Docker Desktop install error on Mac book Pro - OS Monterey - Error: Error invoking remote method 'desktop-go-backend'

Question

I tried installing Docker Desktop using Docker Desktop for Mac (Intel Chip) and it failed with the following error:

Error invoking remote method 'desktop-go-backend': Error: {"message":"installing vmnetd: retrieving vmnetd version from /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.docker.vmnetd.plist: reading plist /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.docker.vmnetd.plist: open /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.docker.vmnetd.plist: no such file or directory\\ngithub.com/docker/pinata/mac/tools/install/privileged.getValueFromPlist\\n\\tgithub.com/docker/pinata/mac/tools/install/privileged/vmnetd.go:175\\ngithub.com/docker/pinata/mac/tools/install/privileged.setupVmnetd\\n\\tgithub.com/docker/pinata/mac/tools/install/privileged/vmnetd.go:85\\ngithub.com/docker/pinata/mac/tools/install/privileged.ApplyCustomConfiguration\\n\\tgithub.com/docker/pinata/mac/tools/install/privileged/privileged.go:137\\ngithub.com/docker/pinata/mac/tools/install/privileged.ConfigCmd.func1\\n\\tgithub.com/docker/pinata/mac/tools/install/privileged/privileged.go:59\\ngithub.com/spf13/cobra.(\*Command).execute\\n\\tgithub.com/spf13/[email protected]/command.go:940\\ngithub.com/spf13/cobra.(\*Command).ExecuteC\\n\\tgithub.com/spf13/[email protected]/command.go:1068\\ngithub.com/spf13/cobra.(\*Command).Execute\\n\\tgithub.com/spf13/[email protected]/command.go:992\\nmain.main\\n\\tgithub.com/docker/pinata/mac/tools/install/main.go:185\\nruntime.main\\n\\truntime/proc.go:250\\nruntime.goexit\\n\\truntime/asm_amd64.s:1598\\ngithub.com/docker/pinata/mac/tools/install/privileged.setupVmnetd\\n\\tgithub.com/docker/pinata/mac/tools/install/privileged/vmnetd.go:87\\ngithub.com/docker/pinata/mac/tools/install/privileged.ApplyCustomConfiguration\\n\\tgithub.com/docker/pinata/mac/tools/install/privileged/privileged.go:137\\ngithub.com/docker/pinata/mac/tools/install/privileged.ConfigCmd.func1\\n\\tgithub.com/docker/pinata/mac/tools/install/privileged/privileged.go:59\\ngithub.com/spf13/cobra.(\*Command).execute\\n\\tgithub.com/spf13/[email protected]/command.go:940\\ngithub.com/spf13/cobra.(\*Command).ExecuteC\\n\\tgithub.com/spf13/[email protected]/command.go:1068\\ngithub.com/spf13/cobra.(\*Command).Execute\\n\\tgithub.com/spf13/[email protected]/command.go:992\\nmain.main\\n\\tgithub.com/docker/pinata/mac/tools/install/main.go:185\\nruntime.main\\n\\truntime/proc.go:250\\nruntime.goexit\\n\\truntime/asm_amd64.s:1598"}

I tried uninstalling and re-installing Docker desktop for mac few times. It did not solve the problem. Then I found this answer - Unable to finish Docker Install on Mac book Error invoking remote method 'desktop-go-backend'

I tried the command - brew install --cask docker

It said the following error: there is already an App at '/Applications/Docker.app'.

I tried running command -

/Applications/Docker.app/Contents/MacOS/uninstall

and got zsh: no such file or directory: /Applications/Docker.app/Contents/MacOS/uninstall

I ran the commmand to check where is Docker installed

ls -ltrh /usr/local/bin/docker
lrwxr-xr-x  1 root  admin    54B Jun  1 14:01 /usr/local/bin/docker -\> /Applications/Docker.app/Contents/Resources/bin/docker

I ran the command

rm -rf /Applications/Docker.app 

to remove the Docker app, then I checked docker again with command

ls -ltrh /usr/local/bin/docker

and got

ls -ltrh /usr/local/bin/docker
lrwxr-xr-x  1 root  admin    54B Jun  1 14:01 /usr/local/bin/docker -\> /Applications/Docker.app/Contents/Resources/bin/docker

Found all docker binaries (.venv) ➜  respell git:(master) ls -ltrh /usr/local/bin/docker\*

Ran the command to remove all docker binaries

Then ran the command - brew install --cask docker - again

This time I got the following error:

Error: It seems there is already a Binary at '/usr/local/bin/hub-tool'.

