therealmarv

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How to Fully Uninstall the Official Docker OS X Installation

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No offense against Docker. I like the concept and the software!

– This guide works for docker toolbox and old boot2docker, some boot2docker steps uninstall steps are not needed but it will not hurt for docker toolbox uninstallation –

But I absolutely do not like the official Docker OS X installer (install manual). Things are improved with docker toolbox but uninstalling is still not trivial.

The reason for this are:

  • It installs Virtualbox and has downgraded my existing Virtualbox Host software (seems this is fixed for Docker toolbox now).
  • It installs an app and several binaries.
  • Everything packaged up into a .pkg and no uninstall app or instructions anywhere!

In summary it tries to do too much. Many developers use tools like Vagrant & Homebrew. Why not go that way?

Uninstall steps for boot2docker / Docker

Be sure you’ve only used the official installer. This uninstall guide is not the right one if you have installed Docker with e.g. Homebrew or other methods.

If you also want to delete all your docker machines first run:

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docker-machine rm -f $(docker-machine ls -q);

Stop boot2docker and delete the VBox image:

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boot2docker stop
boot2docker delete

Remove boot2docker & docker app:

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sudo rm -rf /Applications/boot2docker
sudo rm -rf /Applications/Docker

Remove all Docker and boot2docker command line tools:

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sudo rm -f /usr/local/bin/docker
sudo rm -f /usr/local/bin/boot2docker
sudo rm -f /usr/local/bin/docker-machine
sudo rm -r /usr/local/bin/docker-machine-driver*
sudo rm -f /usr/local/bin/docker-compose

Remove docker packages:

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sudo pkgutil --forget io.docker.pkg.docker
sudo pkgutil --forget io.docker.pkg.dockercompose
sudo pkgutil --forget io.docker.pkg.dockermachine
sudo pkgutil --forget io.boot2dockeriso.pkg.boot2dockeriso

Remove boot2docker VBox image:

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sudo rm -rf /usr/local/share/boot2docker

rm -rf ~/.boot2docker

Remove boot2docker ssh keys:

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rm ~/.ssh/id_boot2docker*

Remove additional boot2docker files in /private folder:

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sudo rm -f /private/var/db/receipts/io.boot2docker.*
sudo rm -f /private/var/db/receipts/io.boot2dockeriso.*

Remove docker toolbox config folder:

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rm -rf ~/.docker

Remove the environmental variable DOCKER_HOST in case you have fixed it somewhere like e.g. in .bash_profile.

(Optional) Uninstall steps for Virtualbox

You can also delete Virtualbox of course. But if you are a developer you probably need it anyway. In case your VBox got also downgraded: Reinstall Virtualbox.

If you really want to uninstall Virtualbox:

Update 2016-06-28:

  • Also remove docker toolbox ~/.docker directory.

Update 2016-06-03:

Update 2014-10-06:

Update 2014-11-13:

  • Added ssh keys uninstall. Thx to @mtscout6.

Update 2014-11-21:

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