---
description: Create a machine.
keywords: machine, create, subcommand
title: docker-machine create
---

Create a machine.  Requires the `--driver` flag to indicate which provider
(VirtualBox, DigitalOcean, AWS, etc.) the machine should be created on, and an
argument to indicate the name of the created machine.

> Looking for the full list of available drivers?
>
>For a full list of drivers that work with `docker-machine create` and
information on how to use them, see [Machine
drivers](/machine/drivers/index.md).
{: .important}

## Example

Here is an example of using the `--virtualbox` driver to create a machine called `dev`.

```none
$ docker-machine create --driver virtualbox dev
Creating CA: /home/username/.docker/machine/certs/ca.pem
Creating client certificate: /home/username/.docker/machine/certs/cert.pem
Image cache does not exist, creating it at /home/username/.docker/machine/cache...
No default boot2docker iso found locally, downloading the latest release...
Downloading https://github.com/boot2docker/boot2docker/releases/download/v1.6.2/boot2docker.iso to /home/username/.docker/machine/cache/boot2docker.iso...
Creating VirtualBox VM...
Creating SSH key...
Starting VirtualBox VM...
Starting VM...
To see how to connect Docker to this machine, run: docker-machine env dev
```

## Accessing driver-specific flags in the help text

The `docker-machine create` command has some flags which are applicable to all
drivers.  These largely control aspects of Machine's provisioning process
(including the creation of Docker Swarm containers) that the user may wish to
customize.

```none
$ docker-machine create
Docker Machine Version: 0.5.0 (45e3688)
Usage: docker-machine create [OPTIONS] [arg...]

Create a machine.

Run 'docker-machine create --driver name' to include the create flags for that driver in the help text.

Options:

   --driver, -d "none"                                                                                  Driver to create machine with.
   --engine-install-url "https://get.docker.com"                                                        Custom URL to use for engine installation [$MACHINE_DOCKER_INSTALL_URL]
   --engine-opt [--engine-opt option --engine-opt option]                                               Specify arbitrary flags to include with the created engine in the form flag=value
   --engine-insecure-registry [--engine-insecure-registry option --engine-insecure-registry option]     Specify insecure registries to allow with the created engine
   --engine-registry-mirror [--engine-registry-mirror option --engine-registry-mirror option]           Specify registry mirrors to use [$ENGINE_REGISTRY_MIRROR]
   --engine-label [--engine-label option --engine-label option]                                         Specify labels for the created engine
   --engine-storage-driver                                                                              Specify a storage driver to use with the engine
   --engine-env [--engine-env option --engine-env option]                                               Specify environment variables to set in the engine
   --swarm                                                                                              Configure Machine with Swarm
   --swarm-image "swarm:latest"                                                                         Specify Docker image to use for Swarm [$MACHINE_SWARM_IMAGE]
   --swarm-master                                                                                       Configure Machine to be a Swarm master
   --swarm-discovery                                                                                    Discovery service to use with Swarm
   --swarm-strategy "spread"                                                                            Define a default scheduling strategy for Swarm
   --swarm-opt [--swarm-opt option --swarm-opt option]                                                  Define arbitrary flags for swarm
   --swarm-host "tcp://0.0.0.0:3376"                                                                    ip/socket to listen on for Swarm master
   --swarm-addr                                                                                         addr to advertise for Swarm (default: detect and use the machine IP)
   --swarm-experimental                                                                                 Enable Swarm experimental features
```

Additionally, drivers can specify flags that Machine can accept as part of their
plugin code.  These allow users to customize the provider-specific parameters of
the created machine, such as size (`--amazonec2-instance-type m1.medium`),
geographical region (`--amazonec2-region us-west-1`), and so on.

