Docker desktop stopped working after upgrading Ubuntu from 23.10 to 24.04

[md-owes]

Description

I upgraded my Ubuntu OS from 23.10 to 24.04 via sudo do-release-upgrade -d command and the upgrade was successful without any issue. However, after the upgrade and system restart, when i start docker desktop, it did not respond to clicking the docker desktop icon via app launcher. Thinking it might be due to system upgrade i decided to uninstall docker desktop 4.29 and reinstalled the same version but still docker desktop was unable to start. I verified the logs located at ~/.docker/desktop/log/host and there were no entries with keyword 'error' or 'fail'. I verified the service docker-desktop was enabled and running via command systemctl --user status docker-desktop but the command systemctl --user status docker gave error "Unit docker.service could not be found".

Reproduce

1. upgrade Ubuntu from any version (i upgraded from 23.10 but i believe it could be any version) to 24.04 via "sudo do-release-upgrade -d"
2. restart system
3. Start docker desktop

Expected behavior

Docker desktop should run with all my images and containers intact

docker version

terminal gets stuck while running this command but docker --version prints the below output 

Docker version 26.1.0, build 9714adc

docker info

terminal gets stuck while running this command

Diagnostics ID

7D75123F-C60D-4C2F-A751-FAC458B49182/20240427092253

Additional Info

No response

[andinianst93]

I have the same problem too. The Docker engine works fine though. It just I can not open the UI.

[wgrs]

Docker Desktop not working for me on Ubuntu 24.04 fresh install

[luiz-fernandoalves]

I freshly installed Ubuntu 24.04, and now Docker Desktop is not launching. I followed the official installation instructions (which worked for me on version 22.04), but it's still not successful.

[raza2022]

Same so I can confirm the official installation was completed successfully, but Docker Desktop is not launching in Ubuntu 24.04

Steps

1. install fresh Ubuntu version 24.04
2. follow the Docker official instructions
3. Launch Docker Desktop

[serious-angel]

terminal gets stuck while running this command

Have you tried stracing the "stuck" command in order to find out what or when the exact sys-call or loop hangs?

Not to mention Linux and not Windows cases, have you tried not using Docker Desktop at all but marvelous and fairly sufficient CLI or... TUI at least?

[beelzick]

Same error here

[md-owes]

Apologies for tagging but looking for some eyes here asap as my work is completely dependent on it. @christophermclellan, @aiordache, @bsousaa

[ptdatta]

Same issue for me too. If I ran it from /opt/docker-desktop/bin/docker-desktop it say docker desktop starting but it never starts.

[vic-reis]

Seguimos triste, irei tentar instalar a versão 22 do ubunto para ver se é questão de compatibilidade do sistema, pois, a extensão do VSCODE segue com o mesmo erro.

[Arnispl]

I did these steps and now it works fine.

1. Remove the System-Level Mask
   You need to remove the symbolic link that's masking the service at /etc/systemd/user/. Because this involves system-level changes, you'll need to use sudo:

sudo rm /etc/systemd/user/docker-desktop.service

Reload Systemd
2. After removing the symlink, reload the systemd daemon to apply the changes:

systemctl --user daemon-reload

3.Unmask at the User Level (if still needed)
If the service is still showing as masked at your user level, unmask it:

systemctl --user unmask docker-desktop

4. Start Docker Desktop
   Try starting the Docker Desktop service again:

systemctl --user start docker-desktop

5. Check the Service Status
   Confirm that the service is active and no longer masked:

systemctl --user status docker-desktop

[Lapakin]

I did these steps and now it works fine.

1. Remove the System-Level Mask
   You need to remove the symbolic link that's masking the service at /etc/systemd/user/. Because this involves system-level changes, you'll need to use sudo:

sudo rm /etc/systemd/user/docker-desktop.service

Reload Systemd 2. After removing the symlink, reload the systemd daemon to apply the changes:

systemctl --user daemon-reload

3.Unmask at the User Level (if still needed) If the service is still showing as masked at your user level, unmask it:

systemctl --user unmask docker-desktop

4. Start Docker Desktop
   Try starting the Docker Desktop service again:

systemctl --user start docker-desktop

5. Check the Service Status
   Confirm that the service is active and no longer masked:

systemctl --user status docker-desktop

Unfortunately, this didn't help me, as the file was not in the folder.

[mayurDayal2000]

Hello, I encountered the same issue with the Docker Desktop GUI not loading. I managed to resolve it by navigating to /opt/docker-desktop/bin in the file system, right-clicking on com.docker.backend, and choosing 'Run'. This got Docker up and running for me. However, it seems to be stuck at the 'starting the Docker engine' loading screen now. Hope this helps anyone else facing the same problem!

[serious-angel]

Apologies for tagging but looking for some eyes here asap as my work is completely dependent on it. @christophermclellan, @aiordache, @bsousaa

As mentioned above, have you tried stracing to define and locate the issue causer? I don't have such issues, so I - cannot.

[ptdatta]

systemctl --user status docker-desktop

Hey @Arnispl I tried your solution but in my case, it just stuck at the starting stage.
I can see the service is running but every docker command is stuck. I tried with docker ps -a