[BUG] Docker compose error when trying to build

[Wa1kingR3d]

Description

This was recommended me by a stack overflow issue because we cant figure out what the problem is view the original conversation here. I have been following this tutorial in an attempt to learn backend development. My current goal is to build a docker container for my server code and a database. After I set up the Dockerfile and the docker-compose.yaml file I ran docker compose build and this error pops up: fork/exec C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-buildx.exe: The parameter is incorrect. Things I have tried:

1. disabling buildkit and using the legacy builder- this built but did not support secrets which is a nogo
2. deleted and reinstalled docker desktop three times, on time i even tried wiping the registry keys and and leftorver files from the uninstall
3. running docker build . built but it doesnt use the compose file
4. tried docker compose build app
5. tried building with a minimal reproducible example and that didnt work

As a side note on the first time I tried to install docker desktop I installed all of it and got to the restart computer screen. The restart button was not pressed and instead I restarted it through the windows start menu which might have force shut down the installer.

Steps To Reproduce

No response

Compose Version

Docker Compose version v2.38.1-desktop.1

Docker Compose version v2.38.1-desktop.1

Docker Environment

Client:
 Version:    28.3.0
 Context:    desktop-linux
 Debug Mode: false
 Plugins:
  ai: Docker AI Agent - Ask Gordon (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v1.6.0
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-ai.exe
  buildx: Docker Buildx (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.25.0-desktop.1
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-buildx.exe
  cloud: Docker Cloud (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.4.2
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-cloud.exe
  compose: Docker Compose (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v2.38.1-desktop.1
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-compose.exe
  debug: Get a shell into any image or container (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  0.0.41
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-debug.exe
  desktop: Docker Desktop commands (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.1.11
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-desktop.exe
  extension: Manages Docker extensions (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.2.29
    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:  v0.9.3
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-mcp.exe
  model: Docker Model Runner (EXPERIMENTAL) (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.1.32
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-model.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:  v1.18.1
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-scout.exe

Server:
 Containers: 0
  Running: 0
  Paused: 0
  Stopped: 0
 Images: 0
 Server Version: 28.3.0
 Storage Driver: overlayfs
  driver-type: io.containerd.snapshotter.v1
 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: 05044ec0a9a75232cad458027ca83437aae3f4da
 runc version: v1.2.5-0-g59923ef
 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: 32
 Total Memory: 31.21GiB
 Name: docker-desktop
 ID: 49b0815c-833e-4405-afbd-abccdb9468ca
 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

WARNING: DOCKER_INSECURE_NO_IPTABLES_RAW is set

Anything else?

No response

[ndeloof]

Can you please try running docker buildx bake -f compose.yaml to double check buildx is correctly installed and can build your application ?

Can also check:

docker compose build --print > bake.json
C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-buildx.exe bake -f bake.json

[Wa1kingR3d]

first command works im not sure what the second or third command does but powershell did not want to bake it Input: & "C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-buildx.exe" bake -f bake.json output: ERROR: bake.json:1,1-2: Invalid start of value; A JSON value must start with a brace, a bracket, a number, a string, or a keyword., and 1 other diagnostic(s)

generated JSON { "group": { "default": { "targets": [ "app" ] } }, "target": { "app": { "context": "C:\\Users\\user\\Documents\\Programming\\learn backend\\chapter_4", "dockerfile": "C:\\Users\\user\\Documents\\Programming\\learn backend\\chapter_4\\Dockerfile", "tags": [ "chapter_4-app" ], "output": [ "type=docker,load=true,push=false" ] } } }

[ndeloof]

Maybe related to https://github.com/golang/go/issues/73170, to be fixed in go 1.25

[Wa1kingR3d]

is there a fix for the meantime or should i just wait it out and is there anyway i can verify that

[Wa1kingR3d]

if im not mistaken the ticket was closed does that mean the issue was fixed?

[ndeloof]

I can't guarantee this is the actual cause for this issue, just has the same symptoms. 3a4f077 is part of Go 1.25 Release Candidate, but Docker Compose still relies on Go 1.23 (as other Docker projects, we need to align with https://github.com/docker/docker-ce-packaging), so there's no short-terms fix to be expected as we won't move to go 1.25 soon.

[Wa1kingR3d]

alright, how long have you been on go 1.23. if it was over a year ago it cant be that because the video i was following along with was made less than a year ago.

[allysonpdm]

Try this to build:

docker buildx bake

I believe it's some kind of Docker version bug. It started happening when I updated to 4.43.2.

Another workaround (a "gambiarra" in Portuguese) would be to disable BuildKit before starting the containers:

$env:DOCKER_BUILDKIT=0
docker compose up -d

[Wa1kingR3d]

might be an unrelated error but here it is ERROR: error during connect: Head "http://%2F%2F.%2Fpipe%2FdockerDesktopLinuxEngine/_ping": open //./pipe/dockerDesktopLinuxEngine: The system cannot find the file specified.

Another workaround (a "gambiarra" in Portuguese) would be to disable BuildKit before starting the containers

I think I tried this and it worked but It doesn't support secrets well which is why I didnt go with it

[ndeloof]

As Compose v5.0.0 has been release, Docker Compose does not support an internal builder implementation and always delegates to Bake. I'm closing this issue as "not planned" as Compose v5+ is not in charge of the build process anymore

If this issue persists, I suggest you report this issue to github.com/docker/buildx with an example bake.json (as produced by docker compose build --print > bake.json) that bake command fails to parse, adding details about your environment