Troubleshoot Docker Desktop

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Troubleshooting
Table of contents

This page contains information on how to diagnose and troubleshoot Docker Desktop, and how to check the logs.

Troubleshooting menu

Select the Question mark icon near the top-right corner of Docker Dashboard, then Troubleshooting.

The Troubleshooting menu contains the following options:

  • Restart Docker Desktop.

  • Reset Kubernetes cluster. Select to delete all stacks and Kubernetes resources. For more information, see Kubernetes.

  • Clean / Purge data. This option resets all Docker data without a reset to factory defaults. Selecting this option results in the loss of existing settings.

  • Reset to factory defaults: Choose this option to reset all options on Docker Desktop to their initial state, the same as when Docker Desktop was first installed.

If you are a Mac or Linux user, you also have the option to Uninstall Docker Desktop from your system.

You can also access these troubleshoot options from the Docker menu whale menu .

Tip

If you need to contact support, select the Question mark icon near the top-right corner of Docker Dashboard, and then select Contact support. Users with a paid Docker subscription can use this option to send a support request.

Diagnose

Tip

If you do not find a solution in troubleshooting, browse the GitHub repositories or create a new issue:

Diagnose from the app

  1. Select the Question mark icon near the top-right corner of Docker Dashboard, then Report a bug This opens a new in-app page and starts collecting the diagnostics.
  2. When the diagnostics collection process is complete Docker Desktop prints a diagnostic ID. Copy this ID.
  3. Use your diagnostics ID to get help:
    • If you have a paid Docker subscription, select Contact support from the Troubleshooting menu. This opens the Docker Desktop support form. Fill in the information required. Your diagnostics ID is gathered automatically. Then, select Submit ticket to request Docker Desktop support.

      Note

      You must be signed in to Docker Desktop to access the support form. For information on what's covered as part of Docker Desktop support, see Support.

    • If you don't have a paid Docker subscription, follow the GitHub repository link to open a new Docker Desktop issue on GitHub. Complete the information required on the GitHub issue and ensure you add the diagnostic ID printed in step two.

Diagnose from an error message

  1. When an error message appears, select Gather diagnostics.
  2. When the diagnostics are uploaded, Docker Desktop prints a diagnostic ID. Copy this ID.
  3. Use your diagnostics ID to get help:
    • Select Contact support from the Troubleshooting menu. This opens the Docker Desktop support form. Fill in the information required. Your diagnostics ID is gathered automatically. Then, select Submit ticket to request Docker Desktop support.

      Note

      You must be signed in to Docker Desktop to access the support form. For information on what's covered as part of Docker Desktop support, see Support.

    • If you don't have a paid Docker subscription, you can open a new Docker Desktop issue on GitHub for Mac, Windows, or Linux. Complete the information required and ensure you add the diagnostic ID printed in step two.

Diagnose from the terminal

In some cases, it's useful to run the diagnostics yourself, for instance, if Docker Desktop cannot start.

  1. Locate the com.docker.diagnose tool:

    $ C:\Program Files\Docker\Docker\resources\com.docker.diagnose.exe

  2. Create and upload the diagnostics ID. In PowerShell, run:

    $ & "C:\Program Files\Docker\Docker\resources\com.docker.diagnose.exe" gather -upload

After the diagnostics have finished, the terminal displays your diagnostics ID and the path to the diagnostics file. The diagnostics ID is composed of your user ID and a timestamp. For example BE9AFAAF-F68B-41D0-9D12-84760E6B8740/20190905152051.

  1. Locate the com.docker.diagnose tool:

    $ /Applications/Docker.app/Contents/MacOS/com.docker.diagnose

  2. Create and upload the diagnostics ID. Run:

    $ /Applications/Docker.app/Contents/MacOS/com.docker.diagnose gather -upload

After the diagnostics have finished, the terminal displays your diagnostics ID and the path to the diagnostics file. The diagnostics ID is composed of your user ID and a timestamp. For example BE9AFAAF-F68B-41D0-9D12-84760E6B8740/20190905152051.

