Environmental Variables

Vagrant has a set of environmental variables that can be used to configure and control it in a global way. This page lists those environmental variables.

VAGRANT_ALIAS_FILE

VAGRANT_ALIAS_FILE can be set to change the file where Vagrant aliases are defined. By default, this is set to ~/.vagrant.d/aliases.

VAGRANT_DEBUG_LAUNCHER

For performance reasons, especially for Windows users, Vagrant uses a static binary to launch the actual Vagrant process. If you have very early issues when launching Vagrant from the official installer, you can specify the VAGRANT_DEBUG_LAUNCHER environment variable to output debugging information about the launch process.

VAGRANT_DEFAULT_PROVIDER

This configures the default provider Vagrant will use.

This normally does not need to be set since Vagrant is fairly intelligent about how to detect the default provider. By setting this, you will force Vagrant to use this provider for any new Vagrant environments. Existing Vagrant environments will continue to use the provider they came up with. Once you vagrant destroy existing environments, this will take effect.

VAGRANT_DEFAULT_TEMPLATE

This configures the template used by vagrant init when the --template option is not provided.

VAGRANT_PREFERRED_PROVIDERS

This configures providers that Vagrant should prefer.

Much like the VAGRANT_DEFAULT_PROVIDER this environment variable normally does not need to be set. By setting this you will instruct Vagrant to prefer providers defined in this environment variable for any new Vagrant environments. Existing Vagrant environments will continue to use the provider they came up with. Once you vagrant destroy existing environments, this will take effect. A single provider can be defined within this environment variable or a comma delimited list of providers.

VAGRANT_BOX_UPDATE_CHECK_DISABLE

By default, Vagrant will query the metadata API server to see if a newer box version is available for download. This optional can be disabled on a per-Vagrantfile basis with config.vm.box_check_update, but it can also be disabled globally setting VAGRANT_BOX_UPDATE_CHECK_DISABLE to any non-empty value.

This option will not affect global box functions like vagrant box update.

VAGRANT_CHECKPOINT_DISABLE

Vagrant does occasional network calls to check whether the version of Vagrant that is running locally is up to date. We understand that software making remote calls over the internet for any reason can be undesirable. To suppress these calls, set the environment variable VAGRANT_CHECKPOINT_DISABLE to any non-empty value.

If you use other HashiCorp tools like Packer and would prefer to configure this setting only once, you can set CHECKPOINT_DISABLE instead.

VAGRANT_CWD

VAGRANT_CWD can be set to change the working directory of Vagrant. By default, Vagrant uses the current directory you are in. The working directory is important because it is where Vagrant looks for the Vagrantfile. It also defines how relative paths in the Vagrantfile are expanded, since they're expanded relative to where the Vagrantfile is found.

This environmental variable is most commonly set when running Vagrant from a scripting environment in order to set the directory that Vagrant sees.

VAGRANT_DOTFILE_PATH

VAGRANT_DOTFILE_PATH can be set to change the directory where Vagrant stores VM-specific state, such as the VirtualBox VM UUID. By default, this is set to .vagrant. If you keep your Vagrantfile in a Dropbox folder in order to share the folder between your desktop and laptop (for example), Vagrant will overwrite the files in this directory with the details of the VM on the most recently-used host. To avoid this, you could set VAGRANT_DOTFILE_PATH to .vagrant-laptop and .vagrant-desktop on the respective machines. (Remember to update your .gitignore!)

VAGRANT_HOME

VAGRANT_HOME can be set to change the directory where Vagrant stores global state. By default, this is set to ~/.vagrant.d. The Vagrant home directory is where things such as boxes are stored, so it can actually become quite large on disk.

VAGRANT_LOG

VAGRANT_LOG specifies the verbosity of log messages from Vagrant. By default, Vagrant does not actively show any log messages.

Log messages are very useful when troubleshooting issues, reporting bugs, or getting support. At the most verbose level, Vagrant outputs basically everything it is doing.

Available log levels are "debug," "info," "warn," and "error." Both "warn" and "error" are practically useless since there are very few cases of these, and Vagrant generally reports them within the normal output.

"info" is a good level to start with if you are having problems, because while it is much louder than normal output, it is still very human-readable and can help identify certain issues.

"debug" output is extremely verbose and can be difficult to read without some knowledge of Vagrant internals. It is the best output to attach to a support request or bug report, however.

VAGRANT_NO_COLOR

If this is set to any value, then Vagrant will not use any colorized output. This is useful if you are logging the output to a file or on a system that does not support colors.

The equivalent behavior can be achieved by using the --no-color flag on a command-by-command basis. This environmental variable is useful for setting this flag globally.

VAGRANT_FORCE_COLOR

If this is set to any value, then Vagrant will force colored output, even if it detected that there is no TTY or the current environment does not support it.

The equivalent behavior can be achieved by using the --color flag on a command-by-command basis. This environmental variable is useful for setting this flag globally.

