DEV Community

Dushyant Pathak
Dushyant Pathak

Posted on

Damn Docker don't fire up on Windows? Here's a shortcut

If you see a dizzyingly dismal error like this when you fire up Docker Desktop

docker: error during connect: Post http://%2F%2F.%2Fpipe%2Fdocker_engine/v1.40/containers/create: open //./pipe/docker_engine: The system cannot find the file specified. In the default daemon configuration on Windows, the docker client must be run elevated to connect. This error may also indicate that the docker daemon is not running.
See 'docker run --help'.
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

you're not the first one.

And unfortunately, a lot of Stack Overflow answers don't work. Here's something that worked for me on Windows 10.

  1. Open Powershell as Administrator
  2. Run -
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32>cd "C:\Program Files\Docker\Docker"
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32>./DockerCli.exe -SwitchDaemon
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Remember, make sure you spell the stuff right, and that Docker is installed in the directory as mentioned in the command.

This is just meant to be a quick hack - an explanation about what happens coming soon.

Top comments (0)