Autostart cannot be disabled on Ubuntu

[Yann-CV]

Description

I have unchecked "Start Docker Desktop when you sign in to your computer" but docker desktop is still starting after logging.

Reproduce

install docker desktop restart your computer log in ==> docker desktop is opening

Expected behavior

The docker desktop is not autostarting at logging. We wan launch it with systemctl --user start docker-desktop

docker version

Client: Docker Engine - Community
 Cloud integration: v1.0.35+desktop.5
 Version:           20.10.12
 API version:       1.41
 Go version:        go1.16.12
 Git commit:        e91ed57
 Built:             Mon Dec 13 11:45:33 2021
 OS/Arch:           linux/amd64
 Context:           desktop-linux
 Experimental:      true

Server: Docker Desktop 4.26.1 (131620)
 Engine:
  Version:          24.0.7
  API version:      1.43 (minimum version 1.12)
  Go version:       go1.20.10
  Git commit:       311b9ff
  Built:            Thu Oct 26 09:08:02 2023
  OS/Arch:          linux/amd64
  Experimental:     false
 containerd:
  Version:          1.6.25
  GitCommit:        d8f198a4ed8892c764191ef7b3b06d8a2eeb5c7f
 runc:
  Version:          1.1.10
  GitCommit:        v1.1.10-0-g18a0cb0
 docker-init:
  Version:          0.19.0
  GitCommit:        de40ad0

docker info

Client:
 Context:    desktop-linux
 Debug Mode: false
 Plugins:
  app: Docker App (Docker Inc., v0.9.1-beta3)
  buildx: Docker Buildx (Docker Inc., v0.12.0-desktop.2)
  compose: Docker Compose (Docker Inc., v2.23.3-desktop.2)
  dev: Docker Dev Environments (Docker Inc., v0.1.0)
  extension: Manages Docker extensions (Docker Inc., v0.2.21)
  feedback: Provide feedback, right in your terminal! (Docker Inc., 0.1)
  init: Creates Docker-related starter files for your project (Docker Inc., v0.1.0-beta.10)
  sbom: View the packaged-based Software Bill Of Materials (SBOM) for an image (Anchore Inc., 0.6.0)
  scan: Docker Scan (Docker Inc., v0.26.0)
  scout: Docker Scout (Docker Inc., v1.2.0)

Server:
 Containers: 1
  Running: 0
  Paused: 0
  Stopped: 1
 Images: 1
 Server Version: 24.0.7
 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: 2
 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: d8f198a4ed8892c764191ef7b3b06d8a2eeb5c7f
 runc version: v1.1.10-0-g18a0cb0
 init version: de40ad0
 Security Options:
  seccomp
   Profile: unconfined
  cgroupns
 Kernel Version: 6.5.11-linuxkit
 Operating System: Docker Desktop
 OSType: linux
 Architecture: x86_64
 CPUs: 12
 Total Memory: 3.679GiB
 Name: docker-desktop
 ID: 6626fac0-7790-4e67-b511-b7303b738629
 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
 Registry: https://index.docker.io/v1/
 Labels:
 Experimental: false
 Insecure Registries:
  hubproxy.docker.internal:5555
  127.0.0.0/8
 Live Restore Enabled: false

WARNING: You're not using the default seccomp profile
WARNING: daemon is not using the default seccomp profile

Diagnostics ID

9baf9bf6-8604-4025-8481-689acf3e8168/20231218141226

Additional Info

Ubuntu 20.04

[duccioa]

Hi, same problem here. Just want to add that ~/.docker/desktop/settings.json has correctly set "autoStart": false, with no effect. Docker Desktop keeps starting at start up. I am on Pop!_OS 22.04 LTS.

[HarshRaj2717]

Hi, i was having the same issue with the latest version 25.0.3 on Fedora 39.

Nothing worked at all, I had disabled autostart on sign-in in the docker-desktop GUI and the "autoStart": false was also set correctly in ~/.docker/desktop/settings.json but still there was no effect and docker-desktop was still starting automatically on sign-in.

Fix (via systemctl):

You can run systemctl --user disable docker-desktop in your terminal to fix this. The options from app don't work but directly disabling it works perfectly.

[duccioa]

@HarshRaj2717 The fix via systemctl worked for me, thank you.

[raffaeler]

The disable button in the UX is broken. It is definitely a bug.

[thisisnotfez]

Issue exists with Arch Linux. Using EndeavorOS.

Fix provided in https://github.com/docker/desktop-linux/issues/182#issuecomment-1962431487 does not work as docker-desktop service does not exist. Not sure what's calling the desktop GUI yet.

[B1rtek]

Issue exists with Arch Linux. Using EndeavorOS.

Fix provided in #182 (comment) does not work as docker-desktop service does not exist. Not sure what's calling the desktop GUI yet.

I'm using Arch Linux (not EOS, just Arch Linux) and it worked for me.

[thisisnotfez]

I found it. There's a symlink at the following path:

~/.config/systemd/user/graphical-session.target.wants/docker-desktop.service

Removed, and no more autostart.