Docker Desktop not starting (no errors shown) in Linux Mint 22 v6.2.9

Docker Desktop
1

I have installed Docker Desktop using the instructions here:

Install proceeds without any evident errors. I ran the “hello world” print test message for the engine and it indicated no issues. However, when I try to open docker desktop through terminal or GUI, it does not start. No errors are displayed.

Running systemctl --user status docker-desktop provides the below:

docker-desktop.service - Docker Desktop
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/user/docker-desktop.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
Active: inactive (dead)

Oct 16 09:59:50 smith com.docker.backend[20331]: [15:59:50.062820104Z][main.ipc ] run b3f66b2e-ErrorReportAPI for component report on /home/smi>
Oct 16 09:59:51 smith systemd-coredump[20411]: [🡕] Process 20371 (Docker Desktop) of user 1000 dumped core.

                                           Module libstdc++.so.6 from deb gcc-14-14.2.0-4ubuntu2~24.04.amd64
                                           Module libzstd.so.1 from deb libzstd-1.5.5+dfsg2-2build1.1.amd64
                                           Module libsystemd.so.0 from deb systemd-255.4-1ubuntu8.4.amd64
                                           Module libgcc_s.so.1 from deb gcc-14-14.2.0-4ubuntu2~24.04.amd64
                                           Stack trace of thread 20371:
                                           #0  0x0000579b9a1bb6be n/a (Docker Desktop + 0x23d46be)
                                           #1  0x0000579b9a1b4e79 uv_async_send (Docker Desktop + 0x23cde79)
                                           #2  0x0000579b9a34f579 n/a (Docker Desktop + 0x2568579)
                                           #3  0x0000579b9a38b09e n/a (Docker Desktop + 0x25a409e)
                                           #4  0x0000579b9a2a668e n/a (Docker Desktop + 0x24bf68e)
                                           #5  0x0000579b9a2a674e n/a (Docker Desktop + 0x24bf74e)
                                           #6  0x0000579b9ca95433 n/a (Docker Desktop + 0x4cae433)
                                           #7  0x0000579b9ca9559e n/a (Docker Desktop + 0x4cae59e)
                                           #8  0x0000579b9ca99a2e n/a (Docker Desktop + 0x4cb2a2e)
                                           #9  0x0000579b9ca99568 n/a (Docker Desktop + 0x4cb2568)
                                           #10 0x0000579b9ca9503e n/a (Docker Desktop + 0x4cae03e)
                                           #11 0x0000579b9a4e3ac4 n/a (Docker Desktop + 0x26fcac4)
                                           #12 0x0000579b9a4e52be n/a (Docker Desktop + 0x26fe2be)
                                           #13 0x0000579b9a4e50d6 n/a (Docker Desktop + 0x26fe0d6)
                                           #14 0x0000579b9a4e2a9b n/a (Docker Desktop + 0x26fba9b)
                                           #15 0x0000579b9a4e2ba0 n/a (Docker Desktop + 0x26fbba0)
                                           #16 0x0000579b9a1c8968 n/a (Docker Desktop + 0x23e1968)
                                           #17 0x00007b96ee62a1ca __libc_start_call_main (libc.so.6 + 0x2a1ca)
                                           #18 0x00007b96ee62a28b __libc_start_main_impl (libc.so.6 + 0x2a28b)
                                           #19 0x0000579b99dbd02a _start (Docker Desktop + 0x1fd602a)
2

Since Docker Desktop is not officially supported on Linux Mint, you could try if someone else had the same issue on a Linux Mint forum. You could try with this post

https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?p=2411853&sid=bc38e6052b600832be8c200ff49eb019#p2411853

I know Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu, but it is still not Ubuntu. Ubuntu is also based on Debian and there are two separate guides for those, but both supported.

Since we are “just” a Docker community here, you can still ask about Linux Mint, but Linux Mint users could know more about how it is done properly on Linux Mint.

3

I tried everything yesterday—every tutorial out there—and nothing worked. The only thing I found was that one guy managed to solve it by reinstalling his distro. Everything else runs fine: the “hello world” container and all that. But when you start Docker Desktop, it gets stuck in a startup loop and never fully launches.

Upon further inspection, I noticed that while it’s stuck in this loop, my SSD storage keeps filling up. Digging deeper, I found a huge encrypted file that kept growing in size. That’s when I remembered the person who fixed it by reinstalling their distro. So I did the same—this time setting up the home partition separately from root, and not encrypting it.

After that, Docker Desktop ran perfectly, and the official Ubuntu documentation worked just fine on Linux Mint too. So it seems that, for some reason, Docker doesn’t work well on encrypted drives, partitions, or disks. Maybe this is general knowledge, maybe not, but I saw a lot of forum posts with people facing the same issue and never finding a solution.

So I’m putting this out here—hopefully it helps someone.