Painless Docker - 2nd Edition

Docker Daemon Logging

The Docker daemon (dockerd) writes logs about its own activity. These logs are different from container logs and are primarily used for troubleshooting Docker itself, diagnosing startup issues, networking problems, storage errors, or unexpected daemon behavior.

The exact location and access method for daemon logs depends on the operating system and how Docker is installed.

Default Docker daemon log locations

Linux

On modern Linux distributions using systemd, Docker daemon logs are managed by the system journal. The recommended way to view them is:

journalctl -u docker.service --no-pager

To follow logs in real time:

journalctl -u docker.service -f

On older or non-systemd distributions, logs may be written to traditional log files such as:

• /var/log/syslog
• /var/log/daemon.log
• /var/log/messages

The exact file depends on the distribution and logging configuration.

macOS (Docker Desktop)

On macOS, Docker runs inside a Linux virtual machine managed by Docker Desktop. The daemon logs are stored inside the Docker Desktop data directory.

• dockerd logs:

~/Library/Containers/com.docker.docker/Data/log/vm/dockerd.log

• containerd logs:

~/Library/Containers/com.docker.docker/Data/log/vm/containerd.log

Windows (Docker Desktop with WSL2 backend)

When using Docker Desktop with the WSL2 backend, Docker runs inside a lightweight Linux VM. Logs are stored under the user's local application data directory.

• dockerd logs:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Docker\log\vm\dockerd.log

• containerd logs:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\D