Singularity under Windows

Git Bash + VirtualBox + Vagrant

Update: 2023.03.22

Just few hints if you follow the official Singularity installation from https://docs.sylabs.io/guides/latest/admin-guide/installation.html#windows

1. Make sure you start Git Bash terminal.

2. $ mkdir vm-singularity-ce && cd vm-singularity-ce
   $ export VM=sylabs/singularity-ce-3.8-ubuntu-bionic64 &&  vagrant init $VM
   

3. $ vagrant up - note the last lines that print what folder is shared between the Virtual Machine (VM) and your host computer.

   $ vagrant up
   ...
       default: shared folder errors, please make sure the guest additions within the
       default: virtual machine match the version of VirtualBox you have installed on
       default: your host and reload your VM.
       default:
       default: Guest Additions Version: 6.1.22
       default: VirtualBox Version: 7.0
   ==> default: Mounting shared folders...
       default: /vagrant => C:/Users/username/vm-singularity
   

4. $ vagrant ssh will "ssh" to the virtual machine that runs Ubuntu 18.04.5 LTS with Singularity 3.8.0 pre-installed. Keep in mind that the VM has only ~1GB RAM, and ~16GB free space. Building large containers might be difficult. You can edit the Vagrantfile file to increase the RAM (look for vb.memory = "1024" line and edit the relevant lines).
5. Use the /vagrant folder to copy/transfer files between your host computer and the VM.
6. Do not forget to

   $ vagrant destroy && rm Vagrantfile
   

   when you finish.