FAQs for Docker Desktop for Mac

Table of contents

Why do I keep getting a notification telling me an application has changed my Desktop configurations?

You receive this notification because the Configuration integrity check feature has detected that a third-party application has altered your Docker Desktop configuration. This usually happens due to incorrect or missing symlinks. The notification ensures you are aware of these changes so you can review and repair any potential issues to maintain system reliability.

Opening the notification presents a pop-up window which provides detailed information about the detected integrity issues.

If you choose to ignore the notification, it will be shown again only at the next Docker Desktop startup. If you choose to repair your configuration, you won't be prompted again.

If you want to switch off Configuration integrity check notifications, navigate to Docker Desktop's settings and in the General tab, clear the Automatically check configuration setting.

If you have feedback on how to further improve the Configuration integrity check feature, fill out the feedback form.

What is HyperKit?

HyperKit is a hypervisor built on top of the Hypervisor.framework in macOS. It runs entirely in userspace and has no other dependencies.

We use HyperKit to eliminate the need for other VM products, such as Oracle VirtualBox or VMWare Fusion.

What is the benefit of HyperKit?

HyperKit is thinner than VirtualBox and VMWare fusion, and the version included is customized for Docker workloads on Mac.

Why is com.docker.vmnetd still running after I quit the app?

The privileged helper process com.docker.vmnetd is started by launchd and runs in the background. The process does not consume any resources unless Docker.app connects to it, so it's safe to ignore.

Where does Docker Desktop store Linux containers and images?

Docker Desktop stores Linux containers and images in a single, large "disk image" file in the Mac filesystem. This is different from Docker on Linux, which usually stores containers and images in the /var/lib/docker directory.

Where is the disk image file?

To locate the disk image file, select Settings from the Docker Desktop Dashboard then Advanced from the Resources tab.

The Advanced tab displays the location of the disk image. It also displays the maximum size of the disk image and the actual space the disk image is consuming. Note that other tools might display space usage of the file in terms of the maximum file size, and not the actual file size.

What if the file is too big?

If the disk image file is too big, you can:

Move it to a bigger drive
Delete unnecessary containers and images
Reduce the maximum allowable size of the file

How do I move the file to a bigger drive?

To move the disk image file to a different location:

Select Settings then Advanced from the Resources tab.
In the Disk image location section, select Browse and choose a new location for the disk image.
Select Apply & Restart for the changes to take effect.

Important
Do not move the file directly in Finder as this can cause Docker Desktop to lose track of the file.

How do I delete unnecessary containers and images?

Check whether you have any unnecessary containers and images. If your client and daemon API are running version 1.25 or later (use the docker version command on the client to check your client and daemon API versions), you can see the detailed space usage information by running:

$ docker system df -v

Alternatively, to list images, run:

$ docker image ls

To list containers, run:

$ docker container ls -a

If there are lots of redundant objects, run the command:

$ docker system prune

This command removes all stopped containers, unused networks, dangling images, and build cache.

It might take a few minutes to reclaim space on the host depending on the format of the disk image file. If the file is named:

Docker.raw, space on the host is reclaimed within a few seconds.
Docker.qcow2, space is freed by a background process after a few minutes.

Space is only freed when images are deleted. Space is not freed automatically when files are deleted inside running containers. To trigger a space reclamation at any point, run the command:

$ docker run --privileged --pid=host docker/desktop-reclaim-space

Note that many tools report the maximum file size, not the actual file size. To query the actual size of the file on the host from a terminal, run:

$ cd ~/Library/Containers/com.docker.docker/Data/vms/0/data
$ ls -klsh Docker.raw
2333548 -rw-r--r--@ 1 username  staff    64G Dec 13 17:42 Docker.raw

In this example, the actual size of the disk is 2333548 KB, whereas the maximum size of the disk is 64 GB.

How do I reduce the maximum size of the file?

To reduce the maximum size of the disk image file:

Select Settings then Advanced from the Resources tab.
The Disk image size section contains a slider that allows you to change the maximum size of the disk image. Adjust the slider to set a lower limit.
Select Apply & Restart.

When you reduce the maximum size, the current disk image file is deleted, and therefore, all containers and images are lost.

How do I add TLS certificates?

You can add trusted Certificate Authorities (CAs) (used to verify registry server certificates) and client certificates (used to authenticate to registries) to your Docker daemon.

Add custom CA certificates (server side)

All trusted CAs (root or intermediate) are supported. Docker Desktop creates a certificate bundle of all user-trusted CAs based on the Mac Keychain, and appends it to Moby trusted certificates. So if an enterprise SSL certificate is trusted by the user on the host, it is trusted by Docker Desktop.

To manually add a custom, self-signed certificate, start by adding the certificate to the macOS keychain, which is picked up by Docker Desktop. Here is an example:

$ sudo security add-trusted-cert -d -r trustRoot -k /Library/Keychains/System.keychain ca.crt

Or, if you prefer to add the certificate to your own local keychain only (rather than for all users), run this command instead:

$ security add-trusted-cert -d -r trustRoot -k ~/Library/Keychains/login.keychain ca.crt

Note
You need to restart Docker Desktop after making any changes to the keychain or to the ~/.docker/certs.d directory in order for the changes to take effect.

For a complete explanation of how to do this, see the blog post Adding Self-signed Registry Certs to Docker & Docker Desktop for Mac.

Add client certificates

You can put your client certificates in ~/.docker/certs.d/<MyRegistry>:<Port>/client.cert and ~/.docker/certs.d/<MyRegistry>:<Port>/client.key.

When the Docker Desktop application starts, it copies the ~/.docker/certs.d folder on your Mac to the /etc/docker/certs.d directory on Moby (the Docker Desktop xhyve virtual machine).

Note
You need to restart Docker Desktop after making any changes to the keychain or to the ~/.docker/certs.d directory in order for the changes to take effect.
The registry cannot be listed as an insecure registry. Docker Desktop ignores certificates listed under insecure registries, and does not send client certificates. Commands like docker run that attempt to pull from the registry produce error messages on the command line, as well as on the registry.

Directory structures for certificates

If you have this directory structure, you do not need to manually add the CA certificate to your Mac OS system login:

/Users/<user>/.docker/certs.d/
└── <MyRegistry>:<Port>
   ├── ca.crt
   ├── client.cert
   └── client.key

The following further illustrates and explains a configuration with custom certificates:

/etc/docker/certs.d/        <-- Certificate directory
└── localhost:5000          <-- Hostname:port
   ├── client.cert          <-- Client certificate
   ├── client.key           <-- Client key
   └── ca.crt               <-- Certificate authority that signed
                                the registry certificate

You can also have this directory structure, as long as the CA certificate is also in your keychain.

/Users/<user>/.docker/certs.d/
└── <MyRegistry>:<Port>
    ├── client.cert
    └── client.key

To learn more about how to install a CA root certificate for the registry and how to set the client TLS certificate for verification, see Verify repository client with certificates in the Docker Engine topics.