[Unstable] There is no "Switch to Linux containers..." or "Switch to Windows containers..." option in the menu on Docker Desktop 4.25.0

[v-mengwe]

OS Version: Win10 22H2/Win11 23H2
Docker Desktop: 4.25.0(126336)
Regression: 4.24.2

Repro Steps:

1. Install Docker Desktop 4.25.0.
2. Right click the Docker Desktop icon.
3. Check whether there is "Switch to Linux containers..." or "Switch to Windows containers..." option in the menu.

Expect:
There is "Switch to Linux containers..." or "Switch to Windows containers..." option in the menu.

Actual:
There is no "Switch to Linux containers..." or "Switch to Windows containers..." option in the menu.

More Info:
This is an unstable issue, we verified this issue on 11 machines, 7 of them reproduced.

[gitmgk]

same +1 , Install Docker Desktop 4.25.0 , "Switch to Windows containers" or "Switch to Linux containers" no shown option in the menu.

I am uninstall with Revo Uninstaller Pro : Docker Desktop 4.25.0 , windows registry , all file ... , install Docker Desktop 4.25.0 , both switch OK .

[nogov]

+1. The same happened after update to 4.25.0

[lkelly93]

+1

[Florian2145]

+1. DockerCli.exe is missing since 4.25.0

[Rhynier]

+1 on this issue and DockerCli.exe being missing. Windows 11 Enterprise.

[stevenxi]

+1 v4.25.0

[dmduggan]

Found this workaround in the release notes.

Switch to Windows containers option in the tray menu may not show up on Windows. As a workaround, edit the settings.json file and set "displaySwitchWinLinContainers": true.

The file can be found at $env:APPDATA\Docker\settings.json.

[amrutha95]

+1 On windows 11

[qtqgyt]

+1 Windows 11 Pro

[qtqgyt]

Found a workaround; thanks to @dmduggan (with a few modifications.) As he said, in %APPDATA%\Docker\settings.json, first stop docker; set "displaySwitchWinLinContainers": false; then start docker; stop it again; and set "displaySwitchWinLinContainers": true.

[VadymPatuk]

Found a workaround; thanks to @dmduggan (with a few modifications.) As he said, in %APPDATA%\Docker\settings.json, first stop docker; set "displaySwitchWinLinContainers": false; then start docker; stop it again; and set "displaySwitchWinLinContainers": true.

Same issue here. Thanks for solution 👍🏻

[JustAnotherLars]

+1

[mmbednarz]

+1

[paulh-utilita]

+1 for me, even worse is with the workaround for the json file which I was able to update, I then cannot start the docker desktop service again as it doesn't work when dealing with a non-admin user (constant request for admin creds to then start said service) so I guess only way at present would have been to go back to a previous version of Docker Desktop till this is resolved.

[mmbednarz]

There also doesn't seem to be a working method for changing the engine via the command line right now.
Previously, this was possible using dockecli.exe, which has not been available since version 4.25.

[dmduggan]

A workaround for DockerCli.exe being removed is to used contexts.

PS C:\> docker context ls
NAME                TYPE                DESCRIPTION                               DOCKER ENDPOINT                               KUBERNETES ENDPOINT   ORCHESTRATOR
default *           moby                Current DOCKER_HOST based configuration   npipe:////./pipe/docker_engine
desktop-linux       moby                Docker Desktop                            npipe:////./pipe/dockerDesktopLinuxEngine
desktop-windows     moby                Docker Desktop                            npipe:////./pipe/dockerDesktopWindowsEngine

There are three ways to take advantage of this:

1. Use docker context use to select the context.
2. Use the DOCKER_CONTEXT environment variable to select the context.
3. Use the docker endpoint from above directly using the DOCKER_HOST environment variable.

I think you'll have to manually switch to the other OS once using the settings.json workaround from my previous comment. After that you should be able to switch back and forth (I personally use option 2).

[rostacik]

I tried with Podman on my box and it did the job so maybe until fixed will work for you too

[mmbednarz]

Changing docker context works for me for my scenario. Thanks.

[lorenrh]

We've released a new version of Docker Desktop containing a fix for this issue, you can see the release notes! I'll close this issue for now, but if the issue persists, feel free to open a new issue!

[ttwmf]

in %APPDATA%\Docker\settings.json, set "useWindowsContainers": false.