Docker Desktop Warning - "Another application changed your Desktop configurations"

[solrevdev]

Description

I'm running Docker Desktop on macOS and keep getting the warning "Another application changed your Desktop configurations. This may cause unexpected behavior and errors." I reapply the configurations, but the message keeps coming back. I don't know what other application could be causing this and wonder if it's a known bug.

Reproduce

Not sure how to reproduce. Here are some screenshots which may help:

---

Expected behavior

No warnings from Docker Desktop about other applications changing my Desktop configurations.

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 21:51:16 2023
 OS/Arch:           darwin/amd64
 Context:           desktop-linux

Server: Docker Desktop 4.21.0 (113844)
 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

Client:
 Version:    24.0.2
 Context:    desktop-linux
 Debug Mode: false
 Plugins:
  buildx: Docker Buildx (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.11.0
    Path:     /Users/solrevdev/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-buildx
  compose: Docker Compose (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v2.19.0
    Path:     /Users/solrevdev/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-compose
  dev: Docker Dev Environments (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.1.0
    Path:     /Users/solrevdev/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-dev
  extension: Manages Docker extensions (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.2.20
    Path:     /Users/solrevdev/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-extension
  init: Creates Docker-related starter files for your project (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.1.0-beta.6
    Path:     /Users/solrevdev/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-init
  sbom: View the packaged-based Software Bill Of Materials (SBOM) for an image (Anchore Inc.)
    Version:  0.6.0
    Path:     /Users/solrevdev/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-sbom
  scan: Docker Scan (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.26.0
    Path:     /Users/solrevdev/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-scan
  scout: Command line tool for Docker Scout (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  0.16.1
    Path:     /Users/solrevdev/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-scout

Server:
 Containers: 3
  Running: 1
  Paused: 0
  Stopped: 2
 Images: 11
 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: 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: 3dce8eb055cbb6872793272b4f20ed16117344f8
 runc version: v1.1.7-0-g860f061
 init version: de40ad0
 Security Options:
  seccomp
   Profile: builtin
  cgroupns
 Kernel Version: 5.15.49-linuxkit-pr
 Operating System: Docker Desktop
 OSType: linux
 Architecture: x86_64
 CPUs: 2
 Total Memory: 7.676GiB
 Name: docker-desktop
 ID: 1d6e6445-8265-493a-b784-67720e5bf59d
 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

Diagnostics ID

Diagnostics ID: 9D492876-F053-4E53-B9F7-58BF882254A8/20230630193135 (uploaded)

Additional Info

I ran the following diagnostic check:

/Applications/Docker.app/Contents/MacOS/com.docker.diagnose check
[2023-06-30T19:25:52.556360000Z][com.docker.diagnose.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?
[PASS] DD0018: does the host support virtualization?
[PASS] DD0001: is the application running?
[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] DD0038: is the connection to Docker working?
[PASS] DD0014: are the backend processes 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] DD0030: is the image access management authorized?
[PASS] DD0033: does the host have Internet access?
[PASS] DD0018: does the host support virtualization?
[PASS] DD0001: is the application running?
[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?
No fatal errors detected.

All checks have passed, which generally indicates that my Docker installation is healthy.

Here is my system info:

OS: macOS 12.6.7 21G651 x86_64
Host: Macmini7,1
Kernel: 21.6.0
Uptime: 3 hours, 41 mins
Packages: 356 (brew)
Shell: zsh 5.8.1
Resolution: 1920x1080
DE: Aqua
WM: Quartz Compositor
WM Theme: Blue (Light)
Terminal: iTerm2
Terminal Font: CascadiaMonoPL-Regular 16
CPU: Intel i5-4278U (4) @ 2.60GHz
GPU: Intel Iris
Memory: 9810MiB / 16384MiB

I should add that I closed down all open apps and could see nothing that would realistically interfere with docker.

[tksrc]

Same here

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 21:51:16 2023
 OS/Arch:           darwin/arm64
 Context:           desktop-linux

Server: Docker Desktop 4.21.0 (113844)
 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 21:50:59 2023
  OS/Arch:          linux/arm64
  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

Client:
 Version:    24.0.2
 Context:    desktop-linux
 Debug Mode: false
 Plugins:
  buildx: Docker Buildx (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.11.0
    Path:     /Users/teo/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-buildx
  compose: Docker Compose (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v2.19.0
    Path:     /Users/teo/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-compose
  dev: Docker Dev Environments (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.1.0
    Path:     /Users/teo/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-dev
  extension: Manages Docker extensions (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.2.20
    Path:     /Users/teo/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-extension
  init: Creates Docker-related starter files for your project (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.1.0-beta.6
    Path:     /Users/teo/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-init
  sbom: View the packaged-based Software Bill Of Materials (SBOM) for an image (Anchore Inc.)
    Version:  0.6.0
    Path:     /Users/teo/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-sbom
  scan: Docker Scan (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.26.0
    Path:     /Users/teo/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-scan
  scout: Command line tool for Docker Scout (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  0.16.1
    Path:     /Users/teo/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-scout

