I’m currently attempting to install docker onto my Debian 13 System, however I’ve been having some problems getting the systemctl daemon and dockerd daemon to run. Could anyone help? My systemctl status and journalctl will be below.
Journalctl:
**Mar 23 10:17:51 debian systemd[1]: Starting docker.service - Docker Application Container Engine...
░░ Subject: A start job for unit docker.service has begun execution
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://www.debian.org/support
░░
░░ A start job for unit docker.service has begun execution.
░░
░░ The job identifier is 99557.
Mar 23 10:17:52 debian dockerd[3022736]: time="2026-03-23T10:17:52.055503231-05:00" level=info msg="Starting up"
Mar 23 10:17:52 debian dockerd[3022736]: time="2026-03-23T10:17:52.056332480-05:00" level=info msg="OTEL tracing is not configured, using no-op trace>
Mar 23 10:17:52 debian dockerd[3022736]: time="2026-03-23T10:17:52.056513747-05:00" level=info msg="CDI directory does not exist, skipping" dir=/var/>
Mar 23 10:17:52 debian dockerd[3022736]: time="2026-03-23T10:17:52.056530416-05:00" level=info msg="CDI directory does not exist, skipping" dir=/etc/>
Mar 23 10:17:52 debian dockerd[3022736]: time="2026-03-23T10:17:52.102847232-05:00" level=info msg="Creating a containerd client" address=/run/contai>
Mar 23 10:17:52 debian dockerd[3022736]: time="2026-03-23T10:17:52.122501416-05:00" level=info msg="Loading containers: start."
Mar 23 10:17:52 debian dockerd[3022736]: time="2026-03-23T10:17:52.122594465-05:00" level=info msg="NRI is disabled"
Mar 23 10:17:52 debian dockerd[3022736]: time="2026-03-23T10:17:52.122612986-05:00" level=info msg="Starting daemon with containerd snapshotter integ>
Mar 23 10:17:52 debian dockerd[3022736]: time="2026-03-23T10:17:52.133135012-05:00" level=info msg="Restoring containers: start."
Mar 23 10:17:52 debian dockerd[3022736]: time="2026-03-23T10:17:52.179673412-05:00" level=info msg="Deleting nftables IPv4 rules" error="exit status >
Mar 23 10:17:52 debian dockerd[3022736]: time="2026-03-23T10:17:52.215593738-05:00" level=info msg="Deleting nftables IPv6 rules" error="exit status >
Mar 23 10:17:52 debian dockerd[3022736]: time="2026-03-23T10:17:52.575389719-05:00" level=info msg="stopping event stream following graceful shutdown>
Mar 23 10:17:52 debian dockerd[3022736]: time="2026-03-23T10:17:52.575758043-05:00" level=info msg="stopping event stream following graceful shutdown>
Mar 23 10:17:52 debian dockerd[3022736]: time="2026-03-23T10:17:52.575773320-05:00" level=info msg="Daemon shutdown complete" error="failed to start >
Mar 23 10:17:52 debian dockerd[3022736]: failed to start daemon: Error initializing network controller: error creating default "bridge" network: all >
Mar 23 10:17:52 debian systemd[1]: docker.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
░░ Subject: Unit process exited
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://www.debian.org/support
░░
░░ An ExecStart= process belonging to unit docker.service has exited.
░░
░░ The process' exit code is 'exited' and its exit status is 1.
Mar 23 10:17:52 debian systemd[1]: docker.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
░░ Subject: Unit failed
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://www.debian.org/support
░░
░░ The unit docker.service has entered the 'failed' state with result 'exit-code'.
Mar 23 10:17:52 debian systemd[1]: Failed to start docker.service - Docker Application Container Engine.
I’ve checked /etc/docker and there’s nothing inside of it at all.
I’ve also checked /etc/systemd/system/ and there is no docker entry there either. I was following the debian instructions on the documentation but there’s been nothing helpful there. maybe there’s a conflicting package? I’m not sure what’s going on, I’m pretty new to all of this. If anyone can help, that would be great, and I will give information, as needed of course. Thank in advance!
Mar 24 08:27:39 debian systemd[1]: Starting docker.service - Docker Application Container Engine...
░░ Subject: A start job for unit docker.service has begun execution
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://www.debian.org/support
░░
░░ A start job for unit docker.service has begun execution.
░░
░░ The job identifier is 108578.
Mar 24 08:27:39 debian dockerd[3230623]: time="2026-03-24T08:27:39.317482212-05:00" level=info msg="Starting up"
Mar 24 08:27:39 debian dockerd[3230623]: time="2026-03-24T08:27:39.318553207-05:00" level=info msg="OTEL tracing is not configured, using no-op tracer provider"
Mar 24 08:27:39 debian dockerd[3230623]: time="2026-03-24T08:27:39.318818366-05:00" level=info msg="CDI directory does not exist, skipping" dir=/etc/cdi
Mar 24 08:27:39 debian dockerd[3230623]: time="2026-03-24T08:27:39.318829480-05:00" level=info msg="CDI directory does not exist, skipping" dir=/var/run/cdi
Mar 24 08:27:39 debian dockerd[3230623]: time="2026-03-24T08:27:39.327338835-05:00" level=info msg="Creating a containerd client" address=/run/containerd/containerd.sock timeout=1m0s
Mar 24 08:27:39 debian dockerd[3230623]: time="2026-03-24T08:27:39.334497712-05:00" level=info msg="Loading containers: start."
