Change boot2docker memory assignment

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I've been playing around with docker on a mac so I need to install boot2docker to make it work.

I have a pretty powerful machine and a very resource hungry app so I want to up the available memory from the default which is 1GB to something like 8GB.

This is what I've tried

Booting boot2dock with the --memory param

boot2docker --memory=8116 boot

Change the config file

Verbose = true
VBM = "VBoxManage"
SSH = "ssh"
SSHGen = "ssh-keygen"
SSHKey = "/Users/mjsilva/.ssh/id_boot2docker"
VM = "boot2docker-vm"
Dir = "/Users/mjsilva/.boot2docker"
ISO = "/Users/mjsilva/.boot2docker/boot2docker.iso"
VMDK = ""
DiskSize = 20000
Memory = 8116
SSHPort = 2022
DockerPort = 2375
HostIP = "192.168.59.3"
DHCPIP = "192.168.59.99"
NetMask = [255, 255, 255, 0]
LowerIP = "192.168.59.103"
UpperIP = "192.168.59.254"
DHCPEnabled = true
Serial = false
SerialFile = "/Users/mjsilva/.boot2docker/boot2docker-vm.sock"

and then booting boot2docker

boot2docker boot

None of this approaches seem to work. I only end up only having the default memory.

The only way I manage to change was going to virtualbox GUI shutdown boot2docker, change it manually and boot it again.

Am I missing something?

Shan answered 26/6, 2014 at 3:56 Comment(0)

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You will need to re-initialize the boot2docker VM with the new memory settings:

$ boot2docker delete
$ boot2docker init -m 5555
... lots of output ...
$ boot2docker info
{ ... "Memory":5555 ...}

You can now boot2docker up and the image will always use the configured amount of memory.

Solingen answered 26/6, 2014 at 14:41 Comment(8)

When I try to run with the -m flag I get an unknown shorthand flag: 'm' in -m error. Does anyone know why? (boot2docker version returns Client version: v1.2.0 Git commit: a551732 – Democracy 27/8, 2014 at 17:26

I get the same issue as @Democracy – Donnenfeld 2/9, 2014 at 19:24

Can you try running boot2docker version and boot2docker help? The flag exists (at least) since 1.1.2 for Mac OSX – Jokester 2/9, 2014 at 20:50

Mine also complains that -m is an invalid flag. Client version 1.2.0, Git hash: a551732 – Kaolin 8/9, 2014 at 11:45

Ah, this is a bug that apparently have been fixed in the master branch (github.com/boot2docker/boot2docker-cli/pull/243). A work around is to manually change the Memory using the VirtualBox Admin GUI program. – Kaolin 8/9, 2014 at 12:2

See the answers below which mean you don't have to destroy your VM. I have up voted them and down voted this (sorry) so readers will go to the better answer. – Palla 10/2, 2015 at 11:11

WARNING: This will delete your downloaded images :( – Hurwit 13/7, 2015 at 22:29

No need to delete, look at the below answers, modify works. Voting them up, please do the same, so ppl don't waste time. – Methadone 5/8, 2015 at 19:30

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As boot2docker init -m did not work in my version of boot2docker, I just used VBoxManage command:

VBoxManage modifyvm boot2docker-vm --memory 3500

Also, using this I believe you can avoid destroying your VM, you should just stop it and then start again.

Soonsooner answered 17/10, 2014 at 15:18 Comment(2)

In recent versions of boot2docker, the vm name is boot2docker-vm – Norine 28/10, 2014 at 8:1

I realized after some time that boot2docker comes with fully capable VirtualBox UI. So you can just boot2docker stop, then type VirtualBox in your terminal, VirtualBox GUI will open where you can adjust parameters of you VM. – Soonsooner 10/3, 2015 at 13:44

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It is NOT necessary to delete your boot2docker vm as Abel Muiño said.

Its enough what to do what Alex Petrenko proposed.

boot2docker stop
VBoxManage modifyvm boot2docker-vm --memory 3500
boot2docker start

Arsenopyrite answered 4/2, 2015 at 12:20 Comment(1)

This comment is same as Alex Petrenko's Oct 2014 answer. For now voted them both up. But folks may want to consolidate them into one. For boot2doccer on windows I have used: /c/Program\ Files/Oracle/VirtualBox/VBoxManage.exe modifyvm boot2docker-vm --memory 6144 – Methadone 5/8, 2015 at 19:32

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You will need to re-initialize the boot2docker VM with the new memory settings:

$ boot2docker delete
$ boot2docker init -m 5555
... lots of output ...
$ boot2docker info
{ ... "Memory":5555 ...}