wsl integration no longer works - docker socket not found

[viceice]

Description

I can no longer access docker from my wsl distribution since today.
Confirmed to happen after upgrade to Docker Desktop v4.39.0.

Reproduce

1. run docker info from wsl

Expected behavior

docker info should be able to talk to the daemon.

docker version

Client:
 Version:           28.0.1
 API version:       1.48
 Go version:        go1.23.6
 Git commit:        068a01e
 Built:             Wed Feb 26 10:41:52 2025
 OS/Arch:           windows/amd64
 Context:           desktop-linux

Server: Docker Desktop 4.39.0 (184744)
 Engine:
  Version:          28.0.1
  API version:      1.48 (minimum version 1.24)
  Go version:       go1.23.6
  Git commit:       bbd0a17
  Built:            Wed Feb 26 10:41:16 2025
  OS/Arch:          linux/amd64
  Experimental:     false
 containerd:
  Version:          1.7.25
  GitCommit:        bcc810d6b9066471b0b6fa75f557a15a1cbf31bb
 runc:
  Version:          1.2.4
  GitCommit:        v1.2.4-0-g6c52b3f
 docker-init:
  Version:          0.19.0
  GitCommit:        de40ad0

docker info

Client:
 Version:    28.0.1
 Context:    desktop-linux
 Debug Mode: false
 Plugins:
  ai: Docker AI Agent - Ask Gordon (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.9.8
    Path:     C:\Users\kriese\.docker\cli-plugins\docker-ai.exe
  buildx: Docker Buildx (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.21.1-desktop.2
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-buildx.exe
  compose: Docker Compose (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v2.33.1-desktop.1
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-compose.exe
  debug: Get a shell into any image or container (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  0.0.38
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-debug.exe
  desktop: Docker Desktop commands (Beta) (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.1.5
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-desktop.exe
  dev: Docker Dev Environments (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.1.2
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-dev.exe
  extension: Manages Docker extensions (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.2.27
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-extension.exe
  feedback: Provide feedback, right in your terminal! (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v1.0.5
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-feedback.exe
  init: Creates Docker-related starter files for your project (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v1.4.0
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-init.exe
  sbom: View the packaged-based Software Bill Of Materials (SBOM) for an image (Anchore Inc.)
    Version:  0.6.0
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-sbom.exe
  scout: Docker Scout (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v1.17.0
    Path:     C:\Users\kriese\.docker\cli-plugins\docker-scout.exe

Server:
 Containers: 5
  Running: 3
  Paused: 0
  Stopped: 2
 Images: 10
 Server Version: 28.0.1
 Storage Driver: overlayfs
  driver-type: io.containerd.snapshotter.v1
 Logging Driver: json-file
 Cgroup Driver: cgroupfs
 Cgroup Version: 1
 Plugins:
  Volume: local
  Network: bridge host ipvlan macvlan null overlay
  Log: awslogs fluentd gcplogs gelf journald json-file local splunk syslog
 CDI spec directories:
  /etc/cdi
  /var/run/cdi
 Swarm: inactive
 Runtimes: io.containerd.runc.v2 nvidia runc
 Default Runtime: runc
 Init Binary: docker-init
 containerd version: bcc810d6b9066471b0b6fa75f557a15a1cbf31bb
 runc version: v1.2.4-0-g6c52b3f
 init version: de40ad0
 Security Options:
  seccomp
   Profile: unconfined
 Kernel Version: 5.15.167.4-microsoft-standard-WSL2
 Operating System: Docker Desktop
 OSType: linux
 Architecture: x86_64
 CPUs: 32
 Total Memory: 31.34GiB
 Name: docker-desktop
 ID: 6fbc834f-88a5-46c8-8c88-c7fd5a156122
 Docker Root Dir: /var/lib/docker
 Debug Mode: false
 HTTP Proxy: http.docker.internal:3128
 HTTPS Proxy: http.docker.internal:3128
 No Proxy: hubproxy.docker.internal
 Labels:
  com.docker.desktop.address=npipe://\\.\pipe\docker_cli
 Experimental: false
 Insecure Registries:
  hubproxy.docker.internal:5555
  ::1/128
  127.0.0.0/8
 Live Restore Enabled: false

WARNING: No blkio throttle.read_bps_device support
WARNING: No blkio throttle.write_bps_device support
WARNING: No blkio throttle.read_iops_device support
WARNING: No blkio throttle.write_iops_device support
WARNING: daemon is not using the default seccomp profile