  1. Locate the com.docker.diagnose tool:

    $ /opt/docker-desktop/bin/com.docker.diagnose

  2. Create and upload the diagnostics ID. Run:

    $ /opt/docker-desktop/bin/com.docker.diagnose gather -upload

After the diagnostics have finished, the terminal displays your diagnostics ID and the path to the diagnostics file. The diagnostics ID is composed of your user ID and a timestamp. For example BE9AFAAF-F68B-41D0-9D12-84760E6B8740/20190905152051.

To view the contents of the diagnostic file:

  1. Unzip the file. In PowerShell, copy and paste the path to the diagnostics file into the following command and then run it. It should be similar to the following example:

    $ Expand-Archive -LiteralPath "C:\Users\testUser\AppData\Local\Temp\5DE9978A-3848-429E-8776-950FC869186F\20230607101602.zip" -DestinationPath "C:\Users\testuser\AppData\Local\Temp\5DE9978A-3848-429E-8776-950FC869186F\20230607101602"

  2. Open the file in your preferred text editor. Run:

    $ code <path-to-file>

Run:

$ open /tmp/<your-diagnostics-ID>.zip

Run:

$ unzip –l /tmp/<your-diagnostics-ID>.zip

Use your diagnostics ID to get help

Select Contact support from the Troubleshooting menu. This opens the Docker Desktop support form. Fill in the information required. Your diagnostics ID is gathered automatically. Then, select Submit ticket to request Docker Desktop support.

If you don't have a paid Docker subscription, create an issue on GitHub:

Self-diagnose tool

Docker Desktop contains a self-diagnose tool which can help you identify some common problems.

  1. Locate the com.docker.diagnose tool.

    $ C:\Program Files\Docker\Docker\resources\com.docker.diagnose.exe

  2. In PowerShell, run the self-diagnose tool:

    $ & "C:\Program Files\Docker\Docker\resources\com.docker.diagnose.exe" check

  1. Locate the com.docker.diagnose tool.

    $ /Applications/Docker.app/Contents/MacOS/com.docker.diagnose

  2. Run the self-diagnose tool:

    $ /Applications/Docker.app/Contents/MacOS/com.docker.diagnose check

  1. Locate the com.docker.diagnose tool.

  2. Run the self-diagnose tool:

    $ /opt/docker-desktop/bin/com.docker.diagnose check

The tool runs a suite of checks and displays PASS or FAIL next to each check. If there are any failures, it highlights the most relevant at the end of the report.

You can then create an issue on GitHub:

Check the logs

In addition to using the diagnose option to submit logs, you can browse the logs yourself.

In PowerShell, run:

$ code $Env:LOCALAPPDATA\Docker\log

This opens up all the logs in your preferred text editor for you to explore.

From terminal

To watch the live flow of Docker Desktop logs in the command line, run the following script from your preferred shell.

$ pred='process matches ".*(ocker|vpnkit).*" || (process in {"taskgated-helper", "launchservicesd", "kernel"} && eventMessage contains[c] "docker")'
$ /usr/bin/log stream --style syslog --level=debug --color=always --predicate "$pred"

Alternatively, to collect the last day of logs (1d) in a file, run:

$ /usr/bin/log show --debug --info --style syslog --last 1d --predicate "$pred" >/tmp/logs.txt

From the Console app

Mac provides a built-in log viewer, named Console, which you can use to check Docker logs.

The Console lives in /Applications/Utilities. You can search for it with Spotlight Search.

To read the Docker app log messages, type docker in the Console window search bar and press Enter. Then select ANY to expand the drop-down list next to your docker search entry, and select Process.

Mac Console search for Docker app

You can use the Console Log Query to search logs, filter the results in various ways, and create reports.

You can access Docker Desktop logs by running the following command:

$ journalctl --user --unit=docker-desktop

You can also find the logs for the internal components included in Docker Desktop at $HOME/.docker/desktop/log/.

View the Docker daemon logs

Refer to the Read the daemon logs section to learn how to view the Docker Daemon logs.

Further resources