docker
Docker Desktop Steals Focus constantly
Description
When I start the Docker desktop application I cannot easily use any other application as focus is constantly taken away from any other window I try to use.
Reproduce
Start Docker desktop then try to use any other application. I was trying to follow the getting started tutorial & dropping back to VSCode to edit but no sooner than I click to type the focus is taken away from the VS Code.
Expected behavior
The computer should function normally.
docker version
Client:
Cloud integration: v1.0.33
Version: 24.0.2
API version: 1.43
Go version: go1.20.4
Git commit: cb74dfc
Built: Thu May 25 21:53:15 2023
OS/Arch: windows/amd64
Context: default
Server: Docker Desktop 4.20.1 (110738)
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: default
Debug Mode: false
Plugins:
buildx: Docker Buildx (Docker Inc.)
Version: v0.10.5
Path: C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-buildx.exe
compose: Docker Compose (Docker Inc.)
Version: v2.18.1
Path: C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-compose.exe
dev: Docker Dev Environments (Docker Inc.)
Version: v0.1.0
Path: C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-dev.exe
extension: Manages Docker extensions (Docker Inc.)
Version: v0.2.19
Path: C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-extension.exe
init: Creates Docker-related starter files for your project (Docker Inc.)
Version: v0.1.0-beta.4
Path: C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-init.exe
sbom: View the packaged-based Software Bill Of Materials (SBOM) for an image (Anchore Inc.)
Version: 0.6.0
Path: C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-sbom.exe
scan: Docker Scan (Docker Inc.)
Version: v0.26.0
Path: C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-scan.exe
scout: Command line tool for Docker Scout (Docker Inc.)
Version: v0.12.0
Path: C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-scout.exe
Server:
Containers: 1
Running: 0
Paused: 0
Stopped: 1
Images: 1
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: 1
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
Kernel Version: 5.15.90.1-microsoft-standard-WSL2
Operating System: Docker Desktop
OSType: linux
Architecture: x86_64
CPUs: 8
Total Memory: 31.29GiB
Name: docker-desktop
ID: 1a4b4e77-59a3-4ada-b7a0-87f5fa54801a
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
188F7726-557D-49A7-858C-F3AC2CB236C9/20230630125014
Additional Info
This is actually quite bad & makes the machine quite unusable. I cannot even move the Docker Window as it will lose focus half way through a drag & return to where it was. I should also point out that I am on some kind of virtual machine here provided by work. That runs through Citrix.
This behaviour is happening just with Docker Desktop 4.20.1 or also with previous versions? Any way you can record a video and show the issue?
This behaviour is happening just with Docker Desktop 4.20.1 or also with previous versions? Any way you can record a video and show the issue?
I have looked into this & I am convinced that my Windows OS is below the build number required. https://github.com/microsoft/wslg/wiki/Diagnosing-%22cannot-open-display%22-type-issues-with-WSLg#verify-you-are-running-on-windows-build-21364
Running ver on a cli yields: Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.19045.3086] where the above link states I require 21364 as a build number. I have raised an internal request to upgrade that if possible. Thank you for taking the time to respond but I think I have a way forward here.
Closing the issue for now. Feel free to comment and will re-open if needed.
Sorry for replying on a closed thread, but I decided to record this for posterity as I encountered the same issue and it took me a while to figure it out.
What worked for me was to disable WSLg on my machine as per these instructions. https://x410.dev/cookbook/wsl/disabling-wslg-or-using-it-together-with-x410, steps are reproduced below:
Step 1
Create a .wslconfig file in your Windows home folder, open your Windows home folder by entering %USERPROFILE% in Windows File Explorer.
Step 2 Add the following two lines to .wslconfig
[wsl2]
guiApplications=false
Step 3 Shutdown WSL, You can shutdown WSL by entering the following command from PowerShell or Windows Command Prompt:
wsl --shutdown
I used this command-line tool to figure out what was taking focus constantly https://superuser.com/a/1749750
And it turned out to be C:\Windows\System32\mstsc.exe which got me on the right track.