Diagnostics ID

12DBB95A-27C0-4B1E-AB1E-A09D9CA130D7/20250327100827

Additional Info

$ docker info
Client:
 Version:    28.0.1
 Context:    default
 Debug Mode: false
 Plugins:
  ai: Docker AI Agent - Ask Gordon (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.9.4
    Path:     /usr/local/lib/docker/cli-plugins/docker-ai
  buildx: Docker Buildx (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.21.1-desktop.2
    Path:     /usr/local/lib/docker/cli-plugins/docker-buildx
  compose: Docker Compose (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v2.33.1-desktop.1
    Path:     /usr/local/lib/docker/cli-plugins/docker-compose
  debug: Get a shell into any image or container (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  0.0.38
    Path:     /usr/local/lib/docker/cli-plugins/docker-debug
  desktop: Docker Desktop commands (Beta) (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.1.5
    Path:     /usr/local/lib/docker/cli-plugins/docker-desktop
  dev: Docker Dev Environments (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.1.2
    Path:     /usr/local/lib/docker/cli-plugins/docker-dev
  extension: Manages Docker extensions (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.2.27
    Path:     /usr/local/lib/docker/cli-plugins/docker-extension
  feedback: Provide feedback, right in your terminal! (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v1.0.5
    Path:     /usr/local/lib/docker/cli-plugins/docker-feedback
  init: Creates Docker-related starter files for your project (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v1.4.0
    Path:     /usr/local/lib/docker/cli-plugins/docker-init
  sbom: View the packaged-based Software Bill Of Materials (SBOM) for an image (Anchore Inc.)
    Version:  0.6.0
    Path:     /usr/local/lib/docker/cli-plugins/docker-sbom
  scout: Docker Scout (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v1.16.3
    Path:     /usr/local/lib/docker/cli-plugins/docker-scout
WARNING: Plugin "/usr/local/lib/docker/cli-plugins/docker-scan" is not valid: failed to fetch metadata: fork/exec /usr/local/lib/docker/cli-plugins/docker-scan: no such file or directory

Server:
ERROR: Cannot connect to the Docker daemon at unix:///var/run/docker.sock. Is the docker daemon running?
errors pretty printing info

$ docker context ls
NAME              DESCRIPTION                               DOCKER ENDPOINT                               ERROR
default *         Current DOCKER_HOST based configuration   unix:///var/run/docker.sock
desktop-linux     Docker Desktop                            npipe:////./pipe/dockerDesktopLinuxEngine
desktop-windows   Docker Desktop                            npipe:////./pipe/dockerDesktopWindowsEngine

[viceice]

Confirmed to happen after upgrade to Docker Desktop v4.39.0. Rolling back to v4.38.0 works

[binduwavell]

I have this same issue. Stupidly upgraded back to v4.39.0 and issue starts again.

[lobabob]

Same issue, rolling back to v4.38.0 worked for me as well

[brianfreytag]

Same issue, rolling back to v4.38.0 worked for me as well

I also have this issue.

Every time I try to rollback, within a few hours I'm back on 4.39.0. Talked to our IT team and they don't have anything forcing it to update and I have both update checkboxes unchecked:

[hitzhangjie]

Think about what will you do when 4.40.0 released? From 4.27 to 4.39, so many times, nearly every release have severe problems.
I'm done.
Try podman desktop.

[rationalthinker1]

I removed Docker Desktop and installed docker and docker engine inside WSL2. It worked fine afterwards.

1. Uninstall Docker Desktop
2. Run this command inside WSL2:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y \
  ca-certificates \
  curl \
  gnupg \
  lsb-release

sudo mkdir -p /etc/apt/keyrings

curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | \
  sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg

echo \
  "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg] \
  https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu noble stable" | \
  sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin 

3. start docker service: sudo dockerd
4. test if it works:

docker version
docker run hello-world

5. I don't know why, I had to run this again in order for docker compose to work

sudo apt update
sudo apt install docker-compose-plugin

[viceice]

Has anybody testd v4.40.0?

[viceice]

Has anybody testd v4.40.0?

Nope, still an issue on v4.40.0

[RuggMatt]

EB6FEC5B-2454-48F2-BE6A-B735489D72A4/20250407182712

I have a similar issue. Docker Desktop starts normally and works for a while. Then about after an hour, I suddenly lost ability to run any Docker related commands in WSL2 via the command line. Instead I get the error:

Cannot connect to the Docker daemon at unix:///var/run/docker.sock. Is the docker daemon running?

The containers are still running, and in my case I can still access the related web services the containers expose. I just can't seem to control them via WSL2

docker context ls output:

NAME            DESCRIPTION                               DOCKER ENDPOINT                             ERROR
default *       Current DOCKER_HOST based configuration   unix:///var/run/docker.sock
desktop-linux   Docker Desktop                            npipe:////./pipe/dockerDesktopLinuxEngine