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When trying to "switch to Linux containers" via Docker's taskbar item the process fails after a couple of seconds showing an error about "Not enough memory to start Docker".
Since the host system does not have that much memory, I'd like to reduce the maximum amount of memory the global Docker machine is allowed to use (I think 2 GB is the default here). Thus, I'd like to reduce that to just 1 GB.
When having Docker running in Windows container mode, there is no "advanced" section in Docker's settings that would allow to reduct that memory assignment easily.
I was able to find the "MobyLinuxVM" using Windows' Hyper-V manager. However, when adjusting memory settings there, it is overwritten each time I start Docker and try again switching to Linux container mode.
Is there a different way to define the maximum amount of memory for Docker without using the user interface (which won't work in this scenario due to the missing "advanced" section in Windows container mode - before being able to switch to Linux containers)?
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Below, find out how to configure Docker memory limitations. To limit the maximum amount of memory usage for a container, add the --memory option to the docker run command. Alternatively, you can use the shortcut -m. Within the command, specify how much memory you want to dedicate to that specific container.
To run a container with an additional 1 GB of swap memory, set the swap memory to 2 GB. The syntax for running a container with limited memory and additional swap memory is: sudo docker run -it --memory=” [memory_limit]” --memory-swap=” [memory_limit]” [docker_image]
NOTE: Switching to Linux containers and playing with the "Settings Resources > Advanced" options only modifies the VM resources for running Linux containers, and not Windows containers. To adjust the amount of memory and CPU cores used for Windows containers you will need to use the --memory and --cpus argument flags when you run the image.
One of the most important enhancements is that Docker can now run Linux containers on Windows (LCOW), using Hyper-V technology. Running Docker Linux containers on Windows requires a minimal Linux kernel and userland to host the container processes.
After some searching I found out that settings of Docker's user interface are stored in %APPDATA%\Docker\settings.json (e.g. C:\Users\olly\AppData\Roaming\Docker), memory settings are defined in memoryMiB property.
The following solved the problem on my environement:
settings.json file using notepad %APPDATA%\Docker\settings.json in the run command prompt (Windows-Key + R)memoryMiB to 1024 (has been 2048 before)
memoryMiB
VmMemory
settings.json
memoryMiB in Docker versions 19.x and later
VmMemory in Docker versions 18.x and before
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