Docker won't start on Windows: Not Enough memory to start docker Docker won't start on Windows: Not Enough memory to start docker docker docker

Docker won't start on Windows: Not Enough memory to start docker


I have also encountered the same problem. Tried everything from giving dynamic memory to enabling and disabling Hyper V and many more. But with all that, I got no success.

Then I tried these steps for

Docker won't start on Windows: Not Enough memory to start docker:

1) From System Tray menu, right click on Docker icon

2) Select Switch to Windows containers...

3) Restart the system.

There you go after restarting your docker status should be showing as: Docker is running

Hope this helps!

PS: Switching back to Linux container should work now after switching to Windows Containers for most of the users as said by rfay.


Updates (May 01, 2019)

Despite of the above methods if you're still unable to start docker on your Windows Machine, try with the following things:

  • Download RAMMap from Microsoft's Official website
  • Open the application and select Empty menu
  • From the sub-menu list select the first option Empty Working Sets
  • Now refresh it by pressing F5

Now try running docker and I believe this should work. Good Luck!

RAMMap Application


I solved this issue by right clicking on the docker tray icon chose settings and then tapped on the "Advanced" section.

Then I lowered the memory from the default 2048 to 1536 and works like charm.Another option is try to switch to Windows Containers then Restart the Machine and switch back to Linux Containers.

Below is my docker settings with Advanced tab open. Note the Memory is 1536 and My laptop has 4GB Ram.

enter image description here

Also the virtual machine "MobyLinuxVM" is running as shown below;

enter image description here

I hope this helps someone one day even if was a late answer :)


It is not the problem of RAM. It is the allocated disk memory to docker.
It means there is not enough space for docker to create an image or any other docker related operations.

Open the docker settings >> advanced >> disk image max size

Increase this size and apply the changes.

It will restart automatically and then you're good to go.

enter image description here