Server:
 Containers: 0
  Running: 0
  Paused: 0
  Stopped: 0
 Images: 0
 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: 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: 3dce8eb055cbb6872793272b4f20ed16117344f8
 runc version: v1.1.7-0-g860f061
 init version: de40ad0
 Security Options:
  seccomp
   Profile: builtin
  cgroupns
 Kernel Version: 5.15.49-linuxkit-pr
 Operating System: Docker Desktop
 OSType: linux
 Architecture: aarch64
 CPUs: 5
 Total Memory: 23.45GiB
 Name: docker-desktop
 ID: 2616eea7-bdaf-4cd6-be36-d2a4a602e181
 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

[carrete]

Same. I've uninstalled and re-installed several times, still same behavior

See also https://stackoverflow.com/questions/76586460/i-get-the-following-error-in-docker-desktop-for-mac

[bitbemol]

Same issue

[tkm5]

I have the same issue.

I ran the following command, deleted all docker related files, and reinstalled.
and reinstalled it, but the problem persists.

sudo rm -rf ~/.docker
sudo rm -rf ~/Library/Containers/com.docker.docker
sudo rm -rf ~/Library/Group\ Containers/group.com.docker
sudo rm -rf ~/Library/Caches/com.docker.docker
sudo rm -rf /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.docker.vmnetd
sudo rm -rf /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.docker.vmnetd.plist
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/lib/docker
sudo rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/Docker\ Desktop
sudo rm -rf ~/Library/Preferences/com.docker.docker.plist
sudo rm -rf ~/Library/Saved\ Application\ State/com.electron.docker-frontend.savedState
sudo rm -rf ~/Library/Group\ Containers/group.com.docker
sudo rm -rf ~/Library/Logs/Docker\ Desktop
sudo rm -rf ~/Library/Preferences/com.electron.docker-frontend.plist
sudo rm -rf ~/Library/Cookies/com.docker.docker.binarycookies

[sbrosgol]

same here, very annoying... :-(

[dwzrlp]

me too

[lorenrh]

Thanks for your feedback!
we've released Docker Desktop 4.21.1 that disables the feature for further investigation. Check out https://docs.docker.com/desktop/release-notes/

I'll close this issue for now!

[AnilG3]

Is there a way to disable health check? It appears the same issue is back with 4.23.0 upgrade.

[der-Lehmann]

I am on version 4.23.0 (120376) and I also receive the mentioned notice.
However I have two user accounts on my macbook. Both of them have docker desktop installed.
So I assume that the configs get changed whenever I start docker desktop with the opposite user.

[solrevdev]

Yes it's returned for me too on Docker Desktop 4.23.0 (120376). I've opened issue #6982 to get attention

[lorenrh]

Hello

The check can be disabled in Advanced Settings

[solrevdev]

Hello

The check can be disabled in Advanced Settings

Brilliant thank you @lorenrh

[jamshid]

Sure is annoying to see "Configs changed by another App" and "Re-apply configurations" without any indication of what configs were changed. Docker Desktop 4.23.0 (120376) on Mac.

[silverdr]

Sure is annoying to see "Configs changed by another App" and "Re-apply configurations" without any indication of what configs were changed. Docker Desktop 4.23.0 (120376) on Mac.

Or what would be "re-applied" if one decides to go for it. And no, disabling the check is not a solution :-(

[kcaashish]

I am on a multiuser setup and have check checked User under Advanced settings and have ~/.docker/bin in the path for both the users. But I still get this every time I switch users.

[wAuner]

why is this closed when the issue still persists?
Seems to me that the check or at least its UI/user communication needs to be fixed.

[bsousaa]

@wAuner can you confirm what version of Docker Desktop you are running and share a diagnostics ID?

[jaichinger]

I noticed on my system (macOS 14.0) that /var/run/docker.sock is always missing on reboot. In the advanced settings of the desktop app, the option to Allow the default Docker socket to be used was ticked. When I correct the issue in the docker app, it recreates the socket.

I don't use any third-party clients that need the docker socket, so I unticked it and now don't get the warning. It lets me keep the config check enabled.

[jirsbek]

Having the same warning after OS startup I've noticed the warning is actually gone after about a minute so it doesn't bother me that much. Anyway I've turned the setting off as mentioned in #6898 (comment).

[der-Lehmann]

I also turned of the setting.
However when I did that, PHPStorm was no longer able to execute commands inside of a docker container. It failed saying that it could not connect to the docker socket.
When I enabled the setting and re-applied the configuration PHPStorm could execute commands again.

