Kitematic refuses to launch on Windows 10

Archive Kitematic
1

Steps to reproduce:

Scenario 1:

  1. Install a fresh copy of Docker Toolbox (version 1.9.1h as of this thread)
  2. Double click the Kitematic desktop icon to launch (or from the Start menu or Search)
  3. VirtualBox VM instance ‘default’ is created and starts fine (launch VirtualBox to see)
  4. After about a 2 minute pause, an error message appears (see below):

    …
    ‘C:\Program’ is not recognized as an internal or external command,(default) DBG | operable program or batch file.,(default) DBG | ,(default) DBG | ,notifying bugsnag: [Error in driver during machine creation: Too many retries waiting for SSH to be available. Last error: Maximum number of retries (60) exceeded]
    …

Scenario 2:

  1. Install a fresh copy of Docker Toolbox (version 1.9.1h)
  2. Double click the Docker Quickstart Terminal desktop icon to launch (or from the Start menu or Search)
  3. VirtualBox VM instance ‘default’ is created and starts fine (launch VirtualBox to see)
  4. Double click the Kitematic desktop icon to launch (or from the Start menu or Search)
  5. After about a 1 minute pause, an error message appears (see below):

    Could not determine IP from docker-machine.

In both of these scenarios, running any of these apps as administrator makes no difference. It produces the same results.

What does work:

  1. Install a fresh copy of Docker Toolbox (version 1.9.1h)
  2. Double click the Docker Quickstart Terminal desktop icon to launch (or from the Start menu or Search)
  3. VirtualBox VM instance ‘default’ is created and starts fine (launch VirtualBox to see)
  4. From the Docker Quickstart Terminal window, type the following:

    $ /c/Program\ Files/Docker\ Toolbox/kitematic/Kitematic.exe

From the error message in Scenario 1, it appears the space in the directory name is preventing the app from executing correctly. Maybe this explains why I can launch Kitematic from the terminal since I escape the spaces in the directories? In any event, I hope this bug is fixed in a future Docker Toolbox release.

Hardware specs:
OS Name Microsoft Windows 10 Home
Version 10.0.10586 Build 10586
Other OS Description Not Available
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name LENOVO
System Manufacturer LENOVO
System Model 80DU
System Type x64-based PC
System SKU LENOVO_MT_80DU_BU_idea_FM_Lenovo Y70-70 Touch
Processor Intel® Core™ i7-4710HQ CPU @ 2.50GHz, 2501 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s)

Software versions:
Docker Toolbox version 1.9.1h
VirtualBox Version 5.0.12 r104815

The latest Windows updates have been applied.

2

Exact same problem here. Win 10 Pro.

Kitematic hangs for an age at 100% then dumps out the log with the error in OP.

But, it’s not a Kitematic error: I can reproduce using Docker CLI (docker-machine) also:
…
> docker-machine ip my-machine Error getting IP address: Something went wrong running an SSH command! command : ip addr show dev eth1 err : exit status 1 output : 'C:\Program' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.
…
So I assume it is a Docker Toolbox config issue as it is not using the SSH binary set in the PATH variable…

[UPDATED - SOLVED]

It actually fails at the SSH call (using GoW), actually calling
C:\Program Files (x86)\Gow\bin\ssh.bat that calls plink…
…
C:\Program Files (x86)\Gow\bin\ssh.bat},(default) DBG | About to run SSH command:,(default) DBG | exit 0,(default) DBG | SSH cmd err, output: exit status 1: 'C:\Program' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
Loops on that for 60 then bails out.

TO SOLVE:

Unfortunately, this is a clash with GOW - uninstall GOW.

Do this and Kitematic uses an internal SSH bin and this error is not seen.