How to access the VM created by docker's HyperKit?

Jifeng Zhang picture Jifeng Zhang · Sep 28, 2016 · Viewed 23.9k times · Source

Docker for Mac uses a Linux VM created by HyperKit for storing and running containers on Mac.

With Docker Toolbox, I can just open VirtualBox and access the docker-machine VM. But with Docker for Mac, how do I access the VM created by HyperKit?

Answer

Jifeng Zhang picture Jifeng Zhang · Sep 28, 2016

Update 2019-01-31, thanks to ru10's update, now there is a better way:

screen ~/Library/Containers/com.docker.docker/Data/vms/0/tty

Original Answer:

After a while, I found following way to get a shell of the VM that was created by HyperKit:

Run from terminal:

screen ~/Library/Containers/com.docker.docker/Data/com.docker.driver.amd64-linux/tty

You will see an empty screen, then type enter, you will get a login prompt. Login as root and hit enter, you will get a shell (no password), you will gett the shell:

enter image description here

To exit the session, type Ctrl-A k (then y to confirm).

It is a little bit hacky, but it seems to work for now (Sep 2016) (Sep 2017).