Current Docker Desktop for Windows versions don’t have the “docker-desktop-data” distribution. The data disk is mounted without creating a separate distribution, so you won’t have the docker-desktop-data folder either.
What is your Docker Desktop version? Did you have an older version before you installed this one? Current Docker Desktop would not look for files on the already removed data disk. I don’t rexactly remember when it was removed, but if I remember correctly, it disapeared only after a reinstallation, not after an upgrade. If you installed a completely new version without having an older version, I don’t see how Docker Desktop could try to access that folder.
I hate to say it, but I am also having the same issue. Docker Desktop was freezing up, so I rebooted. After this I got the same issue. Multiple reinstallations, including uninstalling Docker Desktop and WSL, and deleting all AppData folders related to Docker Desktop made no difference.
The only thing I can contribute to this is that my error message was:
deploying WSL2 distributions ensuring data disk is available: exit code: 4294967295: running WSL command wsl.exe C:\WINDOWS\System32\wsl.exe --mount --bare --vhd <HOME>\AppData\Local\Docker\wsl\disk\docker_data.vhdx
After substituting <HOME> for %USERPROFILE% and putting double quotes around the path name, I get the error (obscured by --help information):
–bare: unrecognized option: vhd
Which seems to suggest that not only is the path incorrect ( the disk subdirectory of %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Docker\wsl doesn’t exist, of course ), it seems to be expecting that the --vhd option exists.
SIDE-NOTE FOR THIS WEBSITE: I had to substitute ‘<’ for ‘<’ and ‘>’ for ‘>’ in this text. This is 2025, guys!
