Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Docker Daemon Fails with cgroup Driver Mismatch

📖 ~1 min read

Table of contents

1. Symptom & Impact
2. Environment & Reproduction
3. Root Cause Analysis
4. Quick Triage
5. Step-by-Step Diagnosis
6. Solution – Primary Fix
7. Solution – Alternative Approaches
8. Verification & Acceptance Criteria
9. Rollback Plan
10. Prevention & Hardening
11. Related Errors & Cross-Refs
12. References & Further Reading

Symptom & Impact

Docker service fails and containers cannot start on boot.

Environment & Reproduction

Seen after container runtime upgrades on cgroup v2 hosts.

sudo systemctl status docker

Root Cause Analysis

Daemon cgroup driver configuration conflicts with host and runtime expectations.

Quick Triage

Check Docker and kernel cgroup mode.

docker info | grep -i cgroup && stat -fc %T /sys/fs/cgroup

Step-by-Step Diagnosis

Review daemon logs for cgroup and runtime initialization errors.

sudo journalctl -u docker --since -2h

Solution – Primary Fix

Set Docker to use `systemd` cgroup driver and restart daemon.

echo '{"exec-opts":["native.cgroupdriver=systemd"]}' | sudo tee /etc/docker/daemon.json && sudo systemctl restart docker

Solution – Alternative Approaches

Use containerd directly where Docker abstraction is not required.

Verification & Acceptance Criteria

`docker info` reports expected cgroup driver and containers run normally.

Rollback Plan

Restore prior `/etc/docker/daemon.json` and restart service.

Prevention & Hardening

Pin tested runtime combinations and validate post-upgrade daemon health.

Related Errors & Cross-Refs

Related to kubelet cgroup mismatch and container runtime startup failures.

Related tutorial: View the step-by-step tutorial for Ubuntu 24.04 LTS.

View all Ubuntu 24.04 LTS tutorials on the Tutorials Hub →

Browse all common problems & solutions on the Tutorials Hub.

References & Further Reading

Ubuntu container runtime and Docker configuration references.