[minikube]:windows node setup

[bobsira]

To test this PR follow the steps below

Prerequisites (local machine)

• Local clones of:

1. minikube-machine with the branch for this PR
2. minikube with the branch for this PR

• Optional: windows-node-image-builder repo if you want to build a custom VHD:

1) Prepare local modules (temporary local replace)

Open go.mod in your local minikube repo and temporarily replace the github.com/docker/machine module with your local minikube-machine path.

Before (example upstream replacement)
github.com/docker/machine => github.com/minikube-machine/machine v0.0.0-20240815173309-ffb6b643c381

Temporary local replace( use a Windows absolute path)

- github.com/docker/machine => github.com/minikube-machine/machine v0.0.0-20240815173309-ffb6b643c381
+ github.com/docker/machine => c:/dev/mini-machine/machine

Important: This replace is only for local testing. Remove or revert it before committing/pushing.

# run the command below to update the go.mod file
go mod tidy

2) Build minikube

From the minikube repo root build with make (repo uses make target)

# execute this in git bash 
make

You should now have minikube.exe in the repo out directory

3) Start a hybrid cluster (elevated PowerShell)

Start using the default (built-in) VHD

.\minikube.exe start --kubernetes-version=v1.32.3 -n 2 --node-os='[linux,windows]'

Start using a custom VHD (remote or local)

--windows-vhd-url accepts remote URLs or local absolute paths:

Remote
.\minikube.exe start --kubernetes-version=v1.32.3 -n 2 --node-os='[linux,windows]' --windows-vhd-url='https://<your-storage>/hybrid-minikube-windows-server.vhdx'
Local path
.\minikube.exe start --kubernetes-version=v1.32.3 -n 2 --node-os='[linux,windows]' --windows-vhd-url='C:\vhd\hybrid-minikube-windows-server.vhdx'

4) What to expect

• minikube start provisions a Linux control plane VM and a Windows worker VM.
• VM provisioned from a prebuilt VHD
• kubectl get nodes -o wide should show two nodes with OS labels: one linux, one windows.

Setting up the cluster

Verify your cluster

[Copilot]

Copilot reviewed 5 out of 10 changed files in this pull request and generated 6 comments.

Files not reviewed (5)

• pkg/minikube/bootstrapper/bootstrapper.go: Evaluated as low risk
• pkg/minikube/config/types.go: Evaluated as low risk
• pkg/minikube/constants/constants.go: Evaluated as low risk
• pkg/minikube/bootstrapper/certs.go: Evaluated as low risk
• pkg/minikube/machine/client.go: Evaluated as low risk

Comments suppressed due to low confidence (4)

pkg/minikube/node/powershell.go:21

• The variable 'powershell' should be checked to ensure it is not empty after 'exec.LookPath'. If 'powershell' is not found, an error should be returned.

powershell, _ = exec.LookPath("powershell.exe")

pkg/minikube/node/powershell.go:35

• [nitpick] The function 'cmdOut' should return stderr in case of an error to make debugging easier.

return stdout.String(), err

pkg/minikube/node/start.go:1073

• [nitpick] The error message could be more descriptive. Consider providing more context about the command that failed.

klog.Infof("couldn't run %q command. error: %v", rr.Command(), err)

pkg/minikube/node/start.go:389

• The new behavior for Windows nodes should be covered by tests to ensure it works as expected.

joinCmd, err = cpBs.GenerateTokenWindows(*starter.Cfg)

[TinaMor]

@bobsira Tested this locally and it works fine.

nit: Checked the minikube start --help. Is this correct? --windows-node-version='2025': and Defaults to Windows Server 2022

--windows-node-version='2025':
        The version of Windows to use for the Windows node on a multi-node cluster (e.g., 2019, 2022). Defaults to Windows Server 2022

[kartikjoshi21]

@bobsira Thankyou for the PR, I tested it on windows machine , It looks good to me, im able to spawn 2 different minikube nodes one with buildroot and other with windows server 2025.

[TinaMor]

LGTM

[ShemManyu]

LGTM

[mloskot]

Any updates on this?

[bobsira]

Any updates on this?

Hello @mloskot — we are targeting inclusion of this functionality in the next Minikube release.

For context, the Minikube maintainers are currently consolidating the minikube-machine repository into the main minikube repository. As a result, the changes implemented in this PR will need to be migrated into the Minikube repo once that consolidation is complete.

The expectation is that this consolidation will be finalized ahead of the next release, allowing the work to be carried over without blocking the release timeline.

[mloskot]

@bobsira Thank you very much for the update and for the hard work you've done her!