Back to Blog

Tips Manage Docker Desktop in Windows

Royan Gagas
June 11, 2025
Share
docker
Tips Manage Docker Desktop in Windows

🐳Why Docker usage storage disk a lot?

Docker stores a lot of data from various sources:

Unused Images: Image that are no longer used are still stored.
Stopped Containers: Containers that have been stopped still take up space.
Dangling Values: Leftover volumes from deleted containers remain.
WSL 2 Disk Growth (Windows): .vhdx files grow over time, but do not shrink when space is freed up.



🛠️How to clean storage docker

Check storage usage:
Remove stopped containers:
Remove unused images:
Remove unused volumes:
Remove build cache:



💻 For Windows Users (WSL 2)

To shrink the docker_data.vhdx file:

Shut down Docker & WSL:
Compact the disk using PowerShell:



Future Prevention Tips

Regularly run:
Move Docker's storage directory to another drive (for Windows users).
Monitor storage usage monthly: