Docker Desktop 4.54 crashes when I switch to windows containers

[eliassal]

Description

I have DD 4.54 that runs very well in “Linux containers “ mode. I try to switch to windows containers, I get “Privileged helper service is not running”. I searched in the services panel, there is no such service

I click on “start service” I get another prompt, click continue but it comes back saying

Reproduce

1. Run DD using linux mode
2. switch to win containers

Expected behavior

restart DD switch to win containers

docker version

Client:
 Version:           29.1.2
 API version:       1.52
 Go version:        go1.25.5
 Git commit:        890dcca
 Built:             Tue Dec  2 21:57:33 2025
 OS/Arch:           windows/amd64
 Context:           desktop-linux

Server: Docker Desktop 4.54.0 (212467)
 Engine:
  Version:          29.1.2
  API version:      1.52 (minimum version 1.44)
  Go version:       go1.25.5
  Git commit:       de45c2a
  Built:            Tue Dec  2 21:55:26 2025
  OS/Arch:          linux/amd64
  Experimental:     false
 containerd:
  Version:          v2.2.0
  GitCommit:        1c4457e00facac03ce1d75f7b6777a7a851e5c41
 runc:
  Version:          1.3.4
  GitCommit:        v1.3.4-0-gd6d73eb8
 docker-init:
  Version:          0.19.0
  GitCommit:        de40ad0

docker info

Client:
 Version:    29.1.2
 Context:    desktop-linux
 Debug Mode: false
 Plugins:
  ai: Docker AI Agent - Ask Gordon (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v1.17.0
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-ai.exe
  buildx: Docker Buildx (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.30.1-desktop.1
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-buildx.exe
  compose: Docker Compose (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v2.40.3-desktop.1
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-compose.exe
  debug: Get a shell into any image or container (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  0.0.45
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-debug.exe
  desktop: Docker Desktop commands (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.2.0
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-desktop.exe
  extension: Manages Docker extensions (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.2.31
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-extension.exe
  init: Creates Docker-related starter files for your project (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v1.4.0
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-init.exe
  mcp: Docker MCP Plugin (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.28.0
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-mcp.exe
  model: Docker Model Runner (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v1.0.2
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-model.exe
  offload: Docker Offload (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.5.29
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-offload.exe
  pass: Docker Pass Secrets Manager Plugin (beta) (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.0.15
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-pass.exe
  sandbox: Docker Sandbox (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.6.0
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-sandbox.exe
  sbom: View the packaged-based Software Bill Of Materials (SBOM) for an image (Anchore Inc.)
    Version:  0.6.0
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-sbom.exe
  scout: Docker Scout (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v1.18.3
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-scout.exe

Server:
 Containers: 58
  Running: 37
  Paused: 0
  Stopped: 21
 Images: 47
 Server Version: 29.1.2
 Storage Driver: overlay2
  Backing Filesystem: extfs
  Supports d_type: true
  Using metacopy: false
  Native Overlay Diff: true
  userxattr: false
 Logging Driver: json-file
 Cgroup Driver: cgroupfs
 Cgroup Version: 2
 Plugins:
  Volume: local
  Network: bridge host ipvlan macvlan null overlay
  Log: awslogs fluentd gcplogs gelf journald json-file local splunk syslog
 CDI spec directories:
  /etc/cdi
  /var/run/cdi
 Discovered Devices:
  cdi: docker.com/gpu=webgpu
 Swarm: inactive
 Runtimes: io.containerd.runc.v2 nvidia runc
 Default Runtime: runc
 Init Binary: docker-init
 containerd version: 1c4457e00facac03ce1d75f7b6777a7a851e5c41
 runc version: v1.3.4-0-gd6d73eb8
 init version: de40ad0
 Security Options:
  seccomp
   Profile: builtin
  cgroupns
 Kernel Version: 6.6.87.2-microsoft-standard-WSL2
 Operating System: Docker Desktop
 OSType: linux
 Architecture: x86_64
 CPUs: 2
 Total Memory: 7.758GiB
 Name: docker-desktop
 ID: b015c68f-593b-4971-983d-6c4184ec8573
 Docker Root Dir: /var/lib/docker
 Debug Mode: false
 HTTP Proxy: http.docker.internal:3128
 HTTPS Proxy: http.docker.internal:3128
 No Proxy: hubproxy.docker.internal
 Labels:
  com.docker.desktop.address=npipe://\\.\pipe\docker_cli
 Experimental: false
 Insecure Registries:
  hubproxy.docker.internal:5555
  ::1/128
  127.0.0.0/8
 Live Restore Enabled: false
 Firewall Backend: iptables

Diagnostics ID

09777C54-E71E-4BED-A514-5F81A9DCC7BD/20251215083342

Additional Info

diagnostics.log

[jason-bivins]

hey @eliassal That name might be a little misleading, we can look into updating that. The privileged helper service you need to start in Windows is called the Docker Desktop service.
https://docs.docker.com/desktop/setup/install/windows-permission-requirements/#privileged-helper

[eliassal]

Hi @jason-bivins jason I did so many times but it always crashed, however, after reading your response, I checked the service, it was not running. I started it then did "switch to windows containers and hooop everything went OK.
So it seems that when I click "Start service" in DD GUI was not able to start the service in spite of the fact the service runs with my account which has admin priviliges on the box