On macOS and Windows, podman runs containers inside a lightweight Linux VM managed by podman machine, since the container runtime needs a Linux kernel. This layer doesn’t exist on Linux, where Podman talks to the kernel directly.
VM Lifecycle
If containers become unreachable or behave oddly after a host sleep/wake cycle, stopping and starting the machine usually resolves it before reaching for podman system reset.
Tweak Machine Settings
Tweak CPU, memory, or disk allocation with podman machine set (stop the machine first) or at creation time with podman machine init.
No live resizing:
podman machine setrefuses to run against a started VM — stop it first, apply the change, then start it back up.
Check Resource Usage
podman machine inspect shows the VM’s configured CPUs, memory, and disk allocation (defaults to the default machine if none is named). For live usage inside the VM, podman machine ssh in and use standard Linux tools. podman system df reports disk usage by images/containers/volumes instead of the VM as a whole.
Cheatsheet
Common Commands
podman machine init # create the default VM (only needed once)
podman machine start # start the VM
podman machine stop # stop the VM
podman machine list # show configured machines and their status
podman machine ssh # open a shell inside the VM
podman machine rm # delete the VMResize an Existing Machine
podman machine stop
podman machine set --cpus 4 --memory 4096Set Resources at Creation Time
podman machine init --cpus 4 --memory 4096 --disk-size 50Inspect Resource Allocation
podman machine inspect <machine-name>Check Usage Inside the VM
podman machine ssh
# Inside the VM
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df -hCheck Podman Disk Usage
podman system df