Minikube for Ubuntu 20.04 WSL stuck on 'Restarting existing docker container for "minikube" ...' after minikube start and 'StartHost failed' error

Question

I've come across the following problem where my minikube cluster doesn't start and the command line becomes stagnant in the following way:

$ minikube start
�😄  minikube v1.17.1 on Ubuntu 20.04
�🆕  Kubernetes 1.20.2 is now available. If you would like to upgrade, specify: --kubernetes-version=v1.20.2
✨  Using the docker driver based on existing profile
�👍  Starting control plane node minikube in cluster minikube
�🔄  Restarting existing docker container for "minikube" ...

This all started after running minikube stop and then minikube start again after troubleshooting a kube-prometheus-stack helm release's pods not running. I've tried restarting my Docker daemon, rebooting my computer, searching online of course, and do see the minikube docker container created just after running minikube start despite the "StartHost failed" error and being stuck on updating the running docker container. I am not connected to a VPN, though I use one often.

Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!

Answer 1

Not sure if complete reinstall is a valid option for you, but for me this helped:

1. sudo minikube delete
2. After delete is finished, minikube start again