Note on Volumes Not Being Deleted Even After Removing Docker Images and Containers

This article was originally published on bmf-tech.com.

Overview

I often forget that volumes are not deleted even after removing containers and images in Docker, so I'm writing this note.

I usually use docker-compose.

docker-compose build
docker-compose up -d

Then, I clean up with:

docker rm **
docker rmi **

However, it seems there is an option to delete mounted volumes.

Solution

Check if volumes remain.
docker volume ls

docker volume rm **

Additional Notes

There is a way to clean up all containers, network images, and volumes described in docker-compose.yml at once using docker-compose.

docker-compose down --rmi all -v

References

• Docker Volume Issues -v --rm -d Garbage Remains, Container Won't Start