machinectl

controls the systemd machine manager

TLDR

List running machines

$ machinectl list

Start a machine

$ sudo machinectl start machine_name

Stop a running machine

$ sudo machinectl stop machine_name

Open interactive shell in machine

$ sudo machinectl shell machine_name

Login to a machine

$ sudo machinectl login machine_name

Show machine status

$ machinectl status machine_name

Execute command in machine

$ sudo machinectl shell machine_name /bin/command

SYNOPSIS

machinectl [OPTIONS] COMMAND [NAME...]

DESCRIPTION

machinectl controls the systemd machine manager. It manages local containers and virtual machines through systemd-machined, including starting, stopping, and interacting with them.

PARAMETERS

-p, --property

Show specific property

-a, --all

Show all properties

-q, --quiet

Suppress output

--uid USER

User to run shell command as

-E, --setenv VAR=VALUE

Set environment variable in shell

-H, --host USER@HOST

Execute on remote host via SSH.

-M, --machine NAME

Execute in local container.

-h, --help

Print a short help text and exit.

--version

Print a short version string and exit.

--no-pager

Do not pipe output into a pager.

--no-legend

Do not print the legend (column headers and hints).

COMMANDS

list

List running machines

status NAME

Show machine runtime status

show NAME

Show machine properties

start NAME

Start a machine as systemd service

stop NAME

Stop a running machine

poweroff NAME

Power off a machine

reboot NAME

Reboot a machine

terminate NAME

Terminate a machine immediately

kill NAME

Send signal to machine processes

login NAME

Open login prompt to machine

shell [[USER@]NAME [COMMAND...]]

Open shell or run command in machine

copy-to NAME PATH [PATH]

Copy files to machine

copy-from NAME PATH [PATH]

Copy files from machine

bind NAME PATH [PATH]

Bind mount directory into machine

list-images

List available machine images

image-status NAME

Show image status

pull-raw URL [NAME]

Download raw disk image

pull-tar URL [NAME]

Download tar image

import-raw FILE [NAME]

Import raw disk image

import-tar FILE [NAME]

Import tar archive

remove NAME

Remove machine image

enable NAME

Enable machine to start at boot

disable NAME

Disable machine from starting at boot

clean

Remove hidden or read-only machine images

CAVEATS

Machines are typically started using systemd-nspawn. The shell command requires systemd-machined to be running. Container images are stored in /var/lib/machines/.

HISTORY

machinectl is part of systemd, providing container and VM management through systemd-machined and systemd-nspawn.