lxc-start - run an application inside a container.
Contents
Common Options
These options are common to most of lxc commands.
-?,-h,--help
Print a longer usage message than normal.
--usage
Give the usage message
-q,--quiet
mute on
-P,--lxcpath=PATH
Use an alternate container path. The default is /var/lib/lxc.
-o,--logfile=FILE
Output to an alternate log FILE. The default is no log.
-l,--logpriority=LEVEL
Set log priority to LEVEL. The default log priority is ERROR. Possible values are : FATAL, ALERT,
CRIT, WARN, ERROR, NOTICE, INFO, DEBUG, TRACE.
Note that this option is setting the priority of the events log in the alternate log file. It do
not have effect on the ERROR events log on stderr.
-n,--name=NAME
Use container identifier NAME. The container identifier format is an alphanumeric string.
--rcfile=FILE
Specify the configuration file to configure the virtualization and isolation functionalities for
the container.
This configuration file if present will be used even if there is already a configuration file
present in the previously created container (via lxc-create).
--version
Show the version number.
Description
lxc-start runs the specified command inside the container specified by name.
It will setup the container according to the configuration previously defined with the lxc-create command
or with the configuration file parameter. If no configuration is defined, the default isolation is used.
If no command is specified, lxc-start will use the command defined in lxc.init.cmd or if not set, the de‐
fault "/sbin/init" command to run a system container.
Diagnostic
The container is busy
The specified container is already running an application. You should stop it before reuse this
container or create a new one.
Name
lxc-start - run an application inside a container.
Options
-d,--daemon
Run the container as a daemon. As the container has no more tty, if an error occurs nothing will
be displayed, the log file can be used to check the error. (This is the default mode)
-F,--foreground
Run the container in the foreground. In this mode, the container console will be attached to the
current tty and signals will be routed directly to the container.
-p,--pidfilepid_file
Create a file with the process id.
-f,--rcfileconfig_file
Specify the configuration file to configure the virtualization and isolation functionalities for
the container.
This configuration file if present will be used even if there is already a configuration file
present in the previously created container (via lxc-create).
-c,--consoleconsole_device
Specify a device to use for the container's console, for example /dev/tty8. If this option is not
specified the current terminal will be used unless -d is specified.
-L,--console-logconsole_logfile
Specify a file to log the container's console output to.
-s,--defineKEY=VAL
Assign value VAL to configuration variable KEY. This overrides any assignment done in config_file.
-C,--close-all-fds
If any file descriptors are inherited, close them. If this option is not specified, then lxc-start
will exit with failure instead. Note: --daemon implies --close-all-fds.
--share-netname|pid
Inherit a network namespace from a name container or a pid. The network namespace will continue to
be managed by the original owner. The network configuration of the starting container is ignored
and the up/down scripts won't be executed.
--share-ipcname|pid
Inherit an IPC namespace from a name container or a pid.
--share-utsname|pid
Inherit a UTS namespace from a name container or a pid. The starting LXC will not set the host‐
name, but the container OS may do it anyway.
See Also
lxc(7), lxc-create(1), lxc-copy(1), lxc-destroy(1), lxc-start(1), lxc-stop(1), lxc-execute(1), lxc-con‐sole(1), lxc-monitor(1), lxc-wait(1), lxc-cgroup(1), lxc-ls(1), lxc-info(1), lxc-freeze(1), lxc-un‐freeze(1), lxc-attach(1), lxc.conf(5) 2025-05-10 lxc-start(1)
Synopsis
lxc-start {-n name} [-f config_file] [-c console_device] [-L console_logfile] [-d] [-F] [-p pid_file] [-s
KEY=VAL] [-C] [--share-[net|ipc|uts] name|pid] [command]