After disabling WSLg and restarting wsl, focus is not stolen anymore.
Sorry for replying on a closed thread, but I decided to record this for posterity as I encountered the same issue and it took me a while to figure it out.
What worked for me was to disable WSLg on my machine as per these instructions. https://x410.dev/cookbook/wsl/disabling-wslg-or-using-it-together-with-x410/%20asdf%20sadf%20asd%20asdfsd%20f
I used this command-line tool to figure out what was taking focus constantly https://superuser.com/a/1749750 And it turned out to be
C:\Windows\System32\mstsc.exewhich got me on the right track.After disabling WSLg and restarting wsl, focus is not stolen anymore.
It works for me. Thanks so much as it's a realy annoying issue.
I encounter the same issue on MacOs, have been ignoring it for some time now. It always happens as far as I can remember. I'm on MacOs Sonoma now version Version 4.25.0 (126437)
I would very much like to refrain from twiddling and tweaking system settings en just have docker start up without hogging the focus away from where i'm currently working on.
Words cannot express how much this has helped me.
Many many times, this problem would start up in the middle of coding and drive me nuts. The config update did the trick.
Opened explorer, navigated to %USERPROFILE%. I created a file named .wslconfig and added the following:
[wsl2] guiApplications=false
Save, then open a command prompt and run the following:
wsl --shutdown
Start docker back up and the problem is gone.
I added the steps here because some of the links in the answer post were broken.
I encounter the same issue on MacOs, have been ignoring it for some time now. It always happens as far as I can remember. I'm on MacOs Sonoma now version
Version 4.25.0 (126437)I would very much like to refrain from twiddling and tweaking system settings en just have docker start up without hogging the focus away from where i'm currently working on.
I'm experiencing an issue with Docker Desktop (version 4.32.0, 157355) on macOS Sonoma (15.1 24B83). The application is repeatedly taking focus, even when minimized. Is there a known workaround for this behavior?
met the same with couple version, and remains even i update to latest did a blind guess and "sign in" ( if the 'steal focus' was intend to prompt me to sign in seems reduced, but still a very weird way ( and didn't found such on my cooreate laptop
see if this helps in some sort, or we can find the logic piece in code ( if that's public
Docker stealing focus every 10 seconds has started again ...
Is basically impossible to do any development work. :(
Current solution is to close the Docker Desktop window while making changes and reopen every time I need to check it.
MacOS 15.3.1 (24D70) Docker Desktop v4.39.0
I had it installed for several months, had no such problem. Reinstalled Windows few days back and reinstalled Docker, now I have this stealing focus issue. I don't understand it at all. It steals focus whenever it launches. Will update if the fix mentioned a few posts above worked or not.
UPDATE: OK I can confirm the fix is working. I don't know if it's because earlier I had "[wsl2] guiApplications=false" or not, or if I had some WSL components still running in the background despite running the wsl --shutdown command multiple times. But I closed everything related to wsl manually (using Process Lasso) and then change the wsl2 line to 2 separate lines, and since then it's working.
Although this was a problem very specific to me, just noting it here in case someone runs into a similar issue. For context, I'm on a Mac (Sequoia 15.5).
I was running an emulator for GCP spanner that relies on Docker running and having a specific ports open for the container (9010 and 9020). Every time I start the emulator, I had a script that would kill any process running on those ports. However, I had recently installed a totally unrelated application (Logitech GHUB for my mouse) that apparently utilizes those same ports.
When my script ran, it would kill the connection to those ports for Logitech, the emulator would immediately listen on those ports, and Logitech would then fail to reconnect to those ports and would seemingly retry every few seconds. This constant retrying was causing it so nothing on my computer would retain focus like everyone above is experiencing.
All in all if you're having issues, try to see if any of the containers you're running are utilizing ports that might be used by another application. A command for mac you can use: sudo lsof -i -n -P | grep TCP.
