Question 84419 in Docker Question posted in
The official documentation can be found here.

"Docker Desktop Starting…" forever on Windows

I have installed Docker Desktop version 4.4.4 and it is not running. It only displays "Docker Desktop Starting …" but never starts running.

I have tried so many ways but didn’t solve:

  1. Allowing the following files in windows firewall C:program filesdockerdockerresourcesvpnkit.exe, C:program filesdockerdockercom.docker.service C:program filesdockerdockerresourcescom.docker.proxy.exe
  2. Removing ‘Docker’ and ‘Docker Desktop’ folders from AppData/Roaming and AppData/Local
  3. Uninstalling and reinstalling Docker with different versions including 4.5.1
Tags:

16

Answers


  1. 0

    I’ve found out another symptom leading to the solution is also related to WSL.

    On one side, Docker service won’t start throwing this error:

    error during connect: This error may indicate that the docker daemon
    is not running.: Get
    "http://%2F%2F.%2Fpipe%2Fdocker_engine/v1.24/version": open
    //./pipe/docker_engine: The system cannot find the file specified.

    And on the other, WSL is unresponsive. Attempting to run a WSL Distro or WSL command directly on CMD, won’t return any output at all. It will just hang in there.

    So the solution is common to WSL and Docker.
    I’ve found in a question regarding the WSL issue, that the LxssManager Windows service is staled (it may show under services.msc as Stopping and all the buttons are greyed out, or I’ve even seen it Running apparently, but with the Docker and WSL issues above, so something is wrong with it still.)

    First, we have to get LxssManager PID in order to kill it. Using an elevated shell, we can get it this way:

    sc queryex LxssManager

    Having the PID, we can kill the process but beware I wasn’t able to kill it using kill or taskkill commands. I was getting the following error:

    ERROR: The process with PID XXXXX could not be terminated.
Reason: Access is denied.

    To effectively kill the process, do as following:

    wmic process where ProcessID=XXXXX delete

    Replace XXXXX with PID, of course.
    Having done so, start the LxssManager service:

    net start LxssManager

    A word of warning:
    I’ve noted in some cases this is not enough for unknown (to me) technical reasons even if LxssManager service is shown as Running.
    Just repeat the above steps! Sometimes it works doing this once, sometimes doing it twice for some reason.

    TL;DR

    1. Kill LxssManager Windows service using wmic+PID.
    2. Start LxssManager service.
    3. Repeat twice or more if issues persist.
    4. Docker and WSL issues are solved.
    Login or Signup to reply.
  2. 0

    What worked for me was to log in into the Docker (upper right corner), but when I first clicked on login, it said "exec: "rundll32": executable file not found in %PATH%" – I search and found that I need to check environmental variable in PATH that I have "C:WINDOWSsystem32" there – (and in my case I really had it broken somehow – don’t know why, but I missed backslash between Windows and system32). So I fixed to correct path, restarted PC. Then I was able to login. And immediately "Docker Desktop Starting…" was gone.

    Login or Signup to reply.
  3. 0

    I was facing same code for for Docker version 4.*. For me it was Visual Studio code,

    1. Stopped WSL form Task manager

    2. stopped Docker which was showing "Docker desktop is starting" form Task manage

    3. stopped Visual Studio code form Task manager

    4. Started Docker again

    These steps placed my Docker in Running state in 30 seconds

    Hope this helps someone!

    Login or Signup to reply.
  4. 0

    For me, it was a problem with WSL. When I tried:

    wsl --install -d Ubuntu

    in a command window, after a few minutes I got error 0x80370114

    The fix was to do:

    1. Exploit Protection > System Settings > Control Flow Guard
    2. turn on
    3. restart computer

    Then reinstall/restart Docker Desktop, and it works!

    Hope this helps someone else

    Login or Signup to reply.
  5. 0

    Here i am using Windows platform, I faced this issue.
    And to resolve this issue follow the below steps.

    Just delete the temporary files from the following.

    1. C:WindowsTemp
    2. C:Users{yourAccountName}AppDataLocalTemp
    3. C:WindowsPrefetch

    then

    • Uninstall Docker Desktop
    • Restart computer
    • before installing docker, make sure you have Ubuntu WSL(download from Microsoft store)
      enter image description here
    • [optional] If you need Terminal Preview(multi-terminal) download from Microsoft Store. Great Terminal
    • Install Docker Desktop Again

    Thanks

    Login or Signup to reply.
  6. 0

    Solved this issue with @Alvi answer
    Docker forever in "Docker is starting.." at Windows task

    I guess you are using wsl2 features. In that case, open PowerShell or command prompt and type: optionalfeatures.exe

    scroll down and uncheck

    Windows Subsystem for Linux

    apply the changes and restart your computer.

    After restart follow the previous steps again and check

    Windows Subsystem for Linux

    and restart again. Hopefully now your docker will run

    Login or Signup to reply.
  7. 0

    I use Docker with PyCharm. I ran into this problem when I launched PyCharm and Docker Desktop at about the same time.

    On my machine Docker Desktop starts automatically when I boot. I can avoid the problem by waiting for Docker Desktop to finish starting. And then start PyCharm.

    Login or Signup to reply.
  8. 0

    The main problem is WSL2 does not auto install the kernel when WSL2 installs, yet Docker Desktop expects it already installed. So, fully close & stop Docker as other answers have said, then run this cmd as admin:

    wsl --update

    Now open Docker Desktop & it should start up ok.

    Login or Signup to reply.
  9. 0

    I am running windows 11, visual studio 2023 and had this issue.

    First, open a command prompt and type

    wsl.exe --list --online

    Then enter following

    wsl.exe --install Ubuntu-20.04

    Then type in the prompt sudo apt update to update the distribution. Lastly, start up Docker desktop and log in (you can register at their site). That fixed Docker on my pc.

    Login or Signup to reply.
  10. 0

    I was also having the same problem, just a few minutes ago.

    Platform:
    Windows 10 Pro – 22H2 – Build 19045.2486

    Windows Updates newly installed: KB5022282, KB5020876, KB5012170

    What i did was: Activating the Windows Hypervisor Platform

    And it did solve the problem, atleast for now

    Login or Signup to reply.
  11. 0

    for me it worked in windows (docker desktop):

    • to uninstall the docker
    • reinstall as administrator
    • don’t select the part with wsl
    Login or Signup to reply.
  12. 0

    In my case it helped me to enable the CPU SVM (Support Vector Machine) function in my BIOS settings.

    Also, if you have this feature disabled, you will not be able to use Virtual Box either.

    SVM in BIOS

    Login or Signup to reply.
  13. 0

    enter image description here

    1. got to services and stop Docker desktop service and start again

    2. reopen Docker desktop it will work

    Login or Signup to reply.
  14. 0

    My fresh install was experiencing the same symptoms. Also wsl --list showed "no installed distributions". I tried many reinstallations and restarts of Docker and WSL, but eventually found the steps:

    1. In Task Manager, kill all processes related to Docker & Docker Desktop
    2. Run Docker Desktop as administrator

    Got it working on on Windows 11 Enterprise.

    Login or Signup to reply.
  15. 0 
    wsl -v

    if it show version then linx is install
    search windows programer feature in your laptop
    enable virtulization

    wsl --set-default-version 2

    restart laptop and then start docker and wait for 2 minutes your docker will start working

    Login or Signup to reply.
  16. 0

    As wrote here, you need to do:

    wsl --update

    But after that it doesn’t fix my issue until I did restart to my pc.

    Login or Signup to reply.
Please signup or login to give your own answer.

Back To Top
Search