docker storage ai_generated true

Error response from daemon: remove volume: volume is in use

ID: docker/docker-volume-in-use

Also available as: JSON · Markdown
92%Fix Rate
94%Confidence
50Evidence
2023-01-01First Seen

Version Compatibility

VersionStatusIntroducedDeprecatedNotes
27 active — — —

Root Cause

A Docker volume cannot be removed because it is currently mounted by one or more containers, including stopped containers.

generic

Workarounds

  1. 95% success Find and remove the containers using the volume first 
    docker ps -a --filter volume=<volume-name> to find containers, then docker rm <container-id> for each, then docker volume rm <volume-name>

    Sources: https://docs.docker.com/storage/volumes/

  2. 90% success Use docker compose down -v to clean up volumes with their compose project 
    docker compose down -v removes containers, networks, AND volumes defined in the compose file

    Sources: https://docs.docker.com/reference/cli/docker/compose/down/

Dead Ends

Common approaches that don't work:

  1. Force-removing the volume directory from /var/lib/docker/volumes 90% fail

    Bypasses Docker's internal state; Docker will still think the volume exists, causing ghost entries and potential data corruption

  2. Using docker volume prune while the volume is still referenced 75% fail

    Prune only removes unreferenced volumes; volumes attached to stopped containers are still referenced

Error Chain

Leads to:
Preceded by:
Frequently confused with: