Kind Cluster Creation Fails After Podman Desktop Update on Windows 11 + WSL2

[soma-kurisu]

Environment

• OS: Windows 11
• WSL2 Distro: Ubuntu 22.04
• Podman Desktop: Updated recently to v1.20.2
• Kind: v0.29.0
• Podman: 5.5.2
• Podman Machine: podman-machine-default (WSL2-based)
• Kind Provider: KIND_EXPERIMENTAL_PROVIDER=podman

---

Summary

I’ve been successfully using Kind v0.29 for months on my WSL2 Ubuntu instance, connecting to a separately instantiated Podman machine (podman-machine-default). Everything worked fine until Podman Desktop prompted me to update.

After the update:

• Kind cluster creation fails.
• The error points to deprecated apiVersion: kubeadm.k8s.io/v1beta3.
• Kubernetes 1.33 now expects v1beta4.

---

What I Tried

• Provided a custom Kind config using kind.x-k8s.io/v1alpha4 with kubeadmConfigPatches targeting API Version kubeadm.k8s.io/v1beta4.
• Explicitly set the node image to older versions like kindest/node:v1.31.9.
• Experimented with different flags and overriding the kubeadm config.

None of these worked.

---

Logs

Please refer to the attached log file:
kind create cluster -v 9 > kind-create-cluster.log 2>&1

---

Expected Behavior

Kind should either:

• Handle the kubeadm API version regarding the k8s image version used internally.
• Allow overriding the config in a way that bypasses the deprecated spec.

---

Actual Behavior

Cluster creation fails with:
your configuration file uses a deprecated API spec: "kubeadm.k8s.io/v1beta3"

kind-create-cluster.log

Additional Context

I even removed Podman Desktop, Podman itself, and all artifacts those tools left behind. I reinstalled everything from scratch but the issue with kind creating clusters persists. Podman is still functional: no issues managing containers or the like.

Environment:

• kind version: (use kind version):
  kind v0.29.0 go1.24.2 linux/amd64

• Runtime info: (use podman info):
  Client:
  APIVersion: 5.5.2
  Built: 1750781679
  BuiltTime: Tue Jun 24 18:14:39 2025
  GitCommit: e7d8226745ba07a64b7176a7f128e4ef53225a0e
  GoVersion: go1.24.4
  Os: linux
  OsArch: linux/amd64
  Version: 5.5.2
  host:
  arch: amd64
  buildahVersion: 1.40.1
  cgroupControllers:

  • cpuset
  • io
  • memory
  • hugetlb
  • pids
  • rdma
    cgroupManager: cgroupfs
    cgroupVersion: v2
    conmon:
    package: conmon-2.1.13-1.fc41.x86_64
    path: /usr/bin/conmon
    version: 'conmon version 2.1.13, commit: '
    cpuUtilization:
    idlePercent: 94.67
    systemPercent: 1.4
    userPercent: 3.93
    cpus: 16
    databaseBackend: sqlite
    distribution:
    distribution: fedora
    variant: container
    version: "41"
    eventLogger: journald
    freeLocks: 2048
    hostname: PN1030UZ2608212
    idMappings:
    gidmap: null
    uidmap: null
    kernel: 6.6.87.2-microsoft-standard-WSL2
    linkmode: dynamic
    logDriver: journald
    memFree: 6459879424
    memTotal: 16611708928
    networkBackend: netavark
    networkBackendInfo:
    backend: netavark
    dns:
    package: aardvark-dns-1.15.0-1.fc41.x86_64
    path: /usr/libexec/podman/aardvark-dns
    version: aardvark-dns 1.15.0
    package: netavark-1.15.2-1.fc41.x86_64
    path: /usr/libexec/podman/netavark
    version: netavark 1.15.2
    ociRuntime:
    name: crun
    package: crun-1.23.1-1.fc41.x86_64
    path: /usr/bin/crun
    version: |-
    crun version 1.23.1
    commit: d20b23dba05e822b93b82f2f34fd5dada433e0c2
    rundir: /run/crun
    spec: 1.0.0
    +SYSTEMD +SELINUX +APPARMOR +CAP +SECCOMP +EBPF +CRIU +LIBKRUN +WASM:wasmedge +YAJL
    os: linux
    pasta:
    executable: /usr/bin/pasta
    package: passt-0^20250611.g0293c6f-1.fc41.x86_64
    version: |
    pasta 0^20250611.g0293c6f-1.fc41.x86_64
    Copyright Red Hat
    GNU General Public License, version 2 or later
    https://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html
    This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
    There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
    remoteSocket:
    exists: true
    path: unix:///run/podman/podman.sock
    rootlessNetworkCmd: pasta
    security:
    apparmorEnabled: false
    capabilities: CAP_CHOWN,CAP_DAC_OVERRIDE,CAP_FOWNER,CAP_FSETID,CAP_KILL,CAP_NET_BIND_SERVICE,CAP_SETFCAP,CAP_SETGID,CAP_SETPCAP,CAP_SETUID,CAP_SYS_CHROOT
    rootless: false
    seccompEnabled: true
    seccompProfilePath: /usr/share/containers/seccomp.json
    selinuxEnabled: false
    serviceIsRemote: true
    slirp4netns:
    executable: ""
    package: ""
    version: ""
    swapFree: 4293906432
    swapTotal: 4294967296
    uptime: 10h 1m 48.00s (Approximately 0.42 days)
    variant: ""
    plugins:
    authorization: null
    log:
  • k8s-file
  • none
  • passthrough
  • journald
    network:
  • bridge
  • macvlan
  • ipvlan
    volume:
  • local
    registries:
    search:
  • docker.io
    store:
    configFile: /usr/share/containers/storage.conf
    containerStore:
    number: 0
    paused: 0
    running: 0
    stopped: 0
    graphDriverName: overlay
    graphOptions:
    overlay.additionalImageStores:
    • /usr/lib/containers/storage
      overlay.imagestore: /usr/lib/containers/storage
      overlay.mountopt: nodev,metacopy=on
      graphRoot: /var/lib/containers/storage
      graphRootAllocated: 1081101176832
      graphRootUsed: 2827968512
      graphStatus:
      Backing Filesystem: extfs
      Native Overlay Diff: "false"
      Supports d_type: "true"
      Supports shifting: "true"
      Supports volatile: "true"
      Using metacopy: "true"
      imageCopyTmpDir: /var/tmp
      imageStore:
      number: 3
      runRoot: /run/containers/storage
      transientStore: false
      volumePath: /var/lib/containers/storage/volumes
      version:
      APIVersion: 5.5.2
      BuildOrigin: Fedora Project
      Built: 1750723200
      BuiltTime: Tue Jun 24 02:00:00 2025
      GitCommit: e7d8226745ba07a64b7176a7f128e4ef53225a0e
      GoVersion: go1.23.10
      Os: linux
      OsArch: linux/amd64
      Version: 5.5.2

• OS (e.g. from /etc/os-release):
  PRETTY_NAME="Ubuntu 22.04.5 LTS"
  NAME="Ubuntu"
  VERSION_ID="22.04"
  VERSION="22.04.5 LTS (Jammy Jellyfish)"
  VERSION_CODENAME=jammy
  ID=ubuntu
  ID_LIKE=debian
  HOME_URL="https://www.ubuntu.com/"
  SUPPORT_URL="https://help.ubuntu.com/"
  BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/"
  PRIVACY_POLICY_URL="https://www.ubuntu.com/legal/terms-and-policies/privacy-policy"
  UBUNTU_CODENAME=jammy

• Kubernetes version: (use kubectl version):
  kubectl version
  Client Version: v1.31.0

• Any proxies or other special environment settings?:
  No

[BenTheElder]

Kubernetes 1.33 now expects v1beta4.

kubernetes 1.33 still supports v1beta3 and we are still using it. that is not why it is failing. this is just a warning. #3847

please include the cluster logs per the bug template, thanks

[soma-kurisu]

@BenTheElder many thx for taking a look. kindly-control-plane.tar.gz contains the whole cluster logs exported filehierarchy.

[BenTheElder]

Sorry I've been super busy, v0.30.0 has some fixes though

[BenTheElder]

containerd.log has clear issues running any container:

failed to create shim task: OCI runtime create failed: runc create failed: unable to start container process: error during container init: error setting cgroup config for procHooks process: openat2 /sys/fs/cgroup/kubelet.slice/kubelet-kubepods.slice/kubelet-kubepods-burstable.slice/kubelet-kubepods-burstable-pod877d1848fd22b1fb2c26eed6797b5ad6.slice/cri-containerd-47897e82cdea06f1b9644053d35b86fb80e4ce6708135e759aad3cd28d1a9810.scope/cpu.weight: no such file or directory"

Everything worked fine until Podman Desktop prompted me to update.

Probably the VM's OS update, can you try updating it again?

I don't have a windows development environment and I'm not a podman user, the logs don't have enough info as is to dig into why containerd can't create containers other than something is wrong with the cgroupfs in the container.

[soma-kurisu]

i'll give it a try and report the findings.