To see the provider-specific flags, simply pass a value for `--driver` when
invoking the `create` help text.

```none
$ docker-machine create --driver virtualbox --help
Usage: docker-machine create [OPTIONS] [arg...]

Create a machine.

Run 'docker-machine create --driver name' to include the create flags for that driver in the help text.

Options:

   --driver, -d "none"                                                                                  Driver to create machine with.
   --engine-env [--engine-env option --engine-env option]                                               Specify environment variables to set in the engine
   --engine-insecure-registry [--engine-insecure-registry option --engine-insecure-registry option]     Specify insecure registries to allow with the created engine
   --engine-install-url "https://get.docker.com"                                                        Custom URL to use for engine installation [$MACHINE_DOCKER_INSTALL_URL]
   --engine-label [--engine-label option --engine-label option]                                         Specify labels for the created engine
   --engine-opt [--engine-opt option --engine-opt option]                                               Specify arbitrary flags to include with the created engine in the form flag=value
   --engine-registry-mirror [--engine-registry-mirror option --engine-registry-mirror option]           Specify registry mirrors to use [$ENGINE_REGISTRY_MIRROR]
   --engine-storage-driver                                                                              Specify a storage driver to use with the engine
   --swarm                                                                                              Configure Machine with Swarm
   --swarm-addr                                                                                         addr to advertise for Swarm (default: detect and use the machine IP)
   --swarm-discovery                                                                                    Discovery service to use with Swarm
   --swarm-experimental                                                                                 Enable Swarm experimental features
   --swarm-host "tcp://0.0.0.0:3376"                                                                    ip/socket to listen on for Swarm master
   --swarm-image "swarm:latest"                                                                         Specify Docker image to use for Swarm [$MACHINE_SWARM_IMAGE]
   --swarm-master                                                                                       Configure Machine to be a Swarm master
   --swarm-opt [--swarm-opt option --swarm-opt option]                                                  Define arbitrary flags for swarm
   --swarm-strategy "spread"                                                                            Define a default scheduling strategy for Swarm
   --virtualbox-boot2docker-url                                                                         The URL of the boot2docker image. Defaults to the latest available version [$VIRTUALBOX_BOOT2DOCKER_URL]
   --virtualbox-cpu-count "1"                                                                           number of CPUs for the machine (-1 to use the number of CPUs available) [$VIRTUALBOX_CPU_COUNT]
   --virtualbox-disk-size "20000"                                                                       Size of disk for host in MB [$VIRTUALBOX_DISK_SIZE]
   --virtualbox-host-dns-resolver                                                                       Use the host DNS resolver [$VIRTUALBOX_HOST_DNS_RESOLVER]
   --virtualbox-dns-proxy                                                                               Proxy all DNS requests to the host [$VIRTUALBOX_DNS_PROXY]
   --virtualbox-hostonly-cidr "192.168.99.1/24"                                                         Specify the Host Only CIDR [$VIRTUALBOX_HOSTONLY_CIDR]
   --virtualbox-hostonly-nicpromisc "deny"                                                              Specify the Host Only Network Adapter Promiscuous Mode [$VIRTUALBOX_HOSTONLY_NIC_PROMISC]
   --virtualbox-hostonly-nictype "82540EM"                                                              Specify the Host Only Network Adapter Type [$VIRTUALBOX_HOSTONLY_NIC_TYPE]
   --virtualbox-import-boot2docker-vm                                                                   The name of a Boot2Docker VM to import
   --virtualbox-memory "1024"                                                                           Size of memory for host in MB [$VIRTUALBOX_MEMORY_SIZE]
   --virtualbox-no-share                                                                                Disable the mount of your home directory
```

You may notice that some flags specify environment variables that they are
associated with as well (located to the far left hand side of the row).  If
these environment variables are set when `docker-machine create` is invoked,
Docker Machine will use them for the default value of the flag.

## Specifying configuration options for the created Docker engine

As part of the process of creation, Docker Machine installs Docker and
configures it with some sensible defaults. For instance, it allows connection
from the outside world over TCP with TLS-based encryption and defaults to AUFS
as the [storage
driver](/engine/reference/commandline/dockerd.md#daemon-storage-driver-option)
when available.

There are several cases where the user might want to set options for the created
Docker engine (also known as the Docker _daemon_) themselves. For example, they
may want to allow connection to a [registry](/registry/index.md)
that they are running themselves using the `--insecure-registry` flag for the
daemon. Docker Machine supports the configuration of such options for the
created engines via the `create` command flags which begin with `--engine`.

Note that Docker Machine simply sets the configured parameters on the daemon
and does not set up any of the "dependencies" for you. For instance, if you
specify that the created daemon should use `btrfs` as a storage driver, you
still must ensure that the proper dependencies are installed, the BTRFS
filesystem has been created, and so on.

