Docker Desktop fails to start: service jfs failed: running: invalid database

[ban5104]

Context

• Docker Desktop: 4.59.1 (217750)
• Docker CLI: 29.2.0
• macOS: 26.4.1 (25E253)
• Apple Silicon (arm64)

What happened

Docker Desktop crashes at startup with:

service jfs failed: running: invalid database

Before this, startup also failed with a disk resize permission error on Docker.raw. After fixing ownership of Docker.raw, startup progressed further but still fails on the JFS service database error.

Repro

1. Start Docker Desktop.
2. Engine enters starting state.
3. Error dialog appears and Docker exits.

Relevant log excerpts

From ~/Library/Containers/com.docker.docker/Data/log/host/com.docker.backend.log:

• [2026-04-22T01:00:58.872678Z] ... cannot resize ... Docker.raw ... permission denied
• [2026-04-22T01:07:32.587865Z] ... engine linux/virtualization-framework run error: service jfs failed: running: invalid database
• [2026-04-22T01:07:32.588382Z] ... reporting error to user: service jfs failed: running: invalid database

Diagnostics

• Diagnostics ID: 7ED45821-96E1-4B2B-9A60-4869C354CBBD/20260422011114 (uploaded)

Notes

• Docker.raw is now owned by the local user and writable.
• Desktop still fails with JFS invalid DB after that ownership fix.

[ban5104]

Update after upgrading:

• Upgraded Docker Desktop from 4.59.1 (217750) to 4.70.0 (224270)

• Docker still fails to start with the same error:

Fresh log lines from on 2026-04-22:

• Error dialog still offers only Quit / Reset to factory defaults.