Mar 24 08:27:39 debian dockerd[3230623]: time="2026-03-24T08:27:39.334530614-05:00" level=info msg="NRI is disabled"
Mar 24 08:27:39 debian dockerd[3230623]: time="2026-03-24T08:27:39.334537964-05:00" level=info msg="Starting daemon with containerd snapshotter integration enabled"
Mar 24 08:27:39 debian dockerd[3230623]: time="2026-03-24T08:27:39.337267248-05:00" level=info msg="Restoring containers: start."
Mar 24 08:27:39 debian dockerd[3230623]: time="2026-03-24T08:27:39.375662384-05:00" level=info msg="Deleting nftables IPv4 rules" error="exit status 1" output="Error: Could not process rule: No such file or directory\ndelete table ip docker-bridges"
Mar 24 08:27:39 debian dockerd[3230623]: time="2026-03-24T08:27:39.411618784-05:00" level=info msg="Deleting nftables IPv6 rules" error="exit status 1" output="Error: Could not process rule: No such file or directory\ndelete table ip6 docker-bridges"
Mar 24 08:27:40 debian dockerd[3230623]: time="2026-03-24T08:27:40.414510829-05:00" level=info msg="stopping event stream following graceful shutdown" error="<nil>" module=libcontainerd namespace=moby
Mar 24 08:27:40 debian dockerd[3230623]: time="2026-03-24T08:27:40.415080612-05:00" level=info msg="Daemon shutdown complete" error="failed to start daemon: Error initializing network controller: error creating default \"bridge\" network: all predefined address pools have been fully subnetted"
Mar 24 08:27:40 debian dockerd[3230623]: failed to start daemon: Error initializing network controller: error creating default "bridge" network: all predefined address pools have been fully subnetted
Mar 24 08:27:40 debian dockerd[3230623]: time="2026-03-24T08:27:40.415111730-05:00" level=info msg="stopping event stream following graceful shutdown" error="context canceled" module=libcontainerd namespace=plugins.moby
Mar 24 08:27:40 debian systemd[1]: docker.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
░░ Subject: Unit process exited
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://www.debian.org/support
░░
░░ An ExecStart= process belonging to unit docker.service has exited.
░░
░░ The process' exit code is 'exited' and its exit status is 1.
Mar 24 08:27:40 debian systemd[1]: docker.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
░░ Subject: Unit failed
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://www.debian.org/support
░░
░░ The unit docker.service has entered the 'failed' state with result 'exit-code'.
Mar 24 08:27:40 debian systemd[1]: Failed to start docker.service - Docker Application Container Engine.
░░ Subject: A start job for unit docker.service has failed
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://www.debian.org/support
░░
░░ A start job for unit docker.service has finished with a failure.
░░
░░ The job identifier is 108578 and the job result is failed.
ramen@debian:~$ docker info
Client: Docker Engine - Community
Version: 29.3.0
Context: default
Debug Mode: false
Plugins:
buildx: Docker Buildx (Docker Inc.)
Version: v0.31.1
Path: /usr/libexec/docker/cli-plugins/docker-buildx
compose: Docker Compose (Docker Inc.)
Version: v5.1.1
Path: /usr/libexec/docker/cli-plugins/docker-compose
Server:
permission denied while trying to connect to the docker API at unix:///var/run/docker.sock
If you need anything else, I’ll be glad to help. I’m not too sure what’s going on.
(Edit: I forgot to use sudo on the journalctl command, my apologies.)
I see, since the engine is stopping, we see no details about the daemon.
Please also share the content of /etc/docker/daemon.json if it exists. Do you happen to run your docker engine in LXC container? Furthermore, are you using vanilla Debian, or one of its flavors?
How did you install Docker? Sharing the platform almost answers it, but only almost. Direct links to the followed guide can be useful.
On debian based Linux, the following commands can give us some idea and recognize incorrectly installed Docker:
docker info
docker version
Review the output before sharing and remove confidential data if any appears (public IP for example)
Alright, here’s everything. And FYI, I’m using stock debian 13.
ramen@debian:~$ docker info
Client: Docker Engine - Community
Version: 29.3.0
Context: default
Debug Mode: false
Plugins:
buildx: Docker Buildx (Docker Inc.)
Version: v0.31.1
Path: /usr/libexec/docker/cli-plugins/docker-buildx
compose: Docker Compose (Docker Inc.)
Version: v5.1.1
Path: /usr/libexec/docker/cli-plugins/docker-compose
Server:
permission denied while trying to connect to the docker API at unix:///var/run/docker.sock
ramen@debian:~$ docker version
Client: Docker Engine - Community
Version: 29.3.0
API version: 1.54
Go version: go1.25.7
Git commit: 5927d80
Built: Thu Mar 5 14:25:57 2026
OS/Arch: linux/amd64
Context: default
permission denied while trying to connect to the docker API at unix:///var/run/docker.sock
ramen@debian:~$
dpkg:
ramen@debian:~$ dpkg -l 'docker*' | grep '^ii'
ii docker-buildx-plugin 0.31.1-1~debian.13~trixie amd64 Docker Buildx plugin extends build capabilities with BuildKit.
ii docker-ce 5:29.3.0-1~debian.13~trixie amd64 Docker: the open-source application container engine
ii docker-ce-cli 5:29.3.0-1~debian.13~trixie amd64 Docker CLI: the open-source application container engine
ii docker-ce-rootless-extras 5:29.3.0-1~debian.13~trixie amd64 Rootless support for Docker.
ii docker-compose-plugin 5.1.1-1~debian.13~trixie amd64 Docker Compose (V2) plugin for the Docker CLI
and a few extra lines of info from my fastfetch, in case you needed to know.
ramen@debian
------------
OS: Debian GNU/Linux 13 (trixie) x86_64
Host: HP ENVY Desktop (1.01)
Kernel: Linux 6.12.48+deb13-amd64