What to Do if Docker Desktop for Windows Does Not Start

After the installation and the enforced reboot of my machine, Docker Desktop for Windows did not bother to start. I got the Docker command line application in the Command Prompt, but the hello-world example ended with an error:

docker: error during connect: This error may indicate that the docker daemon is not running.: Post “http://%2F%2F.%2Fpipe%2Fdocker_engine/v1.24/containers/create”: open //./pipe/docker_engine: The system cannot find the file specified.
See ‘docker run –help’.

If you run into this problem, do not waste as much time as I did and redo the installation:

  1. Remove Docker in “Add or remove programs”
  2. Restart your computer
  3. Install Docker as Administrator (and not by running the installer directly)

If the installer asks for a reboot, do it. Docker Desktop for Windows should now start as expected and run your containers.

25 thoughts on “What to Do if Docker Desktop for Windows Does Not Start”

  1. Any hints of how to install Docker as Administrator (and not by running the installer directly) ? Please?

    Reply
    • Right-click on the Installer, then click on “run as administrator“ should do the trick.

      Reply
    • Hi qwerty,
      No, you need to have additional rights to run a program as administrator. Right-click on the installer and check if you get the entry “run as administrator”.

      Regards,
      Johnny

      Reply
      • I did this, but it still doesn’t work for me… what else should I do?

        Note: When I installed it as an administrator, it didn’t ask me to reboot. Not sure if that gives you more insight or not.

        Reply
  2. i had it running on windows server 2022 and it was working great but one day had a blue screen and now the docket desktop will not start, i have run it as admin, uninstall it, delete all docker files.

    This is the 3rd time installing it after uninstalling and still won’t start, i have started the sever nothing still, i think clean install of windows is the only way

    Reply
    • Hi Adam,
      I think the clean install is a valid option after everything you tried. The only thing I could suggest is to try version 4.5.1. If this does not work then reinstall your server seams to be the only option.

      Regards,
      Johnny

      Reply
      • I installed “Docker Desktop” using DockerDesktop_win-4.4.3.exe with “Install required Window components for WSL 2.

        “Docker Desktop” not getting started automatically when I am starting/restarting the laptop .
        Also getting the “Docker Failed to Initialize” error when trying to start it manually.

        Reply
        • Hi Rajiv,
          Did you run the installer as an administrator or as your regular user? It sounds like a permission problem.

          Regards,
          Johnny

          Reply
    • Agreed – same problem here. Was working after remove, restart, reinstall as admin, but had to do this _every time I rebooted_! However, now just failing to start completely!

      Reply
  3. I tried several version and restarted a lot of times. The only thing which helped is to remove:
    C:\Users[USER]\AppData\Local\Docker
    C:\Users[USER]\AppData\Roaming\Docker
    C:\Users[USER]\AppData\Roaming\Docker Desktop

    Reply

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