sed -e \"s+|+ +g\")\\n\" \u003e ${SYSTEMD_CONF} ||\\\n\techo \"[Manager]\\n#Got nothing from QEMU FW_CFG\\n#DefaultEnvironment=\\n\" \u003e ${SYSTEMD_CONF}'\nExecStart=/usr/bin/bash -c '/usr/bin/test -f ${FWCFGRAW} \u0026\u0026 (\\\n\techo \"#Got from QEMU FW_CFG\"\u003e ${ENVD_CONF};\\\n\tIFS=\"|\";\\\n\tfor iprxy in $(/usr/bin/base64 -d ${FWCFGRAW}); do\\\n\t\techo \"$iprxy\" \u003e\u003e ${ENVD_CONF}; done ) || \\\n\techo \"#Got nothing from QEMU FW_CFG\"\u003e ${ENVD_CONF}'\nExecStart=/usr/bin/bash -c '/usr/bin/test -f ${FWCFGRAW} \u0026\u0026 (\\\n\techo \"#Got from QEMU FW_CFG\"\u003e ${PROFILE_CONF};\\\n\tIFS=\"|\";\\\n\tfor iprxy in $(/usr/bin/base64 -d ${FWCFGRAW}); do\\\n\t\techo \"export $iprxy\" \u003e\u003e ${PROFILE_CONF}; done ) || \\\n\techo \"#Got nothing from QEMU FW_CFG\"\u003e ${PROFILE_CONF}'\nExecStartPost=/usr/bin/systemctl daemon-reload\n[Install]\nWantedBy=sysinit.target\n","enabled":true,"name":"envset-fwcfg.service"}]}}
Replace "YOURSSHKEYHERE" with the actual pub keys you generated.
One needs to run gvproxy first to make it ready for the QEMU VM launched afterward. Run it with the command below:
gvproxy.exe -listen-qemu unix://C:/qemu-remote/vlan_remote.sock -pid-file C:\qemu-remote\proxy.pid -ssh-port 57561 -forward-sock C:\qemu-remote\podman.sock -forward-dest /run/user/501/podman/podman.sock -forward-user core -forward-identity C:\qemu-remote\remote
Launch QEMU with the following command (the following configures it to use 4 CPUs and 8 GB RAM, but it could be adjusted for less):
qemu-system-x86_64w.exe -m 8192 -smp 4 -fw_cfg name=opt/com.coreos/config,file=C:\qemu-remote\remote.ign -netdev stream,id=vlan,server=off,addr.type=unix,addr.path=C:\qemu-remote\vlan_remote.sock -device virtio-net-pci,netdev=vlan,mac=5a:94:ef:e4:0c:ee -device virtio-serial -chardev socket,path=C:\qemu-remote\ready.sock,server=on,wait=off,id=apodman-machine-default_ready -device virtserialport,chardev=apodman-machine-default_ready,name=org.fedoraproject.port.0 -pidfile C:\qemu-remote\vm.pid -machine q35,accel=whpx:tcg -cpu max,vmx=off,monitor=off -drive if=virtio,file=C:\qemu-remote\fedora-coreos-37.20221127.2.0-qemu.x86_64.qcow2
Observe QEMU loading and wait for the message of SSH keys being provisioned to the machine. Next, before making the first ssh connection, one would need to add it to known hosts.
We are using 127.0.0.1 instead of localhost to force IPv4.
ssh-keyscan -p 57561 127.0.0.1 >> %USERPROFILE%\.ssh\known_hosts
Create a connection named "qemuremote"
podman system connection add --identity C:\qemu-remote\remote -p 57561 qemuremote ssh://core@127.0.0.1
Make it default for simplicity of operation/testing
podman system connection default qemuremote
Choose the active connection to be "qemuremote" (not needed if one made it default).
Run some basic network enabled workload:
podman run -d --rm -p 8080:80 nginx
Test it with
curl http -v http://localhost:8080
The built-in machinery of Podman machine will not work for a custom machine. One needs to gracefully shut it down by connecting via SSH:
ssh -i C:\qemu-remote\remote -p 57561 core@127.0.0.1
And then executing
sudo poweroff