Docker Desktop (Windows) Memory Leak

babsonnexus · January 31, 2024, 2:26pm

When Docker Desktop (Windows) launches, it's taking up very little memory:

JP_ScreenShot_2024_01_23_10_10_01

However, it keeps growing and growing and growing, consuming everything and never letting go. For instance, just two days after that screenshot above, it looked this:

JP_ScreenShot_2024_01_28_10_07_00

And it's not related to WSL because that is staying well within the bounds I have set:

I've searched through the boards on Docker and elsewhere, and it seems like this may have been an issue for years with no resolution, but I'm wondering if anyone else has an experience with this and some ideas that might help keep the memory leak down?

That said, if there is no solution, I'm totally fine with the idea of rebooting Docker Desktop on a daily schedule. However, I want to use a command line to do a natural exit so that all the containers can shut down properly. I'm well aware of how to force close Docker Desktop by killing the process, but I'd like to be a lot more gentle. Again, I wasn't able to figure out a way to do this from any of Docker's documentation or board responses, so I'm wondering if someone here might have some ideas?

tmm1 · January 31, 2024, 2:29pm

Oh I thought you had found a fix for this.

babsonnexus · January 31, 2024, 2:52pm

No, that keeps WSL from going crazy. As I showed above, that is working perfectly.

This is the Docker Desktop application itself, or specifically whatever is included in "backend".

Others have the same issue:

github.com/docker/for-win

com.docker.backend.exe consumes a lot of RAM.

