This reply is a bit late, but I had this problem as well. I found the cause was a corrupt daemon.json file. I had done some changes to this file and at one place I was missing a comma. Adding the missing comma made docker start as usual.
No amount of uninstalling and reinstalling fixed this for me.
I eventually found that wsl --list --verbose showed docker-desktop Uninstalling, which never went away.
Manually unregistering it allowed docker desktop to start up. wsl --unregister docker-desktop
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I am having the same issue can you share how’s your problem resolved @kscull
I just run “docker desktop.exe” as admin and solve the problem. I’m not sure if this will work for you.
Okay after spending atleast 5 hours on this, 2023 was off to a great start…
I accidentally upgraded to 4.16.1 which caused the “Docker Desktop Starting…” and it refused to start.
Eventually, I think the final steps for me were to
- Uninstall 4.16.1
- Delete all mentions of /docker in AppData (Local and Roaming)
- Restart for good measure
- Install 4.13.0 as Administrator
- Restart for good measure
- Run docker desktop as admin
This finally worked after trying everything else in this thread. Goodluck to anyone else who stumbles across this. PS. This was destructive, I lost everything in the process but at least it works again.
Windows 10
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I managed to fix mine today by updating my WSL installation:
PS C:\Windows\system32> wsl --update
Installing: Windows Subsystem for Linux
Windows Subsystem for Linux has been installed.
PS C:\Windows\system32> wsl -l -v
NAME STATE VERSION
- Ubuntu Stopped 1
kali-linux Stopped 1
PS C:\Windows\system32> wsl --set-version Ubuntu 2
For information on key differences with WSL 2 please visit Comparing WSL Versions | Microsoft Learn
Conversion in progress, this may take a few minutes.
The operation completed successfully.
PS C:\Windows\system32> wsl --set-version kali-linux 2
For information on key differences with WSL 2 please visit Comparing WSL Versions | Microsoft Learn
Conversion in progress, this may take a few minutes.
The operation completed successfully.
PS C:\Windows\system32>
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these works for me .thank you.
That what helped me as well. I tried to install 4.6.1 docker Desktop and it showed the message saying WSL2 setup was incomplete. Then I followed the steps from Microsoft portal and that finally did the trick.
It works for me either. Thanks so much!!
Uninstalling and reinstalling as an Administrator worked for me
Docker failed to start. Nothing helped.
Also can’t install wsl drtibution in wsl2 in Powershell ( wsl --install -d <Distribution Name>)
get error: WslRegisterDistribution failed with error: 0xffffffff
(WSL1 worked correctly)
Then found the solution:
Docker use WSL2, WSL2 use port 53, but this port was busy.
Port 53 must be freed by use taskkill /f /pid [PID] in Powershell.
The PID for port 53 can found in Resource Monitor GUI for windows / Network tab / Listening Ports.
After trying everything before, this fixed my problem. Tks.
W11 Home
Thank you mate for sharing this.
It worked for me as well
I could not find such a file
Hi,
I am using Hyper-V and created a fresh install of Windows for the task I am trying to do. I had this same issue when trying to start Docker and none of the above worked for me.
For me, I had to expose virtualization extensions to the VM. This was done by:
- Stopping the VM,
- Run a PowerShell as admin (click start menu and type: PowerShell, where you see the app listed: right click it and select ‘Run as Administrator’)
- Execute the following command in the PowerShell window:
Set-VMProcessor -VMName Your_VM_Name_Here -ExposeVirtualizationExtensions $true
Then when I next ran up Docker, it started as expected.
It looks like this should also work for other VM tech.
Hope this helps someone.
I id that, but it doesn’t solve the problem
It was more than two years ago but this problem is still actual and solving in the same way - wsl --update.
this works. confirmed 2023…
Thank you, this resolved my “Docker failed to initialize” issue.
Hi Everybody, I am using Windows 11 Version 22H2 (OS Build 22621.2428). I am facing error on running Docker Desktop. Could you please help me to sort the problem. i have been trying it for week but didn’t find any solution.