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# How to Setup Minikube on MAC M1/M2
- URL: https://devopscube.com/minikube-mac/
- Published: 2023-06-23T05:43:25.000Z
- Updated: 2025-03-14T14:39:57.000Z
- Author: Bibin Wilson
- Tags: HOW TO GUIDES, Kubernetes, #Migrated-1741795015845, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2025-03-12 15:57, #blog

This blog contains the guide to setting up a working Minikube cluster on MAC M1/M2 arm64 systems using the Qemu emulator as the backend driver.

Qemu emulator is the best option to run a [Kubernetes Cluster](https://devopscube.com/setup-kubernetes-cluster-kubeadm/) using minikube on MAC arm64-based systems without any issues. All other setups like [Docker](https://devopscube.com/what-is-docker/), [Podman](https://devopscube.com/podman-tutorial-beginners/), and [Virtualbox](https://devopscube.com/virtual-box-tutorial/) run into some sort of issue.

## Setup Minikube on MAC M1/M2

**Step 1:** Install Qemu

Install the Qemu emulator using the following command.

```
brew install qemu
```

**Step 2:** Setup Qemu socket\_vvmnet

For minikube service URLs to work, you need to start the socket\_vmnet service

```
brew install socket_vmnet
brew tap homebrew/services
HOMEBREW=$(which brew) && sudo ${HOMEBREW} services start socket_vmnet
```

**Step 3:** Install minikube

```
brew install minikube
```

**Step 4:** Start Minikube with the Qemu driver and **`socket_vmnet`**

```
minikube start --driver qemu --network socket_vmnet
```

On successful execution, you should see the below output.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5f/2f/5f2f4d20-2abf-4534-8d40-7aa233aedd43/content/images/2025/03/image-27-23.png)

## Validate Minikube Setup

****Note:** Ensure you have kubectl installed on your workstation.

To validate the setup let's deploy a sample nginx application with a NodePort service. So that we can validate pod deployment as well as network access using the NodePort service.

Execute the following kubernetes manifest to deploy nginx deployment and a Nodeport service

```
cat <<EOF | kubectl apply -f -
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: web-service
spec:
  ports:
  - name: http
    port: 80
  selector:
    app: web
  type: NodePort
---
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: web-deployment
spec:
  replicas: 2
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: web
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: web
    spec:
      containers:
      - image: nginx:1.14.2
        name: nginx
        ports:
        - containerPort: 80
EOF
```

Validate the deployment and service

```
kubectl get all
```

You should see an output as shown below.

![Validate Minikube Setup on MAC M1/M2](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5f/2f/5f2f4d20-2abf-4534-8d40-7aa233aedd43/content/images/2025/03/image-25-25.png)

To validate the networking, get the service URL using the following command. It will give you the node IP with NodePort in URL format.

```
minikube service web-service --url
```

Access the URL and you should be able to view the Nginx home page as shown below

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5f/2f/5f2f4d20-2abf-4534-8d40-7aa233aedd43/content/images/2025/03/image-26-23.png)

## Minikube Qemu Issues Issues

If you don't have socket\_vmnet running with Qemu and if you try to access Minikube service URLs, you will get the following error.

To rectify this, install the socket\_vmnet using the commands given in step 2 under the setup guide.

```
❌  Exiting due to MK_UNIMPLEMENTED: minikube service is not currently implemented with the builtin network on QEMU, try starting minikube with '--network=socket_vmnet'
```

## Conclusion

If you are new to Minikube, check out my [Minikube tutorial ](https://devopscube.com/kubernetes-minikube-tutorial/)where I have added all the required steps to get you started with a development Kubernetes cluster.

If you are learning Kubernetes, check out the [Kubernetes learning path](https://devopscube.com/learn-kubernetes-complete-roadmap/) and [Kubernetes tutorials for beginners.](https://devopscube.com/kubernetes-tutorials-beginners/)