opened 02:49PM - 07 Jul 23 UTC

Nereg

kind/performance status/triage version/4.21.1

### Description So I noticed `com.docker.backend.exe` process consuming a lot… of RAM (probably limited only by my 16 gigabytes of RAM). Here is the [screenshot](https://prnt.sc/2nPrCARndsmp) of it in the task manager. I have allocated 4 gigs of RAM to WSL VM with this `.wslconfig`: ``` [wsl2] memory=4GB # Limits VM memory in WSL 2 to 128 GB processors=2 swap=1GB kernelCommandLine="sysctl.vm.swappiness=10" ``` The `sysctl.vm.swappiness` parameter was pulled from an article to try and fix the issue, Before the issue started only the `vmmem.exe` process was consuming RAM in the limits of `.wslconfig`. Now `com.docker.backend.exe` consumes more then the VM! I reinstalled docker already and the problem isn't gone. And the RAM usage of the containers isn't high as seen in [this](https://prnt.sc/TnaZcIwFhwbL) screenshot. ### Reproduce 1. Startup docker desktop 2. Create 5 containers 3. Wait around 5 minutes while monitoring the RAM usage ### Expected behavior Process `com.docker.backend.exe` shouldn't consume this much RAM ### docker version ```bash $ docker version Client: Cloud integration: v1.0.35 Version: 24.0.2 API version: 1.43 Go version: go1.20.4 Git commit: cb74dfc Built: Thu May 25 21:53:15 2023 OS/Arch: windows/amd64 Context: default Server: Docker Desktop 4.21.1 (114176) Engine: Version: 24.0.2 API version: 1.43 (minimum version 1.12) Go version: go1.20.4 Git commit: 659604f Built: Thu May 25 21:52:17 2023 OS/Arch: linux/amd64 Experimental: false containerd: Version: 1.6.21 GitCommit: 3dce8eb055cbb6872793272b4f20ed16117344f8 runc: Version: 1.1.7 GitCommit: v1.1.7-0-g860f061 docker-init: Version: 0.19.0 GitCommit: de40ad0 ``` ### docker info ```bash Client: Version: 24.0.2 Context: default Debug Mode: false Plugins: buildx: Docker Buildx (Docker Inc.) Version: v0.11.0 Path: C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-buildx.exe compose: Docker Compose (Docker Inc.) Version: v2.19.1 Path: C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-compose.exe dev: Docker Dev Environments (Docker Inc.) Version: v0.1.0 Path: C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-dev.exe extension: Manages Docker extensions (Docker Inc.) Version: v0.2.20 Path: C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-extension.exe init: Creates Docker-related starter files for your project (Docker Inc.) Version: v0.1.0-beta.6 Path: C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-init.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 scan: Docker Scan (Docker Inc.) Version: v0.26.0 Path: C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-scan.exe scout: Command line tool for Docker Scout (Docker Inc.) Version: 0.16.1 Path: C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-scout.exe Server: Containers: 5 Running: 5 Paused: 0 Stopped: 0 Images: 5 Server Version: 24.0.2 Storage Driver: overlay2 Backing Filesystem: extfs Supports d_type: true Using metacopy: false Native Overlay Diff: true userxattr: false Logging Driver: json-file Cgroup Driver: cgroupfs Cgroup Version: 1 Plugins: Volume: local Network: bridge host ipvlan macvlan null overlay Log: awslogs fluentd gcplogs gelf journald json-file local logentries splunk syslog Swarm: inactive Runtimes: io.containerd.runc.v2 runc Default Runtime: runc Init Binary: docker-init containerd version: 3dce8eb055cbb6872793272b4f20ed16117344f8 runc version: v1.1.7-0-g860f061 init version: de40ad0 Security Options: seccomp Profile: builtin Kernel Version: 5.15.90.1-microsoft-standard-WSL2 Operating System: Docker Desktop OSType: linux Architecture: x86_64 CPUs: 2 Total Memory: 3.829GiB Name: docker-desktop ID: 6396ee3c-343f-44c4-85de-7e3304818675 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 Experimental: false Insecure Registries: hubproxy.docker.internal:5555 127.0.0.0/8 Live Restore Enabled: false WARNING: No blkio throttle.read_bps_device support WARNING: No blkio throttle.write_bps_device support WARNING: No blkio throttle.read_iops_device support WARNING: No blkio throttle.write_iops_device support ``` ### Diagnostics ID AB1B2FD8-3925-4A38-9D87-3ACA7E9A1A0B/20230707141611 ### Additional Info Windows: 22H2 build 19045.3155 WSL version: ``` $ wsl --version WSL version: 1.2.5.0 Kernel version: 5.15.90.1 WSLg version: 1.0.51 MSRDC version: 1.2.3770 Direct3D version: 1.608.2-61064218 DXCore version: 10.0.25131.1002-220531-1700.rs-onecore-base2-hyp Windows version: 10.0.19045.3155 ``` List of WSL distros: ``` $ wsl -l Windows Subsystem for Linux Distributions: docker-desktop-data (Default) docker-desktop ``` Output of `com.docker.diagnose.exe check` command: ``` [2023-07-07T14:53:19.007210800Z][com.docker.diagnose.exe.paths][I] set path configuration to OnHost Starting diagnostics [PASS] DD0027: is there available disk space on the host? [PASS] DD0028: is there available VM disk space? [SKIP] DD0002: does the bootloader have virtualization enabled? [SKIP] DD0018: does the host support virtualization? [PASS] DD0001: is the application running? [SKIP] DD0022: is the Virtual Machine Platform Windows Feature enabled? [SKIP] DD0021: is the WSL 2 Windows Feature enabled? [PASS] DD0024: is WSL installed? [PASS] DD0025: are WSL distros installed? [PASS] DD0026: is the WSL LxssManager service running? [FAIL] DD0029: is the WSL 2 Linux filesystem corrupt? [ 37.127117] EXT4-fs error (device sdc): ext4_put_super:1188: comm Xwayland: Couldn't clean up the journal [PASS] DD0035: is the VM time synchronized? [PASS] DD0017: can a VM be started? [PASS] DD0016: is the LinuxKit VM running? [PASS] DD0011: are the LinuxKit services running? [PASS] DD0004: is the Docker engine running? [PASS] DD0015: are the binary symlinks installed? [PASS] DD0031: does the Docker API work? [PASS] DD0013: is the $PATH ok? [PASS] DD0003: is the Docker CLI working? [PASS] DD0005: is the user in the docker-users group? [PASS] DD0038: is the connection to Docker working? [FAIL] DD0014: are the backend processes running? 1 error occurred: * com.docker.vpnkit.exe is not running [PASS] DD0007: is the backend responding? [PASS] DD0008: is the native API responding? [SKIP] DD0009: is the vpnkit API responding? [PASS] DD0010: is the Docker API proxy responding? [SKIP] DD0006: is the Docker Desktop Service responding? [SKIP] DD0030: is the image access management authorized? [PASS] DD0033: does the host have Internet access? [PASS] DD0002: does the bootloader have virtualization enabled? [PASS] DD0018: does the host support virtualization? [PASS] DD0001: is the application running? [PASS] DD0022: is the Virtual Machine Platform Windows Feature enabled? [PASS] DD0021: is the WSL 2 Windows Feature enabled? [PASS] DD0024: is WSL installed? [PASS] DD0025: are WSL distros installed? [PASS] DD0026: is the WSL LxssManager service running? [WARN] DD0029: is the WSL 2 Linux filesystem corrupt? [ 37.127117] EXT4-fs error (device sdc): ext4_put_super:1188: comm Xwayland: Couldn't clean up the journal [PASS] DD0035: is the VM time synchronized? [PASS] DD0017: can a VM be started? [PASS] DD0016: is the LinuxKit VM running? [PASS] DD0011: are the LinuxKit services running? [PASS] DD0004: is the Docker engine running? [PASS] DD0015: are the binary symlinks installed? [PASS] DD0031: does the Docker API work? [PASS] DD0032: do Docker networks overlap with host IPs? Please note the following 1 warning: 1 : The check: is the WSL 2 Linux filesystem corrupt? Produced the following warning: [ 37.127117] EXT4-fs error (device sdc): ext4_put_super:1188: comm Xwayland: Couldn't clean up the journal If the WSL 2 Linux filesystem is corrupt then Docker Desktop cannot start. There is a known issue fixed in Windows Insider builds which can cause filesystem corruption, see: https://github.com/microsoft/WSL/issues/5895 . Try running "wsl --shutdown" to stop your WSL Virtual Machine. When it restarts it will run a filesystem check and hopefully fix the problem. Please investigate the following 1 issue: 1 : The test: is the WSL 2 Linux filesystem corrupt? Failed with: [ 37.127117] EXT4-fs error (device sdc): ext4_put_super:1188: comm Xwayland: Couldn't clean up the journal If the WSL 2 Linux filesystem is corrupt then Docker Desktop cannot start. There is a known issue fixed in Windows Insider builds which can cause filesystem corruption, see: https://github.com/microsoft/WSL/issues/5895 . Try running "wsl --shutdown" to stop your WSL Virtual Machine. When it restarts it will run a filesystem check and hopefully fix the problem. ``` I already tried restating WSL as told but it won't fix the corruption (though I can't see any data corruption in my containers) issue

I'm pretty sure its a bug that is not going to be fixed anytime soon, so that's why I'm leaning towards being able to find a way to do a natural exit instead.

Jean0987654321 · January 31, 2024, 10:30pm

Maybe switch to podman?

marcuscthomas · February 1, 2024, 11:46am

My recommendation (if you must use Windows) is to ditch Docker Desktop and run docker under WSL. Or, install a small virtual machine like Ubuntu Server and run docker under a VM. Docker Desktop seems to take up way too many resources and drags my computer down to a slow crawl.