Can you rephrase that? I’m not sure what you mean.
But to figure out the issue with not starting GUI, you can try the troubleshooting guide
When it shows “Windows / Mac / Linux” tabs, choose “Linux”.
The thread you linked shows the journalctl command too, but are you saying you got no output, or no error message?
To be honest, I don’t think I ever used the systemctl command to start Docker Desktop. Just clicked on the icon in the menu or on the Linux Desktop. But I have no Linux Desktop machine for a long time now.
Since you also say the icon was on the sidebar, something must have started. Strange that not even the trhoubleshooting guide mentions
docker desktop logs
to show logs, but you can try that too. I assume it is available on Linux too.
I don’t think anyone would recommend updating to a non-LTS version.
ie “The Docker Desktop for Windows community forum” - bit confusing…
No, I pinned the icon to the sidebar. If I run it directly from the Apps Selector, same result.
The logs are basically full of this:
[2026-04-01T02:26:49.003797924Z][com.docker.backend.electron] electron pid 1484625 restarted after crash
[2026-04-01T02:26:53.426554186Z][com.docker.backend.electron][E] electron pid 1484772 shutdown with exit code -1
[2026-04-01T02:26:53.426800029Z][com.docker.backend.electron][E] electron pid 1484772 crashed, will retry to start
[2026-04-01T02:26:53.427199702Z][com.docker.backend.electron] Opening Electron: /opt/docker-desktop/Docker Desktop --reason=open-tray --analytics-enabled=true --name=dashboard
[2026-04-01T02:26:53.429318617Z][com.docker.backend.electron] electron pid 1484772 restarted after crash
[2026-04-01T02:26:58.237040214Z][com.docker.backend.electron][E] electron pid 1484883 shutdown with exit code -1
[2026-04-01T02:26:58.237340047Z][com.docker.backend.electron][E] electron pid 1484883 crashed, will retry to start
[2026-04-01T02:26:58.237716144Z][com.docker.backend.electron] Opening Electron: /opt/docker-desktop/Docker Desktop --reason=open-tray --analytics-enabled=true --name=dashboard
[2026-04-01T02:26:58.243856748Z][com.docker.backend.electron] electron pid 1484883 restarted after crash
[2026-04-01T02:27:03.312216011Z][com.docker.backend.electron][E] electron pid 1485159 shutdown with exit code -1
[2026-04-01T02:27:03.312535582Z][com.docker.backend.electron][E] electron pid 1485159 crashed, will retry to start
[2026-04-01T02:27:03.313074320Z][com.docker.backend.electron] Opening Electron: /opt/docker-desktop/Docker Desktop --reason=open-tray --analytics-enabled=true --name=dashboard
[2026-04-01T02:27:03.316945130Z][com.docker.backend.electron] electron pid 1485159 restarted after crash
john@Media:~$
But there are a bunch of docker-desktop processes running (4x Docker Desktop processes, 1x docker-sandbox).
This is a headless machine, I use ssh and NoMachine to connect.
Will try uninstalling/re-installing Docker Desktop.
Thanks.
Thank you for sharing that. The template was outdated. The first Docker Desktop was for Windows and it looks like the template was not changed since then. Now it will not mention Windows and I also updated the issue tracker link as it moved to a common github repo instead of having one for each platform.
So the electron app crashed, which is the GUI. Can you still run docker commands from the terminal, not just the desktop subcommand? For example
docker version
I should have asked for tetsing that in my previous post. And I also forgot to share the link to the troubleshooting guide I mentioned. I just wrote about tabs without sharing this:
But first I’m trying to figure out if the whole Docker Desktop crashed or just the GUI.
Yes, Docker itself is working, have tested pulling an image etc, but Desktop is failing.
Did a full uninstall/reinstall, and now it is sort of working, but really slowly, and think still has errors. Haven’t had a chance to play with that yet, will look again when I get the chance, later today…
More confused with this all the time…
When installing Docker Desktop, does it not install in the standard locations?
Another thing I need to do here is move the location of the docker containers etc, but all the info I can find talks about docker directories being /etc/docker, var/lib/docker, and various others, but can’t find any evidence of this.
Docker Desktop is installed in /opt/docker-desktop, but there doesn’t seem to be any “real” docker files in here.
Apparently edit /etc/docker/daemon.json to move stuff, but no such thing?
Thanks.
Not sure that this is a ‘thing’, but have just moved my PC and plugged into a screen - Docker Desktop was on the desktop, when it booted, and working fine… Does it have issues on a headless PC?
Anyway, regardless, am going to do a full reinstall of Ubuntu 24.04.4, and see whether that works better for me…
Will let you know.
Docker Desktop is for development, not for servers. Linux can run Docker CE directly that can start easily without any screen. I don’t use Desktop Linux for Docker Desktop. I only run it on Windows and macOS at the moment so I have little experience with DD on Linux, but if you have no screen, why do you want to install Docker Desktop? Do you connect to the Linux machine with some kind of Remote Desktop? I don’t think that should matter, but I have never tried.
