Uninstall Docker
Remove Docker
WSL2
These are the steps I followed when uninstalling Docker in WSL2.
Check the packages installed:
$ dpkg -l | grep -i docker
ii docker-buildx-plugin 0.17.1-1~ubuntu.22.04~jammy amd64 Docker Buildx cli plugin.
ii docker-ce 5:27.3.1-1~ubuntu.22.04~jammy amd64 Docker: the open-source application container engine
ii docker-ce-cli 5:27.3.1-1~ubuntu.22.04~jammy amd64 Docker CLI: the open-source application container engine
ii docker-ce-rootless-extras 5:27.3.1-1~ubuntu.22.04~jammy amd64 Rootless support for Docker.
ii docker-compose-plugin 2.29.7-1~ubuntu.22.04~jammy amd64 Docker Compose (V2) plugin for the Docker CLI.
Uninstall:
sudo systemctl stop docker
sudo apt-get purge -y docker-engine docker docker.io docker-ce docker-ce-cli docker-compose-plugin docker-buildx-plugin
sudo apt-get autoremove -y --purge docker-engine docker docker.io docker-ce docker-compose-plugin docker-buildx-plugin
Run the dpkg command again to verify that all Docker-related packages are removed.
If you get this error, please see Packages no longer required.
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
docker-buildx-plugin docker-ce-rootless-extras docker-compose-plugin libltdl7 libslirp0 pigz slirp4netns
Check for Docker directories and files. This needs root privileges.
# ls -la /var/lib/docker
total 52
drwx--x--- 12 root root 4096 Jun 18 12:18 ./
drwxr-xr-x 31 root root 4096 Jun 15 09:42 ../
drwx--x--x 4 root root 4096 Jun 15 09:42 buildkit/
drwx--x--- 2 root root 4096 Jun 15 09:44 containers/
-rw------- 1 root root 36 Jun 15 09:42 engine-id
drwx------ 3 root root 4096 Jun 15 09:42 image/
drwxr-x--- 3 root root 4096 Jun 15 09:42 network/
drwx--x--- 4 root root 4096 Jun 18 12:18 overlay2/
drwx------ 4 root root 4096 Jun 15 09:42 plugins/
drwx------ 2 root root 4096 Jun 18 12:18 runtimes/
drwx------ 2 root root 4096 Jun 15 09:42 swarm/
drwx------ 2 root root 4096 Jun 18 12:18 tmp/
drwx-----x 2 root root 4096 Jun 18 12:18 volumes/
# ls -la /var/lib/containerd
total 40
drwx--x--x 10 root root 4096 Jun 15 09:42 ./
drwxr-xr-x 31 root root 4096 Jun 15 09:42 ../
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 Jun 15 09:44 io.containerd.content.v1.content/
drwx--x--x 2 root root 4096 Jun 15 09:42 io.containerd.metadata.v1.bolt/
drwx--x--x 2 root root 4096 Jun 15 09:42 io.containerd.runtime.v1.linux/
drwx--x--x 3 root root 4096 Jun 15 09:44 io.containerd.runtime.v2.task/
drwx------ 2 root root 4096 Jun 15 09:42 io.containerd.snapshotter.v1.btrfs/
drwx------ 3 root root 4096 Jun 15 09:42 io.containerd.snapshotter.v1.native/
drwx------ 3 root root 4096 Jun 15 09:42 io.containerd.snapshotter.v1.overlayfs/
drwx------ 2 root root 4096 Jun 15 09:42 tmpmounts/
Delete them:
sudo rm -rf /var/lib/docker
sudo rm -rf /var/lib/containerd
If you get this error, please see Cannot remove docker directory.
rm: cannot remove '/var/lib/docker': Device or resource busy
Optionally, remove other Docker dependencies.
sudo apt autoremove
If you created a Docker group and want to remove it:
ls -la /etc/passwd | grep docker
ls -la /etc/group | grep docker
To delete them:
sudo groupdel docker
Remove configuration files.
sudo rm -f /etc/systemd/system/docker.service.d
sudo rm -f /etc/systemd/system/docker.socket.d
Windows
-
Uninstall Docker Desktop:
- Go to "Settings" > "Apps" in Windows.
- Find Docker Desktop in the list of applications.
- Click on Docker Desktop and select "Uninstall".
- Remove Docker data (optional):
-
You might also want to delete Docker's storage directories manually, typically found in your user profile under C:\Users[YourUsername].docker or the location specified in Docker settings.
Remove other files
The previous commands will not remove images, containers, volumes, or user created configuration files on your host. If you wish to delete all images, containers, and volumes run the following commands:
sudo umount /var/lib/docker/
sudo rm -rf /var/lib/docker /etc/docker
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
sudo rm /etc/apparmor.d/docker
sudo groupdel docker
sudo rm -rf /var/run/docker.sock
sudo rm -rf /var/lib/containerd
sudo rm -r ~/.docker
Verify
Confirm that Docker has been removed.
$ docker -v
The command 'docker' could not be found in this WSL 2 distro.
We recommend to activate the WSL integration in Docker Desktop settings.
Troubleshooting
Packages no longer required
If you get this error while uninstalling Docker:
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
docker-buildx-plugin docker-ce-rootless-extras docker-compose-plugin libltdl7 libslirp0 pigz slirp4netns
Run:
sudo apt autoremove
Cannot remove docker directory
If you get this error while trying to remove the Docker directoryes:
rm: cannot remove '/var/lib/docker': Device or resource busy
Then you might need to check which processes are using it:
sudo lsof | grep /var/lib/docker
In the example output below, we see that the process with PID 205035 is keeping the directory busy.
$ sudo lsof | grep /var/lib/docker
dockerd 205035 root DEL-W REG 8,32 30178 /var/lib/docker/buildkit/history.db
dockerd 205035 root DEL-W REG 8,32 30177 /var/lib/docker/buildkit/cache.db
dockerd 205035 root DEL-W REG 8,32 30175 /var/lib/docker/buildkit/metadata_v2.db
dockerd 205035 root DEL-W REG 8,32 30174 /var/lib/docker/buildkit/snapshots.db
Kill the process. Note that your PID may be different.
sudo kill -9 205035
If you still got this error:
$ sudo rm -rf /var/lib/docker
sudo rm -rf /var/lib/containerd
rm: cannot remove '/var/lib/docker': Device or resource busy
Try to force unmount the directory and then delete them again.
sudo umount /var/lib/docker
sudo rm -rf /var/lib/containerd
sudo rm -rf /var/lib/docker