Docker Desktop 4.85.0 WSL2 integration starts Ubuntu-22.04 integration but does not provide usable Docker socket after fresh reinstall

[bladezy23]

System

• Windows build: 10.0.26200.8973
• Windows edition observed locally: Windows 11 Home
• WSL: 2.7.3.0
• WSL kernel: 6.6.114.1-1
• Distro: Ubuntu-22.04, WSL2
• Docker Desktop: 4.85.0 (235549)
• Docker Engine: 29.6.2
• Container mode: Linux containers
• Windows Docker context: desktop-linux
• Windows engine endpoint: npipe:////./pipe/dockerDesktopLinuxEngine

Expected behavior

Enabling Docker Desktop WSL Integration for Ubuntu-22.04 should allow Docker commands directly from that WSL2 distribution.

Docker's WSL documentation says enabling WSL integration for a distribution gives direct access to Docker commands from that distribution's terminal.

Actual behavior

Windows Docker works correctly. Docker Desktop starts and the Windows client/server both work against the Linux Docker Desktop engine.

Docker Desktop settings show Ubuntu integration enabled:

• EnableIntegrationWithDefaultWslDistro=true
• IntegratedWslDistros=["Ubuntu-22.04"]

Ubuntu itself is otherwise healthy and command execution works.

However, inside Ubuntu:

• /var/run/docker.sock does not exist.
• Docker Desktop-created path /mnt/wsl/docker-desktop-bind-mounts/Ubuntu-22.04/docker.sock exists, but it is a zero-byte regular file rather than a usable Unix socket.
• Docker shared-socket directories exist under /mnt/wsl/docker-desktop/shared-sockets, but they are not propagated into Ubuntu as the expected Docker endpoint.
• Docker commands from Ubuntu cannot reach the Docker Desktop engine.

Current contradictory state after fresh reinstall:

$ ls -l /var/run/docker.sock
ls: cannot access '/var/run/docker.sock': No such file or directory

$ ls -l /mnt/wsl/docker-desktop-bind-mounts/Ubuntu-22.04/docker.sock
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Aug  8 23:38 /mnt/wsl/docker-desktop-bind-mounts/Ubuntu-22.04/docker.sock

At one point after reinstall, the Linux CLI path existed, but the socket was still missing. After further Docker restart/reintegration evidence collection, the injected symlink target was missing again:

$ command -v docker
/mnt/c/Program Files/Docker/Docker/resources/bin/docker

$ ls -l /usr/bin/docker /bin/docker /mnt/wsl/docker-desktop/cli-tools/usr/bin/docker
ls: cannot access '/mnt/wsl/docker-desktop/cli-tools/usr/bin/docker': No such file or directory
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 48 Aug  8 23:38 /bin/docker -> /mnt/wsl/docker-desktop/cli-tools/usr/bin/docker
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 48 Aug  8 23:38 /usr/bin/docker -> /mnt/wsl/docker-desktop/cli-tools/usr/bin/docker

Running docker from Ubuntu falls back to the Windows interop executable and reports:

The command 'docker' could not be found in this WSL 2 distro.
We recommend to activate the WSL integration in Docker Desktop settings.

Relevant Docker Desktop log excerpt

Docker Desktop logs show WSL integration settings being applied and an agent being started for Ubuntu-22.04:

updated EnableIntegrationWithDefaultWslDistro ... false -> true
updated IntegratedWslDistros ... []string{"Ubuntu-22.04"}
running integration service
adding a wsl agent for new distro Ubuntu-22.04
start wsl integration for distro Ubuntu-22.04
Starting WSL Distro proxy in Ubuntu-22.04

The same log then includes this line:

Requested propagation is rprivate. Skipping mount-point propagation check for /var/run/docker.sock

After that, /var/run/docker.sock is still absent in Ubuntu.

Reproduction steps

1. Install Docker Desktop 4.85.0 on Windows using the WSL2 backend.
2. Run Ubuntu-22.04 as WSL2.
3. Enable Ubuntu-22.04 under Docker Desktop Settings > Resources > WSL Integration.
4. Apply/restart Docker Desktop.
5. Terminate/relaunch Ubuntu-22.04.
6. Run:

ls -l /var/run/docker.sock

7. Actual result:

No such file or directory

8. Run Docker from Windows. Windows Docker client/server works.
9. Run Docker from Ubuntu. Ubuntu cannot reach Docker Desktop's engine and/or the injected Linux CLI target disappears.

Already attempted

• Verified Ubuntu-22.04 is WSL2.
• Verified Ubuntu command execution works.
• Verified Windows C: / DrvFS access works.
• Verified project worktree parity between Windows and Ubuntu.
• Verified Docker Desktop Windows engine works.
• Toggled/reapplied Ubuntu WSL integration.
• Restarted Docker Desktop.
• Terminated/restarted Ubuntu.
• Gathered Docker diagnostics.
• Completely uninstalled Docker Desktop.
• Fresh-installed official Docker Desktop 4.85.0.
• Kept WSL2 backend.
• Kept Ubuntu-22.04.
• Re-enabled Ubuntu WSL integration.
• Retested CLI/socket integration.

Fresh reinstall still failed.

Not attempted

• Factory Reset was not attempted.
• WSL reset/unregister was not attempted.
• No separate Docker daemon was installed inside Ubuntu.
• Ubuntu itself is not considered broken.
• Windows Docker engine is not broken.

Diagnostics

Docker diagnostic ID:

64A88DFD-4765-41A7-90FD-BA3D2EBDEF2B

A fresh diagnostic bundle was generated after reinstall; Docker reused the same diagnostic ID and produced bundle timestamp 20260809034314.

Additional note

A prior documented uninstall -keep-data attempt unexpectedly deleted the prior Docker WSL data VHDX. That local environment had 0 containers, 0 volumes, and 25 disposable images, so the local data was abandoned and a fresh install was performed. This issue is about the persistent WSL integration/socket failure after the fresh install.