Start the daemon

Table of contents

This page shows how to start the daemon, either manually or using OS utilities.

Start the daemon using operating system utilities

On a typical installation the Docker daemon is started by a system utility, not manually by a user. This makes it easier to automatically start Docker when the machine reboots.

The command to start Docker depends on your operating system. Check the correct page under Install Docker.

Start with systemd

On some operating systems, like Ubuntu and Debian, the Docker daemon service starts automatically. Use the following command to start it manually:

$ sudo systemctl start docker

If you want Docker to start at boot, see Configure Docker to start on boot.

Start the daemon manually

If you don't want to use a system utility to manage the Docker daemon, or just want to test things out, you can manually run it using the dockerd command. You may need to use sudo, depending on your operating system configuration.

When you start Docker this way, it runs in the foreground and sends its logs directly to your terminal.

$ dockerd

INFO[0000] +job init_networkdriver()
INFO[0000] +job serveapi(unix:///var/run/docker.sock)
INFO[0000] Listening for HTTP on unix (/var/run/docker.sock)

To stop Docker when you have started it manually, issue a Ctrl+C in your terminal.