Error response from daemon: no such container when running `docker compose up`

[detectivekaktus]

Description

For a few days already I've been facing this weird issue. Anytime I want to run docker compose up I'm given the following error:

 Network midas_default   Created                                                                                                 0.0s 
 ✔ Container ea85756a438f  Removed                                                                                                 0.0s 
 ✘ Container 44b9cb711bf2  Error response from daemon: No such container: 44b9cb711bf25a3d19ef8a5254c0...                          0.2s 
Error response from daemon: No such container: 44b9cb711bf25a3d19ef8a5254c08df820f22f72a98464e4d17beb6156dbbeb0

The id of this container remains the same across restarts of the docker engine, docker desktop app, and system reboots.

The docker ps -a command shows that the container causing the problem is already exited.

CONTAINER ID   IMAGE                      COMMAND                  CREATED        STATUS                      PORTS     NAMES
44b9cb711bf2   postgres:17.6-alpine3.22   "docker-entrypoint.s…"   3 weeks ago    Exited (0) 3 weeks ago                
ea85756a438f   postgres:17.6-alpine3.22   "docker-entrypoint.s…"   5 weeks ago    Exited (0) 5 weeks ago                
cbfecd6aedec   88e904502786               "docker-entrypoint.s…"   2 months ago   Exited (128) 2 months ago

I've tried running:

• docker compose down --remove-orphans
• docker system prune -f
• docker rm 44b9cb711bf2 ea85756a438f
• docker volume prune -f
• docker network prune -f
  but none worked out.

Reproduce

There's no such list of steps I've done to get to this issue. The fact that it says that the problematic container is exited 3 weeks ago, I doubt I could remember any.

The only thing that comes to my mind is I probably shut down the computer with the containers running.

Expected behavior

docker compose up should start my application normally.

docker version

Client:
 Version:           28.4.0
 API version:       1.51
 Go version:        go1.24.7
 Git commit:        d8eb465
 Built:             Wed Sep  3 20:56:28 2025
 OS/Arch:           linux/amd64
 Context:           desktop-linux

Server: Docker Desktop 4.54.0 (212467)
 Engine:
  Version:          29.1.2
  API version:      1.52 (minimum version 1.44)
  Go version:       go1.25.5
  Git commit:       de45c2a
  Built:            Tue Dec  2 21:55:26 2025
  OS/Arch:          linux/amd64
  Experimental:     false
 containerd:
  Version:          v2.2.0
  GitCommit:        1c4457e00facac03ce1d75f7b6777a7a851e5c41
 runc:
  Version:          1.3.4
  GitCommit:        v1.3.4-0-gd6d73eb8
 docker-init:
  Version:          0.19.0
  GitCommit:        de40ad0

docker info

Client:
 Version:    28.4.0
 Context:    desktop-linux
 Debug Mode: false
 Plugins:
  ai: Docker AI Agent - Ask Gordon (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v1.17.0
    Path:     /home/detectivekaktus/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-ai
  buildx: Docker Buildx (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.30.1-desktop.1
    Path:     /home/detectivekaktus/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-buildx
  compose: Docker Compose (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v2.40.3-desktop.1
    Path:     /home/detectivekaktus/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-compose
  debug: Get a shell into any image or container (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  0.0.45
    Path:     /home/detectivekaktus/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-debug
  desktop: Docker Desktop commands (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.2.0
    Path:     /home/detectivekaktus/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-desktop
  extension: Manages Docker extensions (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.2.31
    Path:     /home/detectivekaktus/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-extension
  init: Creates Docker-related starter files for your project (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v1.4.0
    Path:     /home/detectivekaktus/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-init
  mcp: Docker MCP Plugin (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.28.0
    Path:     /home/detectivekaktus/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-mcp
  offload: Docker Offload (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.5.29
    Path:     /home/detectivekaktus/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-offload
  sbom: View the packaged-based Software Bill Of Materials (SBOM) for an image (Anchore Inc.)
    Version:  0.6.0
    Path:     /home/detectivekaktus/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-sbom
  scout: Docker Scout (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v1.18.3
    Path:     /home/detectivekaktus/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-scout

Server:
 Containers: 11
  Running: 0
  Paused: 0
  Stopped: 11
 Images: 3
 Server Version: 29.1.2
 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: io.containerd.runc.v2 runc
 Default Runtime: runc
 Init Binary: docker-init
 containerd version: 1c4457e00facac03ce1d75f7b6777a7a851e5c41
 runc version: v1.3.4-0-gd6d73eb8
 init version: de40ad0
 Security Options:
  seccomp
   Profile: builtin
  cgroupns
 Kernel Version: 6.12.54-linuxkit
 Operating System: Docker Desktop
 OSType: linux
 Architecture: x86_64
 CPUs: 4
 Total Memory: 1.747GiB
 Name: docker-desktop
 ID: 5451c208-2b4c-4661-bd3e-30265731c491
 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:///home/detectivekaktus/.docker/desktop/docker-cli.sock
 Experimental: false
 Insecure Registries:
  hubproxy.docker.internal:5555
  ::1/128
  127.0.0.0/8
 Live Restore Enabled: false

Diagnostics ID

74C1C55D-8CDA-4775-B05D-BCF8BF2D8C57/20251215172806

Additional Info

No response

[akerouanton]

Thanks for reporting @detectivekaktus. I've opened moby/moby#51724 to fix the symptoms. With that fix, you should be able to remove that otherwise unremovable container.