canonical / canonical/multipass

Allow to create instances stopped

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#2,432 6 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub
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Description

**What are you trying to do?**

I'm trying to change VM's settings using `modifyvm`, and to do that I have to stop it first.

**What's your proposed solution?**

Actually, I'd like to have an option to set `host-only` network, but it's also okay if I would be able to start VM in a stopped state, change VM settings using `modifyvm`, and start it using as usual using `multipass launch` command

**Additional context**

Workflow I'm following

```bash
cat > cloud-init.yaml <<'EOF'
write_files:
- path: /etc/netplan/60-host-only.yaml
permissions: '0644'
content: |
network:
ethernets:
IFACE_NAME:
optional: yes
dhcp4: yes
dhcp4-overrides:
route-metric: 110
set-name: IFACE_NAME
dhcp6: no
version: 2
runcmd:
- 'sed -i "s/IFACE_NAME/enp0s8/g" /etc/netplan/60-host-only.yaml'
- 'netplan generate'
- 'netplan apply'
EOF
multipass launch docker --cloud-init cloud-init.yaml
multipass stop docker
gsudo -s "%VBOX_MSI_INSTALL_PATH%\vboxmanage" modifyvm docker --nic2 hostonly --hostonlyadapter2 "VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter"
multipass start docker
```

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Trace the `multipass launch`, `stop`, and `start` entry points and the platform path behind the shown `modifyvm` workflow. Compare the two requested outcomes—creating an initially stopped instance or configuring a host-only network—and define completion as one supported workflow that preserves normal instance startup behavior.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
cpp, shell
Domain
cli, infrastructure, networking
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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