Again manually deleted the binary file

ls -ltrh /usr/local/bin/hub-tool
lrwxr-xr-x  1 root  admin    56B Jun  1 14:01 /usr/local/bin/hub-tool -\> /Applications/Docker.app/Contents/Resources/bin/hub-tool
(.venv) ➜  respell git:(master) rm -rf /usr/local/bin/hub-tool

Tried running the command brew install --cask docker again

This time got the error:

Error: It seems there is already a Binary at '/usr/local/bin/kubectl.docker'.

Again manually deleted the binary file

Ran the command brew install --cask docker again

This time got the error:

Error: It seems there is already a Binary at '/usr/local/bin/vpnkit'.

Again manually deleted the binary file

Ran the command brew install --cask docker again

This time got the error:

Error: It seems there is already a Binary at '/usr/local/bin/com.docker.cli'.

Again manually deleted the binary file

Answer 1

Official instructions didn't work for me. These commands worked.

$ brew uninstall --cask docker --force
$ brew uninstall --formula docker --force
$ brew install --cask docker

Source

Answer 2

I had similar error:

Error: It seems there is already a Binary at '/usr/local/bin/docker-index'.

And the only file related to docker was docker-index,

$ ls -la /usr/local/bin/docker*
lrwxr-xr-x@ 1 root  wheel  60 Dec  5 18:51 /usr/local/bin/docker-index -> /Applications/Docker.app/Contents/Resources/bin/docker-index

So I renamed it:

sudo mv /usr/local/bin/docker-index /usr/local/bin/docker-index-old

Then reinstall: brew reinstall --cask docker

Installed successfully:

==> Installing Cask docker
==> Moving App 'Docker.app' to '/Applications/Docker.app'
==> Linking Binary 'docker' to '/usr/local/bin/docker'
==> Linking Binary 'docker-compose' to '/usr/local/bin/docker-compose'
==> Linking Binary 'docker-compose' to '/usr/local/bin/docker-compose-v1'
==> Linking Binary 'docker-credential-desktop' to '/usr/local/bin/docker-credential-desktop'
==> Linking Binary 'docker-credential-ecr-login' to '/usr/local/bin/docker-credential-ecr-login'
==> Linking Binary 'docker-credential-osxkeychain' to '/usr/local/bin/docker-credential-osxkeychain'
==> Linking Binary 'docker-index' to '/usr/local/bin/docker-index'
==> Linking Binary 'hub-tool' to '/usr/local/bin/hub-tool'
==> Linking Binary 'kubectl' to '/usr/local/bin/kubectl.docker'
==> Linking Binary 'docker.bash-completion' to '/opt/homebrew/etc/bash_completion.d/docker'
==> Linking Binary 'docker-compose.bash-completion' to '/opt/homebrew/etc/bash_completion.d/docker-compose'
==> Linking Binary 'docker.zsh-completion' to '/opt/homebrew/share/zsh/site-functions/_docker'
==> Linking Binary 'docker-compose.zsh-completion' to '/opt/homebrew/share/zsh/site-functions/_docker_compose'
==> Linking Binary 'docker.fish-completion' to '/opt/homebrew/share/fish/vendor_completions.d/docker.fish'
==> Linking Binary 'docker-compose.fish-completion' to '/opt/homebrew/share/fish/vendor_completions.d/docker-compose.fish'
==> Linking Binary 'com.docker.vpnkit' to '/usr/local/bin/vpnkit'
==> Linking Binary 'com.docker.cli' to '/usr/local/bin/com.docker.cli'
🍺  docker was successfully installed!