`docker desktop start` hangs indefinitely

[jekozyra]

Description

when I run docker desktop start, sometimes it works, and sometimes it hangs indefinitely.

I've tried rebooting my laptop multiple times to see if a clean start helps. It does not. Starting the application from the UI vs the cli works 100% of the time.

docker was installed via brew install docker --cask --force

logs are attached.

OS: Sequoia 15.5
Docker verison: 28.2.2, build e6534b4

Reproduce

1. docker desktop start

Expected behavior

docker desktop start should start reliably

docker version

Client:
 Version:           28.2.2
 API version:       1.50
 Go version:        go1.24.3
 Git commit:        e6534b4
 Built:             Fri May 30 12:07:35 2025
 OS/Arch:           darwin/arm64
 Context:           desktop-linux
Cannot connect to the Docker daemon at unix:///Users/jilliankozyra/.docker/run/docker.sock. Is the docker daemon running?
jilliankozyra@mac monorepo % docker version
Client:
 Version:           28.2.2
 API version:       1.50
 Go version:        go1.24.3
 Git commit:        e6534b4
 Built:             Fri May 30 12:07:35 2025
 OS/Arch:           darwin/arm64
 Context:           desktop-linux

Server: Docker Desktop 4.42.0 (195023)
 Engine:
  Version:          28.2.2
  API version:      1.50 (minimum version 1.24)
  Go version:       go1.24.3
  Git commit:       45873be
  Built:            Fri May 30 12:07:27 2025
  OS/Arch:          linux/arm64
  Experimental:     false
 containerd:
  Version:          1.7.27
  GitCommit:        05044ec0a9a75232cad458027ca83437aae3f4da
 runc:
  Version:          1.2.5
  GitCommit:        v1.2.5-0-g59923ef
 docker-init:
  Version:          0.19.0
  GitCommit:        de40ad0

docker info

Client:
 Version:    28.2.2
 Context:    desktop-linux
 Debug Mode: false
 Plugins:
  ai: Docker AI Agent - Ask Gordon (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v1.4.0
    Path:     /Users/jilliankozyra/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-ai
  buildx: Docker Buildx (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.24.0-desktop.2
    Path:     /Users/jilliankozyra/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-buildx
  cloud: Docker Cloud (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.3.9
    Path:     /Users/jilliankozyra/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-cloud
  compose: Docker Compose (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v2.36.2-desktop.1
    Path:     /Users/jilliankozyra/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-compose
  debug: Get a shell into any image or container (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  0.0.41
    Path:     /Users/jilliankozyra/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-debug
  desktop: Docker Desktop commands (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.1.9
    Path:     /Users/jilliankozyra/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-desktop
  extension: Manages Docker extensions (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.2.29
    Path:     /Users/jilliankozyra/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-extension
  init: Creates Docker-related starter files for your project (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v1.4.0
    Path:     /Users/jilliankozyra/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-init
  mcp: Docker MCP Plugin (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  dev
    Path:     /Users/jilliankozyra/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-mcp
  model: Docker Model Runner (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.1.24
    Path:     /Users/jilliankozyra/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-model
  sbom: View the packaged-based Software Bill Of Materials (SBOM) for an image (Anchore Inc.)
    Version:  0.6.0
    Path:     /Users/jilliankozyra/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-sbom
  scout: Docker Scout (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v1.18.0
    Path:     /Users/jilliankozyra/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-scout

Server:
 Containers: 2
  Running: 2
  Paused: 0
  Stopped: 0
 Images: 4
 Server Version: 28.2.2
 Storage Driver: overlayfs
  driver-type: io.containerd.snapshotter.v1
 Logging Driver: json-file
 Cgroup Driver: cgroupfs
 Cgroup Version: 2
 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
 Discovered Devices:
  cdi: docker.com/gpu=webgpu
 Swarm: inactive
 Runtimes: runc io.containerd.runc.v2
 Default Runtime: runc
 Init Binary: docker-init
 containerd version: 05044ec0a9a75232cad458027ca83437aae3f4da
 runc version: v1.2.5-0-g59923ef
 init version: de40ad0
 Security Options:
  seccomp
   Profile: builtin
  cgroupns
 Kernel Version: 6.10.14-linuxkit
 Operating System: Docker Desktop
 OSType: linux
 Architecture: aarch64
 CPUs: 16
 Total Memory: 7.653GiB
 Name: docker-desktop
 ID: 85e07128-f0f8-40b5-b7b1-fea26fefa409
 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=unix:///Users/jilliankozyra/Library/Containers/com.docker.docker/Data/docker-cli.sock
 Experimental: false
 Insecure Registries:
  hubproxy.docker.internal:5555
  ::1/128
  127.0.0.0/8
 Live Restore Enabled: false

Additional Info

[thaJeztah]

@jekozyra looks like your logs contain various passwords; not sure if they are ones that are only for local / testing, but you may want to look which ones are included and whether they should be rotated ⚠️ ⚠️ ⚠️

[thaJeztah]

I removed the attachment, but it's possible someone already downloaded it