[ViggoV]

I am seeing this as well on MacOS Sonoma. /var/run/docker.sock is not created until i click the re-apply option (which requires me to enter my root password), so it appears that it is removed by MacOS on reboot and requires permission to recreate.

The re-apply settings option is a lot more elegant than an error pop-up on startup (which have been an annoyance earlier) but it would be really nice with a bit more info.

[mesMess]

@reneleonhardt Yep, same, I tried the different steps you did. Except for the UNIX file removal, thank you! I did the following with your advice:

• removed the file
• restarted docker
• applied config

This seems to have resolved the issue. I've since restarted my Mac to make sure everything is fine. I also build on Windows and it's not experiencing this issue. I use the WSL2 engine. Hopefully Docker can provide a 'root cause' (Docker, MacOS or otherwise). Thanks very much for your response.

[davestearns]

I just ran into this same "Configs changed by another app" error message after updating Docker Desktop to 4.31.0 on MacOS 14.5. But the advice above didn't quite work for me. On my system /var/run/docker.sock was a symlink to /Users/<my_username>/.docker/run/docker.sock, so deleting the symlink didn't help. I had to delete the target docker.sock in my user directory as well.

[danjguzman]

After upgrading to v4.31.0 just now, I see the same message others are seeing, but I haven't seen it before in previous versions.

• Mac Studio M1 Max
• macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

[tiropictor]

Same here. It started after update to v4.31.0.
Mac OS Sonoma 14.3
Mac Mini intel

Tried removing /var/run/docker.sock , didn't work unfortunately.

Also Docker requests NEW incoming connections after update:

Would be nice to know what are these connections for? It also started after update to v4.31.

Such behavior doesn't seem normal. Docker goes somewhere outside, then notification that "Another application changed my Desktop configurations" appears. Really weird.

[bogdanbdg]

Same here. It started after update to v4.31.0.
Mac OS Sonoma 14.3
Mac Mini intel

Same here

[tiropictor]

Using sudo ln -sf /Applications/Docker.app/Contents/Resources/bin/docker-credential-ecr-login /usr/local/bin/docker-credential-ecr-login solved the issue. Thanks for above commenters, it's really long thread, tried this solution and it works, warning doesn't appear now.

[tiropictor]

but now it looks even more stupid - no warning in app window, but it still present in top bar icon as "(!)" notification and in drop-down menu:

[datpete]

Happens to me now too (for the first time). Docker Desktop 4.31.0 and macOS Sonoma 14.5 (M1 Pro Max).
Please fix!

[Spiral90210]

This would be a lot more palatable if we were told what configurations were out of spec. To get this so "randomly" (to a user pov) and now having a toolbar visual icon "just to helpfully remind you" is a distraction. Tell us the actual problem so we might have a chance to address the cause, instead of this vague message which just leaves you feeling helpless.

[sengmann]

This happens on my M3 Max too. Please provide a diff, what was changed.

[Gabrieloxe]

This just happened to me a few minutes ago on my M3 pro

[bogdanbdg]

This would be a lot more palatable if we were told what configurations were out of spec. To get this so "randomly" (to a user pov) and now having a toolbar visual icon "just to helpfully remind you" is a distraction. Tell us the actual problem so we might have a chance to address the cause, instead of this vague message which just leaves you feeling helpless.

Yeah:

#6898 (comment)
#6898 (comment)

And no - apparently nobody out there gives half of a damn no matter how many of this type of "obvious" comments we make here :-(

[datpete]

I just used the Give Feedback option to tell them. With reference to this thread. I suggest others do the same.

[cliffpyles]

I ran into a similar issue where an external application caused problems with my Docker configuration. In my case, the root cause was related to the uninstallation of Podman. Although I uninstalled Podman, a helper named podman-mac-helper remained. Once I uninstalled this helper and restarted my computer, the issue was resolved.

Here are the steps I followed to uninstall podman-mac-helper, based on this GitHub comment:

$ sudo sfltool dumpbtm | grep pod
    #1: com.github.containers.podman.helper-dev
                 Name: podman-mac-helper
           Identifier: com.github.containers.podman.helper-dev
                  URL: file:///Library/LaunchDaemons/com.github.containers.podman.helper-dev.plist
      Executable Path: /usr/local/podman/helper/dev/podman-mac-helper
$ sudo /usr/local/podman/helper/dev/podman-mac-helper uninstall
$ sudo rm -rf /usr/local/podman
$ sudo rm /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.github.containers.podman.helper-dev.plist
$ sudo rm /var/run/podman-helper-dev.socket
$ sudo sfltool resetbtm
$ sudo reboot

I hope this helps anyone experiencing a similar issue!

