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Description

Docker daemon is stuck in deactivating/initializing state.

Symptoms

Unable to stop or start the docker daemon using the following commands:

 systemctl start docker  
 systemctl stop docker

Unable to retrieve running or exited containers in the cluster using the following docker command:

systemctl status docker

● docker.service - Docker Application Container Engine
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/docker.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
   Active: deactivating (stop-sigterm) since Wed 2020-10-28 09:55:27 PDT; 6s ago
     Docs: https://docs.docker.com
Main PID: 19339 (dockerd)
    Tasks: 607
   Memory: 273.4M
   CGroup: /system.slice/docker.service
           ├─19339 /usr/bin/dockerd
           ├─19351 docker-containerd --config /var/run/docker/containerd/containerd.toml

Solution

Even though docker daemon is stuck, the processes are running in the background.

Retrieve the running docker processes with the following command:

ps -ef | grep docker

root      9964     1 69 10:12 ?        00:00:16 /usr/bin/dockerd

root      9974  9964 12 10:12 ?        00:00:02 docker-containerd --config /var/run/docker/containerd/containerd.toml

root     10192  9974  0 10:12 ?        00:00:00 docker-containerd-shim -namespace moby -workdir /var/lib/docker/containerd/daemon/io.containerd.runtime.v1.linux/moby/192c2cdcf777ce961cf40212bb3801bafc89f756629114d1105c4b7cde682eee -address /var/run/docker/containerd/docker-containerd.sock -containerd-binary /usr/bin/docker-containerd -runtime-root /var/run/docker/runtime-runc

root     10239  9974  0 10:12 ?        00:00:00 docker-containerd-shim -namespace moby -workdir /var/lib/docker/containerd/daemon/io.containerd.runtime.v1.linux/moby/c52f3ecfcd2094bccd595bd7d3e57b387a07b0a998c0de4536523e8ed635b5b4 -address /var/run/docker/containerd/docker-containerd.sock -containerd-binary /usr/bin/docker-containerd -runtime-root /var/run/docker/runtime-runc

root     10242  9974  0 10:12 ?        00:00:00 docker-containerd-shim -namespace moby -workdir /var/lib/docker/containerd/daemon/io.containerd.runtime.v1.linux/moby/998e12078ac8aa4659ee0dbd9006e4b58b8a01b9478cbaf38df5b2684935cc03 -address /var/run/docker/containerd/docker-containerd.sock -containerd-binary /usr/bin/docker-containerd -runtime-root /var/run/docker/runtime-runc

root     10305  9974  0 10:12 ?        00:00:00 docker-containerd-shim -namespace moby -workdir /var/lib/docker/containerd/daemon/io.containerd.runtime.v1.linux/moby/0b3bb052e8248a63a7b5df37b38dcf36bd322d8bdcb88db47f17a4179e2405de -address /var/run/docker/containerd/docker-containerd.sock -containerd-binary /usr/bin/docker-containerd -runtime-root /var/run/docker/runtime-runc

root     10414  9974  0 10:12 ?        00:00:00 docker-containerd-shim -namespace moby -workdir /var/lib/docker/containerd/daemon/io.containerd.runtime.v1.linux/moby/5ebeb0fe0dfc46de18a25b9af6ca1d5173c33f23f0ed0ec3cb401fade6ef536f -address /var/run/docker/containerd/docker-containerd.sock -containerd-binary /usr/bin/docker-containerd -runtime-root /var/run/docker/runtime-runc

root     10574  9974  0 10:12 ?        00:00:00 docker-containerd-shim -namespace moby -workdir /var/lib/docker/containerd/daemon/io.containerd.runtime.v1.linux/moby/81465cc2a45512d831f828c16b13a2802218cdbdfad23d5bb232c57431a20b78 -address /var/run/docker/containerd/docker-containerd.sock -containerd-binary /usr/bin/docker-containerd -runtime-root /var/run/docker/runtime-runc

