diff --git a/examples/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/examples/sql/SparkSQLExample.scala b/examples/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/examples/sql/SparkSQLExample.scala
index 129b81d5fbbf3..3d28a0d1d6e7b 100644
--- a/examples/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/examples/sql/SparkSQLExample.scala
+++ b/examples/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/examples/sql/SparkSQLExample.scala
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ object SparkSQLExample {
     // $example on:init_session$
     val spark = SparkSession
       .builder()
+      .master("local[*]")
       .appName("Spark SQL basic example")
       .config("spark.some.config.option", "some-value")
       .getOrCreate()