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Multiple dead containers that can't be deleted #253

@jtabox

Description

@jtabox

Description

I have some old containers (from the last couple of months) that appear as dead, but trying to delete them I get error from daemon that they don't exist...

Doing docker ps -a shows them all as dead:

CONTAINER ID   IMAGE          COMMAND                  CREATED        STATUS    PORTS     NAMES
43d474c28e19   61f88e24df5b   "node build/index.js"    3 days ago     Dead
cd8ab3874ce6   a93f01634ef9   "markitdown-mcp"         7 days ago     Dead
...snip...
ea1c1ee4d02b   35fcf0217ca0   "node /app/dist/inde…"   2 months ago   Dead
4a6f3b2d6d8f   35fcf0217ca0   "node /app/dist/inde…"   3 months ago   Dead

docker container ls shows an empty list.

Even in Docker Desktop, they don't appear in the "Containers" section, but are visible via the "Disk usage" extension:

Image

Trying to delete them (forcefully and not) with docker container rm -f <CONTAINER_ID> gives the error Error response from daemon: No such container: <CONTAINER_ID>.

I've ran the same commands both in Windows CMD line and in WSL, no difference. I've tried even deleting all containers indiscriminately with docker container rm $(docker ps -a -q), but I just get the same error.

I've also tried tostop and kill them, and also ran every prune command but they persist.

Any ideas? (please don't ask if I restarted Docker)

Reproduce

See above

Expected behavior

No response

docker version

Client:
 Version:           29.0.1
 API version:       1.52
 Go version:        go1.25.4
 Git commit:        eedd969
 Built:             Fri Nov 14 16:19:55 2025
 OS/Arch:           windows/amd64
 Context:           desktop-linux

Server: Docker Desktop 4.53.0 (211793)
 Engine:
  Version:          29.0.1
  API version:      1.52 (minimum version 1.44)
  Go version:       go1.25.4
  Git commit:       198b5e3
  Built:            Fri Nov 14 16:17:57 2025
  OS/Arch:          linux/amd64
  Experimental:     false
 containerd:
  Version:          v2.1.5
  GitCommit:        fcd43222d6b07379a4be9786bda52438f0dd16a1
 runc:
  Version:          1.3.3
  GitCommit:        v1.3.3-0-gd842d771
 docker-init:
  Version:          0.19.0
  GitCommit:        de40ad0

docker info

Client:
 Version:    29.0.1
 Context:    desktop-linux
 Debug Mode: false
 Plugins:
  ai: Docker AI Agent - Ask Gordon (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v1.13.0
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-ai.exe
  buildx: Docker Buildx (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.29.1-desktop.1
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-buildx.exe
  compose: Docker Compose (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v2.40.3-desktop.1
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-compose.exe
  debug: Get a shell into any image or container (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  0.0.45
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-debug.exe
  desktop: Docker Desktop commands (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.2.0
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-desktop.exe
  extension: Manages Docker extensions (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.2.31
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-extension.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
  mcp: Docker MCP Plugin (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.28.0
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-mcp.exe
  model: Docker Model Runner (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v1.0.0
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-model.exe
  offload: Docker Offload (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.5.24
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-offload.exe
  pass: Docker Pass Secrets Manager Plugin (beta) (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.0.11
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-pass.exe
  sandbox: Docker Sandbox (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.6.0
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-sandbox.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:  v1.18.3
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-scout.exe

Server:
 Containers: 18
  Running: 0
  Paused: 0
  Stopped: 18
 Images: 0
 Server Version: 29.0.1
 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: io.containerd.runc.v2 nvidia runc
 Default Runtime: runc
 Init Binary: docker-init
 containerd version: fcd43222d6b07379a4be9786bda52438f0dd16a1
 runc version: v1.3.3-0-gd842d771
 init version: de40ad0
 Security Options:
  seccomp
   Profile: builtin
  cgroupns
 Kernel Version: 6.6.87.2-microsoft-standard-WSL2
 Operating System: Docker Desktop
 OSType: linux
 Architecture: x86_64
 CPUs: 24
 Total Memory: 15.62GiB
 Name: docker-desktop
 ID: e541d5ea-6c9e-46f1-9182-17de57833d05
 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
 Firewall Backend: iptables

Diagnostics ID

42CAFDA5-3DE9-456D-AB15-DE93913D34EB/20251129150606

Additional Info

No response

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