Linux-based docker containers won’t run as expected on Windows

If I run docker windows containers I can run docker commands ex:

docker ps 

I get this:

CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES

However if I switch to Linux containers (which is necessary for the image I need to build.) via docker desktop on Windows and try same command I get:

docker ps 

I get this:

error during connect: This error may indicate that the docker daemon is not running.: Get "": open //./pipe/docker_engine: The system cannot find the file specified.

I have tried:

• switching the docker daemon to Windows (this fails to solve my problem given I need the linux daemon running as previously stated.)
• clicking the "Reset to factory defaults" button in docker desktop
• activating the "Expose daemon on tcp://localhost:2375 without TLS" option in docker desktop
• signing out and then back into my docker account
• quitting docker desktop via the system tray, shutting down wsl with 'wsl --shutdown' and then re-opening docker desktop (in that order).
• uninstalling/reinstalling docker desktop
• uninstalling/reinstalling the ubuntu 18.04 server on my PC.

Additional info: the message appearing on the main display when I open docker desktop reads: "Docker Desktop failed to stop..."

1 Answer

Solved the issue after unregistering the docker-desktop-data distro which is used by the docker-desktop distro as the backing store for container images etc. as well unregistering the docker-desktop distro.

running following commands in Powershell as admin fixed the issue:

• wsl --unregister docker-desktop
• wsl --unregister docker-desktop-data