My Docker is failing to launch on my Windows 10 Pro - docker

Question

I have had some problems with setting up Docker on my Windows 10 pro PC. I get this crash report when I try to open it up:
Crash Report screenshot
This is the text that is inside of the box:
System.InvalidOperationException:
Failed to deploy distro docker-desktop to C:\Users\Imogen\AppData\Local\Docker\wsl\distro: exit code: -1
stdout: Access is denied.
stderr:
at Docker.ApiServices.WSL2.WslShortLivedCommandResult.LogAndThrowIfUnexpectedExitCode(String prefix, ILogger log, Int32 expectedExitCode) in C:\workspaces\PR-15138\src\github.com\docker\pinata\win\src\Docker.ApiServices\WSL2\WslCommand.cs:line 146
at Docker.Engines.WSL2.WSL2Provisioning.<DeployDistroAsync>d__17.MoveNext() in C:\workspaces\PR-15138\src\github.com\docker\pinata\win\src\Docker.Desktop\Engines\WSL2\WSL2Provisioning.cs:line 169
--- End of stack trace from previous location where exception was thrown ---
at System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw()
at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification(Task task)
at Docker.Engines.WSL2.WSL2Provisioning.<ProvisionAsync>d__8.MoveNext() in C:\workspaces\PR-15138\src\github.com\docker\pinata\win\src\Docker.Desktop\Engines\WSL2\WSL2Provisioning.cs:line 78
--- End of stack trace from previous location where exception was thrown ---
at System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw()
at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification(Task task)
at Docker.Engines.WSL2.LinuxWSL2Engine.<DoStartAsync>d__25.MoveNext() in C:\workspaces\PR-15138\src\github.com\docker\pinata\win\src\Docker.Desktop\Engines\WSL2\LinuxWSL2Engine.cs:line 99
--- End of stack trace from previous location where exception was thrown ---
at System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw()
at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification(Task task)
at Docker.ApiServices.StateMachines.TaskExtensions.<WrapAsyncInCancellationException>d__0.MoveNext() in C:\workspaces\PR-15138\src\github.com\docker\pinata\win\src\Docker.ApiServices\StateMachines\TaskExtensions.cs:line 29
--- End of stack trace from previous location where exception was thrown ---
at System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw()
at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification(Task task)
at Docker.ApiServices.StateMachines.StartTransition.<DoRunAsync>d__5.MoveNext() in C:\workspaces\PR-15138\src\github.com\docker\pinata\win\src\Docker.ApiServices\StateMachines\StartTransition.cs:line 67
--- End of stack trace from previous location where exception was thrown ---
at System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw()
at Docker.ApiServices.StateMachines.StartTransition.<DoRunAsync>d__5.MoveNext() in C:\workspaces\PR-15138\src\github.com\docker\pinata\win\src\Docker.ApiServices\StateMachines\StartTransition.cs:line 92
I have checked my visualization settings and it is enabled. My BIOS is legacy, not sure if UEFI Firmware settings are needed for Docker. My Hyper-V is also enabled in Windows Features. I have also been accessing docker with an authorized cmd. Any advice or suggestions will be much appreciated!

Answer 1

This is happening because there is an incompatibility between WSL2 and Docker.
If you run wsl -l -v I'm quite sure you will see this:
As you can see the VERSION for Debian/Ubuntu/kali-linux is set to 2.
But also docker-desktop is using version 2.
My solution was to
open the Start menu and uninstall Debian/Ubuntu/kali-linux
Uninstall Docker
Go to Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features and disable Windows Subsystem for Linux
Now reboot your machine.
Log back in, enable once again Windows Subsystem for Linux and reinstall Debian/Ubuntu/kali-linux
Now install Docker again but this time at this step untick "Install required Windows components for WSL 2"
..I know this is not a good news but this is how I fixed it.
Downgrading WSL2 to WSL1 won't help.

Answer 2

Docker Desktop and Docker Engine never worked for me on Windows 10, it is really unstable. Luckily, you can run Docker solely on your WSL 2 Linux Distro which gives a much more peace of mind. If interested to make docker run perfectly on Windows, install WSL 2 and choose any distro(Ubuntu for my case), then follow this article to set up Docker.