[sengmann]

@cliffpyles Thanks, this solved my problem as well.

[bogdanbdg]

@cliffpyles Thanks, this solved my problem as well.

Lucky you! :-) I never had podman installed.

[KatTomrushka]

Hey everyone,

We wanted to address the feedback regarding the config integrity check. Although other priorities had previously delayed major reworks, we assure you that significant improvements are already on the way. Our plans include moving the banner to the Docker Desktop notification centre and providing detailed information on changes made, along with suitable action suggestions. This is coming up in August (ETA).

Additionally, our engineers have published a fix to ensure the whale menu does not display the option to reapply configs if the banner has already been closed. (ETA here is next release DD 4.32 end of this month).

Thank you for your continued support and valuable feedback!

[Spiral90210]

@KatTomrushka these will be very welcome improvements. They may seem minor against the practical improvements, but it's going to have a demonstrable impact on everyday user experience - thanks for getting it addressed.

[ikari-pl]

How do I check what are the config changes? HOw can I decide to keep or re-apply the config, if I don't know what the changes are?

[Kabingeran]

Same on Linux deb release 4.32.0. When I click "repair", nothing happens. The message is constantly displayed. After some time, Docker terminates fatally. Please reopen this issue.

[FurkanEdizkan]

Same issue, constantly getting warning and repair doesn't solve anything.

• Ubuntu 20.04
• Docker version 27.1.0

[lorenrh]

Hello there! This feature is not available on Linux, and we'll have a fix in the next Docker Desktop release. Sorry for the trouble.

[davidhoelzel]

After clicking on that repair button I cannot use the docker compose cli anymore, there just showed up some strange error message:

Restarting Docker Desktop seems to help (which is really slow on my Mac M1).

[Xeeynamo]

After clicking on that repair button I cannot use the docker compose cli anymore, there just showed up some strange error message:

Restarting Docker Desktop seems to help (which is really slow on my Mac M1).

Do you have Docker Desktop configured as System or User? A quick cat ~/Library/Group\ Containers/group.com.docker/settings.json | grep dockerBinInstallPath will give that info. If anything similar happens next time it would also be helpful to have a look at the diagnostics.

[xdavidliu]

Hello there! This feature is not available on Linux, and we'll have a fix in the next Docker Desktop release. Sorry for the trouble.

What is meant by "not available on Linux"? I'm experiencing this exact warning using Docker 4.32 on Debian 12.

[reneleonhardt]

What is meant by "not available on Linux"? I'm experiencing this exact warning using Docker 4.32 on Debian 12.

Exactly this 😅
This fix has been implemented for Mac (see the link to this issue: /docker/for-mac/issues/6898, note the repository name).

Please also note the release notes, only For Mac mentions this fix:
https://docs.docker.com/desktop/release-notes/#4320

[Xeeynamo]

@xdavidliu @reneleonhardt Docker Desktop 4.32.0 has this specific issue on Linux. As @lorenrh mentioned, it was fixed on 4.33.0:

Fixed an issue where the notification Another application changed your Desktop configurations is incorrectly triggered.

https://docs.docker.com/desktop/release-notes/

[mattfiocca]

@Xeeynamo I have this issue on v4.33. See attached.

[paulcoyle]

I, too, am getting this after upgrading to v4.33. When trying to repair I get the same message as @davidhoelzel:

failed to repair the configuration: the configuration repair succeeded but its state is still inconsistent:
CLI plugins are not correctly set-up
Docker socket at "/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.docker.socket.plist" is not correctly set-up

The contents of the socket config file are:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
  <dict>
    <key>KeepAlive</key>
    <false />
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.docker.socket</string>
    <key>ProcessType</key>
    <string>Background</string>
    <key>Program</key>
    <string>/Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.docker.socket</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
      <string>/Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.docker.socket</string>
      <string>paulcoyle</string>
    </array>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true />
  </dict>
</plist>

[paulcoyle]

I, too, am getting this after upgrading to v4.33. When trying to repair I get the same message as @davidhoelzel:

failed to repair the configuration: the configuration repair succeeded but its state is still inconsistent:
CLI plugins are not correctly set-up
Docker socket at "/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.docker.socket.plist" is not correctly set-up

The contents of the socket config file are:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
  <dict>
    <key>KeepAlive</key>
    <false />
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.docker.socket</string>
    <key>ProcessType</key>
    <string>Background</string>
    <key>Program</key>
    <string>/Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.docker.socket</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
      <string>/Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.docker.socket</string>
      <string>paulcoyle</string>
    </array>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true />
  </dict>
</plist>

My diagnostics ID is: AD0745AE-1146-4C74-86B1-AFC04A9F37A5/20240827205124 but I am unsure how to actually access its contents.