The following is an example usage:

```none
$ docker-machine create -d virtualbox \
    --engine-label foo=bar \
    --engine-label spam=eggs \
    --engine-storage-driver overlay \
    --engine-insecure-registry registry.myco.com \
    foobarmachine
```

This will create a virtual machine running locally in Virtualbox which uses the
`overlay` storage backend, has the key-value pairs `foo=bar` and `spam=eggs` as
labels on the engine, and allows pushing / pulling from the insecure registry
located at `registry.myco.com`. You can verify much of this by inspecting the
output of `docker info`:

```none
$ eval $(docker-machine env foobarmachine)
$ docker info
Containers: 0
Images: 0
Storage Driver: overlay
...
Name: foobarmachine
...
Labels:
 foo=bar
 spam=eggs
 provider=virtualbox
```

The supported flags are as follows:

-   `--engine-insecure-registry`: Specify [insecure registries](/engine/reference/commandline/cli.md#insecure-registries) to allow with the created engine
-   `--engine-registry-mirror`: Specify [registry mirrors](/registry/recipes/mirror.md) to use
-   `--engine-label`: Specify [labels](/engine/userguide/labels-custom-metadata.md#daemon-labels) for the created engine
-   `--engine-storage-driver`: Specify a [storage driver](/engine/reference/commandline/cli.md#daemon-storage-driver-option) to use with the engine

If the engine supports specifying the flag multiple times (such as with
`--label`), then so does Docker Machine.

In addition to this subset of daemon flags which are directly supported, Docker
Machine also supports an additional flag, `--engine-opt`, which can be used to
specify arbitrary daemon options with the syntax `--engine-opt flagname=value`.
For example, to specify that the daemon should use `8.8.8.8` as the DNS server
for all containers, and always use the `syslog` [log
driver](/engine/reference/run.md#logging-drivers-log-driver) you
could run the following create command:

```none
$ docker-machine create -d virtualbox \
    --engine-opt dns=8.8.8.8 \
    --engine-opt log-driver=syslog \
    gdns
```

Additionally, Docker Machine supports a flag, `--engine-env`, which can be used to
specify arbitrary environment variables to be set within the engine with the syntax `--engine-env name=value`. For example, to specify that the engine should use `example.com` as the proxy server, you could run the following create command:

    $ docker-machine create -d virtualbox \
        --engine-env HTTP_PROXY=http://example.com:8080 \
        --engine-env HTTPS_PROXY=https://example.com:8080 \
        --engine-env NO_PROXY=example2.com \
        proxbox

## Specifying Docker Swarm options for the created machine

In addition to being able to configure Docker Engine options as listed above,
you can use Machine to specify how the created Swarm master should be
configured. There is a `--swarm-strategy` flag, which you can use to specify
the [scheduling strategy](/swarm/scheduler/strategy.md)
which Docker Swarm should use (Machine defaults to the `spread` strategy).
There is also a general purpose `--swarm-opt` option which works similar to the aforementioned `--engine-opt` option, except that it specifies options
for the `swarm manage` command (used to boot a master node) instead of the base
command. You can use this to configure features that power users might be
interested in, such as configuring the heartbeat interval or Swarm's willingness
to over-commit resources. There is also the `--swarm-experimental` flag, that
allows you to access [experimental features](https://github.com/docker/swarm/tree/master/experimental)
in Docker Swarm.

If you're not sure how to configure these options, it is best to not specify
configuration at all. Docker Machine will choose sensible defaults for you and
you won't have to worry about it.

Example create:

```none
$ docker-machine create -d virtualbox \
    --swarm \
    --swarm-master \
    --swarm-discovery token://<token> \
    --swarm-strategy binpack \
    --swarm-opt heartbeat=5s \
    upbeat
```

This will set the swarm scheduling strategy to "binpack" (pack in containers as
tightly as possible per host instead of spreading them out), and the "heartbeat"
interval to 5 seconds.

## Pre-create check

Since many drivers require a certain set of conditions to be in place before
they can successfully perform a create (e.g. VirtualBox should be installed, or
the provided API credentials should be valid), Docker Machine has a "pre-create
check" which is specified at the driver level.

If this pre-create check succeeds, Docker Machine will proceed with the creation
as normal.  If the pre-create check fails, the Docker Machine process will exit
with status code 3 to indicate that the source of the non-zero exit was the
pre-create check failing.