root     10615  9974  0 10:12 ?        00:00:00 docker-containerd-shim -namespace moby -workdir /var/lib/docker/containerd/daemon/io.containerd.runtime.v1.linux/moby/43b166417c13ed946b2f45ea3f5a73299813da4ceac79deb2942edb9d5bb25c1 -address /var/run/docker/containerd/docker-containerd.sock -containerd-binary /usr/bin/docker-containerd -runtime-root /var/run/docker/runtime-runc

root     10675  9974  0 10:12 ?        00:00:00 docker-containerd-shim -namespace moby -workdir /var/lib/docker/containerd/daemon/io.containerd.runtime.v1.linux/moby/dd546847ce61fc3d50de7d8ce2c387434e0b2db48c19eff56218d544ebb61044 -address /var/run/docker/containerd/docker-containerd.sock -containerd-binary /usr/bin/docker-containerd -runtime-root /var/run/docker/runtime-runc

root     10722  9974  0 10:12 ?        00:00:00 docker-containerd-shim -namespace moby -workdir /var/lib/docker/containerd/daemon/io.containerd.runtime.v1.linux/moby/ffe36dd92aec8c1e3c945eca1d51c3026001d393bb3e9394de2df0a97fbf6b39 -address /var/run/docker/containerd/docker-containerd.sock -containerd-binary /usr/bin/docker-containerd -runtime-root /var/run/docker/runtime-runc

root     11051  9974  0 10:12 ?        00:00:00 docker-containerd-shim -namespace moby -workdir /var/lib/docker/containerd/daemon/io.containerd.runtime.v1.linux/moby/2ab9e77dc8438b08ab1433e3d4b67767196c6280d96ccc63468bfe8a6345cf2a -address /var/run/docker/containerd/docker-containerd.sock -containerd-binary /usr/bin/docker-containerd -runtime-root /var/run/docker/runtime-runc

root     11139  9974  0 10:12 ?        00:00:00 docker-containerd-shim -namespace moby -workdir /var/lib/docker/containerd/daemon/io.containerd.runtime.v1.linux/moby/21e92cc45a6ed92bd65d139d198481dbab75422a25171434635651c2c58d7008 -address /var/run/docker/containerd/docker-containerd.sock -containerd-binary /usr/bin/docker-containerd -runtime-root /var/run/docker/runtime-runc

root     11480  9974  0 10:12 ?        00:00:00 docker-containerd-shim -namespace moby -workdir /var/lib/docker/containerd/daemon/io.containerd.runtime.v1.linux/moby/1ea0722d2e1fcfa146c5618ba9e28fbdc95d8b89f790f5cbeef9c72ac8cad127 -address /var/run/docker/containerd/docker-containerd.sock -containerd-binary /usr/bin/docker-containerd -runtime-root /var/run/docker/runtime-runc

root     11737  9974  0 10:12 ?        00:00:00 docker-containerd-shim -namespace moby -workdir /var/lib/docker/containerd/daemon/io.containerd.runtime.v1.linux/moby/00bb9d5c3ba05b439b4f2a6ae1bed08aacd94121def1d412e85f8d9bb53fba4b -address /var/run/docker/containerd/docker-containerd.sock -containerd-binary /usr/bin/docker-containerd -runtime-root /var/run/docker/runtime-runc

root     27369 20782  0 10:12 pts/5    00:00:00 grep --color=auto docker

Kill all the processes manually by using the command:
sudo kill -9 <process-id>
Once all the process are killed, restart the docker daemon once again with the following command:
systemctl restart docker

Check the status once its restarted:

systemctl status docker

● docker.service - docker Application Container Engine
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/docker.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
   Active: active (running) since Wed 2020-10-28 10:12:59 PDT; 5min ago
     Docs: https://docs.docker.com
Main PID: 27818 (dockerd)
    Tasks: 1138
   Memory: 336.5M
   CGroup: /system.slice/docker.service

Now try running docker commands to make sure everything is working.