'Docker for Windows cleanup

I'm using docker for Windows to launch a MSSQL server. Everything is working fine except for the fact that my harddrive is now full. I've used all the cleanup commands that docker has, removing all images and containers:

docker kill $(docker ps -q)
docker rm $(docker ps -a -q)
docker rmi $(docker images -q -f dangling=true)
docker rmi $(docker images -q)

This will not remove any contents in the c:\ProgramData\Docker\windowsfilter folder, where there are still a lot of file. Roughly 130gb worth's of storage, without any running containers or stored images.

Client:
 Version:      17.03.1-ce
 API version:  1.27
 Go version:   go1.7.5
 Git commit:   c6d412e
 Built:        Tue Mar 28 00:40:02 2017
 OS/Arch:      windows/amd64

Server:
 Version:      17.03.1-ce
 API version:  1.27 (minimum version 1.24)
 Go version:   go1.7.5
 Git commit:   c6d412e
 Built:        Tue Mar 28 00:40:02 2017
 OS/Arch:      windows/amd64
 Experimental: true

I tried to use the docker-ci-zap (https://github.com/jhowardmsft/docker-ci-zap) , but running that tool is not recommended so I would rather use an alternative solution

docker

Solution 1:^[1]

Since Docker 1.13 (January 2017), Docker has some new canonical pruning subcommands (use with care):

docker image prune
docker container prune
docker volume prune
docker network prune
docker system prune
- all stopped containers
- all networks not used by at least one container
- all dangling images
- all build cache

However, Docker Desktop has had some sketchy upgrades that left things behind, which required manual file removal or "factory resets" for some folks.

Manual Deletion
- Mac - https://github.com/docker/for-mac/issues/371 (This one got me a week or so ago. I resorted to pruning and deleting data with rm -rf ~/Library/Containers/com.docker.docker/Data/*)
- Win - https://github.com/docker/for-win/issues/745#issuecomment-319930974
Factory Reset In the Docker Preferences GUI, there is a "reset to factory defaults" option. (In Docker Desktop for Mac v3.3, the option is in the "troubleshoot" tab, the icon for which looks like a bug. )

Solution 2:^[2]

From a powershell window:

docker system prune -a -f
net stop com.docker.service
taskkill /F /IM "Docker Desktop.exe"
stop-vm DockerDesktopVM
Optimize-VHD -Path "C:\ProgramData\DockerDesktop\vm-data\DockerDesktop.vhdx" -Mode Full
start-vm DockerDesktopVM
start "C:\Program Files\Docker\Docker\Docker Desktop.exe"
net start com.docker.service

Solution 3:^[3]

Just use prune command for docker system and it will clean up every thing just like this

$ docker system prune

WARNING! This will remove:
        - all stopped containers
        - all networks not used by at least one container
        - all dangling images
        - all build cache Are you sure you want to continue? [y/N] y

In Docker 17.06.1 and higher, you can add the --volumes flag for docker system prune to prune volumes not used by at least one container.

For more details https://docs.docker.com/config/pruning/#prune-everything

Solution 4:^[4]

Download docker-ci-zap.exe from https://github.com/jhowardmsft/docker-ci-zap and then run it in powershell with admin priviledge:

.\docker-ci-zap.exe -folder "C:\ProgramData\docker"

Reference: https://github.com/moby/moby/issues/26873

Solution 5:^[5]

If still relevant. I ran into the same thing.

Try the command

docker rmi

In my case problem was in that I tried execute it in linux containers mode.

When I switched into windows containers this command executing removed all content of this folder.

Solution 6:^[6]

I use WSL 2 and this helped me: Open your PowerShell and enter the following

PS C:\tmp> diskpart

Microsoft DiskPart version 10.0.19041.1

Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation.
On computer: *****

DISKPART> select vdisk file="C:\Users\<UID>\AppData\Local\Docker\wsl\data\ext4.vhdx"

DiskPart successfully selected the virtual disk file.

DISKPART> compact vdisk

  100 percent completed

DiskPart successfully compacted the virtual disk file.

Try wsl --shutdown in PowerShell if it claims another process uses this disk

Source

Solution 7:^[7]

Try

icacls "C:\ProgramData\Docker" /T /C /grant Administrators:F

as administrator

Solution 8:^[8]

I had a similar issue after running windows containers. My windowsfilter folder size increased to ~80GB and I couldn't delete those files manually or with docker system prune --valume. After googling so many hours, I always ended with the docker-ci-zap.exe solution which is not recomended. Then I figured out a easy workaround by reading https://github.com/docker/for-win/issues/745#issuecomment-444461889.

The workaround is adding -removing suffix to the folders you wish to delete within windowsfilter directory and restart the docker. This will trigger docker to cleanup the folders properly at startup. I have experienced docker will clean at most 10 folder in every startup. If you have more then 10 folders, then you might restart several time to remove all of them.

You can use the following command if you want to get ride of all the files.

Get-ChildItem -Path D:\docker\data\windowsfilter -Directory | % {Rename-Item $_.FullName "$($_.FullName)-removing" -ErrorAction:SilentlyContinue}

Solution 9:^[9]

Had about ~40GB for ext4.vhdx file and ~17gb for ProgramData/Docker Desktop. If you are using Docker Desktop it easy to clean it :

Just open it, click Troubleshoot and then Clean/Purge data

Works fine for me.

Solution 10:^[10]

I faced similar issue trying to delete docker folder for cleanup, the below simple trick worked for me

Pre-requisite : Needs git bash to be installed

Rename docker folder inside c:\ProgramData\Docker\ to something like c:\ProgramData\Docker.old\
Run git bash inside c:\ProgramData\
rm -rf Docker.old\

I think the above workaround will also work with WSL terminal, but haven't tested myself

Solution 11:^[11]

Solution update for 2021

NOTE:
All command executed in ADMIN powershell

First step: Clean all the images and the volumes.

docker image ls # These images will be all deleted
docker image prune -a -f

docker volume ls # These volumes will be all deleted
docker volume prune -a -f

docker system prune -a -f

Second step: Stop docker service

Right click on the docker icon or taskkill /F /IM "Docker Desktop.exe". Then: net stop com.docker.service

Third step: Reduce the .vhdx file size

Optimize-VHD -Path "C:\Users\alessiosavi\AppData\Local\Docker\wsl\data\ext4.vhdx" -Mode Full

Now you can restart the docker service: net start com.docker.service

Sources

This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Overflow and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Source: Stack Overflow

Solution	Source
Solution 1
Solution 2	Delirante
Solution 3	Schnouki
Solution 4	TridenT
Solution 5	afkelarion
Solution 6
Solution 7	Janusz Nowak
Solution 8
Solution 9	Nigrimmist
Solution 10	Vignesh Nandakumar
Solution 11	alessiosavi

'Docker for Windows cleanup

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