Products · Product
Docker Desktop
Raised as a usability problem by 98 people on Hacker News over 12 years (2015–2026), in 80 threads.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads this year.
- 1
- 2UI is slow to interact withUnreviewed
Every issue, all time, most people first
Host file system so slow that Docker on macOS is unusable for developmentUnreviewed
20152026- Host file system so slow that Docker on macOS is effectively unusable for development2026-08-10
- Accessing many Python files in volume mount is very slow2024-01-03
- Docker Desktop is painfully slow and hogs resources, making it hard to use2023-07-30
UI is slow to interact withUnreviewed
20152026- Sluggish, bloated app with a badly designed interface2026-08-09
- Hangs on image pulls and builds; GUI feels laggy2023-04-28
- Takes 60 seconds to start and the UI is slow to respond2022-11-09
Unreviewed issues were grouped by machine: Claude Haiku labelled each comment as a usability complaint, named what it's about and summed up the problem in a line, and a small model grouped similar problems. Nobody has checked them by hand. Expect mistakes.
The newest 50 complaints
- Host file system so slow that Docker on macOS is effectively unusable for development2026-08-10
- Sluggish, bloated app with a badly designed interface2026-08-09
- Added weird UI parts that the commenter finds worse than the earlier Docker2026-07-20
- Main window takes around 10 seconds to appear each time2026-03-23
- Quitting Docker Desktop closes all gnome-terminal windows, a bug unfixed for over three years2026-01-24
- Users repeatedly had to reset their installation to fix problems2026-01-23
- Keeps asking to log in, and the option to skip login is non-obvious2025-10-01
- Requires installing Docker Desktop just to use the CLI on Windows2025-09-24
- Container state never updates; user must switch tabs to refresh, with no refresh button2025-09-06
- Must install the GUI app just to get the Docker command line2025-06-09
- Took an hour to find a fix; must uninstall and reinstall via Homebrew2025-01-16
- Un-minimizable prompt keeps spamming until the user follows the fix2025-01-16
- Docker for Mac is so poor to use that it adds no value2024-11-24
- Desktop app breaks repeatedly, forcing obscure commands and manual file cleanup2024-08-31
- Runs slowly and heats up laptop, fans spin up for simple containers2024-08-27
- Setting up Docker containers on Windows is frustrating and hard2024-06-21
- Running Docker on non-Linux needs a VM the user must configure and manage, with resource sizing and rsync workarounds2024-03-31
- Engine takes minutes to start the first time, which is annoying2024-03-25
- Installs an aggressive GUI that starts heavyweight processes on boot and nags users2024-01-14
- Accessing many Python files in volume mount is very slow2024-01-03
- Docker Desktop became unusable for the commenter, prompting a switch to Colima2023-11-04
- Forced to install the GUI app even when only the CLI is wanted2023-11-03
- Docker defaults to ARM containers with no easy button to force Intel images2023-09-26
- Hidden separate VM and manual DOCKER_HOST setting were undocumented, causing months of troubleshooting2023-08-06
- Docker Desktop is painfully slow and hogs resources, making it hard to use2023-07-30
- Docker Desktop became unusable for the commenter's daily local development work2023-07-11
- Spent hours failing to configure Docker speed-up settings; too cumbersome to set up2023-06-27
- Docker on Android is slow and not straightforward to set up2023-04-29
- Hangs on image pulls and builds; GUI feels laggy2023-04-28
- Older installer for 10-year-old Mac is not linked, forcing URL hacking to find it2023-01-26
- Automatically symlinks ~/.aws into WSL2 distros, and the user can't easily stop it2023-01-14
- UX changes made the app more annoying to use2023-01-13
- VM locks up several times a week, forcing a full state reset and rebuild2022-12-28
- Can't find out which mount technology Docker Desktop now uses for file sharing2022-12-22
- App takes 60-90 seconds to start and run pages on Windows filesystem2022-11-16
- Takes 60 seconds to start and the UI is slow to respond2022-11-09
- Services in containers unreachable at localhost because they run in a hidden embedded VM2022-10-25
- Pages take about half a minute to load because of slow file IO under WSL 22022-08-16
- Docker Desktop on Mac and Windows is unusable for macvlan/ipvlan networking2022-08-16
- Weird bind mount syntax for Windows file system paths is painful2022-06-22
- File access is very slow, making JavaScript development painful and time-consuming2022-05-24
- Interrupts unrelated work with NPS recommendation pop-ups repeatedly2022-05-14
- Update prompts keep appearing and cannot be skipped without paying2022-03-16
- File editing in Docker on Mac is very slow, taking 10s to 3min per edit2022-03-16
- Forced updates and space-wasting UI make the app unpleasant to use2022-03-16
- X86_64 container builds are painfully slow and crash for some containers2022-01-28
- Docker on Mac is a workflow pain that makes the commenter switch machines2022-01-28
- UI is laggy and forces the desktop app just to start the daemon2022-01-28
- Updates remove or change proxy settings, breaking builds and runtime behavior2021-11-06
- Docker Desktop on Windows feels too slow to use2021-11-05