diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/testcontainers/dockerclient/DockerDesktopClientProviderStrategy.java b/core/src/main/java/org/testcontainers/dockerclient/DockerDesktopClientProviderStrategy.java
index 56fd0b59ee4..0f5bf3585ff 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/testcontainers/dockerclient/DockerDesktopClientProviderStrategy.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/testcontainers/dockerclient/DockerDesktopClientProviderStrategy.java
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ public String getRemoteDockerUnixSocketPath() {
 
     @Override
     protected boolean isApplicable() {
-        return (SystemUtils.IS_OS_LINUX || SystemUtils.IS_OS_MAC) && this.socketPath != null;
+        return (SystemUtils.IS_OS_LINUX || SystemUtils.IS_OS_MAC) && getSocketPath() != null;
     }
 
     private Optional<Path> tryFolder(Path path) {
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/testcontainers/dockerclient/DockerDesktopClientProviderStrategyTest.java b/core/src/test/java/org/testcontainers/dockerclient/DockerDesktopClientProviderStrategyTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..0b394f18b48
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/testcontainers/dockerclient/DockerDesktopClientProviderStrategyTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+package org.testcontainers.dockerclient;
+
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.AfterEach;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.condition.EnabledOnOs;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.condition.OS;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.io.TempDir;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.nio.file.Files;
+import java.nio.file.Path;
+
+import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;
+
+@SuppressWarnings("deprecation")
+class DockerDesktopClientProviderStrategyTest {
+
+    private final String originalUserHome = System.getProperty("user.home");
+
+    @AfterEach
+    void restoreUserHome() {
+        System.setProperty("user.home", originalUserHome);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @EnabledOnOs({ OS.LINUX, OS.MAC })
+    void notApplicableWhenDockerDesktopSocketIsMissing(@TempDir Path userHome) {
+        // user.home without a Docker Desktop socket under .docker/desktop or .docker/run
+        System.setProperty("user.home", userHome.toString());
+
+        DockerDesktopClientProviderStrategy strategy = new DockerDesktopClientProviderStrategy();
+
+        assertThat(strategy.isApplicable()).isFalse();
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    @EnabledOnOs({ OS.LINUX, OS.MAC })
+    void applicableWhenDockerDesktopSocketExists(@TempDir Path userHome) throws IOException {
+        Path socketPath = userHome.resolve(".docker").resolve("desktop").resolve("docker.sock");
+        Files.createDirectories(socketPath.getParent());
+        Files.createFile(socketPath);
+        System.setProperty("user.home", userHome.toString());
+
+        DockerDesktopClientProviderStrategy strategy = new DockerDesktopClientProviderStrategy();
+
+        assertThat(strategy.isApplicable()).isTrue();
+    }
+}