restart docker service

In this brief guide, you’ll learn the step-by-step approach on restarting the Docker service.

Docker is now an integral part of most development environments. It’s a tool that helps simplify the process of application development by making it easy to create, deploy, and run applications in a uniform way across different platforms. From time to time, there may be a need to restart the Docker service, so let’s walk you through the steps.

Step 1: Open the terminal

Your first step is to access the terminal. On Linux or macOS, simply hit the shortcut Ctrl + Alt + T or Cmd + Space respectively to open the terminal. On Windows, open the terminal (Powershell or Command Prompt) by using the search bar and typing cmd or powershell.

Step 2: Verify Docker Status

Before restarting Docker, it’s a good idea to check Docker’s current status. You can do that by typing the following command in the terminal:

systemctl status docker

This should give you an overview of Docker’s current state.

Step 3: Restart Docker Service

If Docker is confirmed to be running but you still want to restart it, you can do so with the following command:

sudo systemctl restart docker

Step 4: Verify Docker Service Restart

To assure Docker service has indeed restarted, you can check the status again as you did in Step 2. The status should show that Docker has just been restarted.

There you have it. This is a simple guide on how to restart the Docker service. It is worth mentioning that while starting and stopping Docker is quite simple, it’s also easy to delete critical data so be sure you understand exactly what’s happening when you restart Docker.