VAGRANT_NO_PLUGINS

If this is set to any value, then Vagrant will not load any 3rd party plugins. This is useful if you install a plugin and it is introducing instability to Vagrant, or if you want a specific Vagrant environment to not load plugins.

Note that any vagrant plugin commands automatically do not load any plugins, so if you do install any unstable plugins, you can always use the vagrant plugin commands without having to worry.

VAGRANT_ALLOW_PLUGIN_SOURCE_ERRORS

If this is set to any value, then Vagrant will not error when a configured plugin source is unavailable. When installing a Vagrant plugin Vagrant will error and halt if a plugin source is inaccessible. In some cases it may be desirable to ignore inaccessible sources and continue with the plugin installation. Enabling this value will cause Vagrant to simply log the plugin source error and continue.

VAGRANT_INSTALL_LOCAL_PLUGINS

If this is set to any value, Vagrant will not prompt for confirmation prior to installing local plugins which have been defined within the local Vagrantfile.

VAGRANT_LOCAL_PLUGINS_LOAD

If this is set Vagrant will not stub the Vagrantfile when running vagrant plugin commands. When this environment variable is set the --local flag will not be required by vagrant plugin commands to enable local project plugins.

VAGRANT_NO_PARALLEL

If this is set, Vagrant will not perform any parallel operations (such as parallel box provisioning). All operations will be performed in serial.

VAGRANT_DETECTED_OS

This environment variable may be set by the Vagrant launcher to help determine the current runtime platform. In general Vagrant will set this value when running on a Windows host using a cygwin or msys based shell. If this value is set, the Vagrant launcher will not modify it.

VAGRANT_DETECTED_ARCH

This environment variable may be set by the Vagrant launcher to help determine the current runtime architecture in use. In general Vagrant will set this value when running on a Windows host using a cygwin or msys based shell. The value the Vagrant launcher may set in this environment variable will not always match the actual architecture of the platform itself. Instead it signifies the detected architecture of the environment it is running within. If this value is set, the Vagrant launcher will not modify it.

VAGRANT_WINPTY_DISABLE

If this is set, Vagrant will not wrap interactive processes with winpty where required.

VAGRANT_PREFER_SYSTEM_BIN

If this is set, Vagrant will prefer using utility executables (like ssh and rsync) from the local system instead of those vendored within the Vagrant installation.

Vagrant will default to using a system provided ssh on Windows. This environment variable can also be used to disable that behavior to force Vagrant to use the embedded ssh executable by setting it to 0.

VAGRANT_SKIP_SUBPROCESS_JAILBREAK

As of Vagrant 1.7.3, Vagrant tries to intelligently detect if it is running in the installer or running via Bundler. Although not officially supported, Vagrant tries its best to work when executed via Bundler. When Vagrant detects that you have spawned a subprocess that lives outside of Vagrant's installer, Vagrant will do its best to reset the preserved environment during the subprocess execution.

If Vagrant detects it is running outside of the officially installer, the original environment will always be restored. You can disable this automatic jailbreak by setting VAGRANT_SKIP_SUBPROCESS_JAILBREAK.

VAGRANT_VAGRANTFILE

This specifies the filename of the Vagrantfile that Vagrant searches for. By default, this is "Vagrantfile". Note that this is not a file path, but just a filename.

This environmental variable is commonly used in scripting environments where a single folder may contain multiple Vagrantfiles representing different configurations.

VAGRANT_DISABLE_VBOXSYMLINKCREATE

If set, this will disable the ability to create symlinks with all virtualbox shared folders. Defaults to true if the option is not set. This can be overridden on a per-folder basis within your Vagrantfile config by settings the SharedFoldersEnableSymlinksCreate option to true.

VAGRANT_ENABLE_RESOLV_REPLACE

Use the Ruby Resolv library in place of the libc resolver.

VAGRANT_DISABLE_RESOLV_REPLACE

Vagrant can optionally use the Ruby Resolv library in place of the libc resolver. This can be disabled setting this environment variable.

VAGRANT_POWERSHELL_VERSION_DETECTION_TIMEOUT

Vagrant will use a default timeout when checking for the installed version of PowerShell. Occasionally the default can be too low and Vagrant will report being unable to detect the installed version of PowerShell. This environment variable can be used to extend the timeout used during PowerShell version detection.

When setting this environment variable, its value will be in seconds. By default, it will use 30 seconds as a timeout.

VAGRANT_USE_VAGRANT_TRIGGERS

Vagrant will not display the warning about disabling the core trigger feature if the community plugin is installed.

VAGRANT_IGNORE_WINRM_PLUGIN

Vagrant will not display warning when vagrant-winrm plugin is installed.

VAGRANT_USER_AGENT_PROVISIONAL_STRING

Vagrant will append the contents of this variable to the default user agent header.

VAGRANT_IS_HYPERV_ADMIN

Disable Vagrant's check for Hyper-V admin privileges and allow Vagrant to assume the current user has full access to Hyper-V. This is useful if the internal privilege check incorrectly determines the current user does not have access to Hyper-V.