[docker] Docker error cannot delete docker container, conflict: unable to remove repository reference

I want to remove the container at Docker, but an error occurs when you want to delete

My next step before removing the container, see the list of existing container

sts@Yudi:~/docker$ sudo docker ps -as

CONTAINER ID        IMAGE               COMMAND             CREATED             STATUS                    PORTS               NAMES                  SIZE
78479ffeba5c        ubuntu              "/bin/bash"         42 hours ago        Exited (0) 42 hours ago                       sharp_wescoff          81 B (virtual 187.7 MB)
0bd2b54678c7        training/webapp     "python app.py"     5 days ago          Exited (0) 5 days ago                         backstabbing_ritchie   0 B (virtual 323.7 MB)
0adbc74a3803        training/webapp     "python app.py"     5 days ago          Exited (143) 5 days ago                       drunk_feynman          0 B (virtual 323.7 MB)

one I want to delete the list, namely "training / webapp" but an error that occurred

sts@Yudi:~/docker$ sudo docker rmi training/webapp
Error response from daemon: conflict: unable to remove repository reference "training/webapp" (must force) - container 0bd2b54678c7 is using its referenced image 54bb4e8718e8
Error: failed to remove images: [training/webapp]

Whether the container is running in the images?

Please help

This question is related to docker containers

The answer is


Remove just the containers associated with a specific image

docker ps -a | grep training/webapp | cut -d ' ' -f 1 | xargs docker rm
  • ps -a: list all containers
  • grep training/webapp : filter out everything but the containers started from the training/webapp image
  • cut -d ' ' -f 1: list only the container ids (first field when delimited by space)
  • xargs docker rm : send the container id list output to the docker rm command to remove the container

list all your docker images:

docker images

list all existed docker containers:

docker ps -a

delete all the targeted containers, which is using the image that you want to delete:

docker rm <container-id>

delete the targeted image:

docker rmi <image-name:image-tag or image-id>

you can use -f option to force delete the containers .

sudo docker rmi -f training/webapp

You may stop the containers using sudo docker stop training/webapp before deleting


If you want to cleanup docker images and containers

CAUTION: this will flush everything

stop all containers

docker stop $(docker ps -a -q)

remove all containers

docker rm $(docker ps -a -q)

remove all images

docker rmi -f $(docker images -a -q)

There is a difference between docker images and docker containers. Check this SO Question.

In short, a container is a runnable instance of an image. which is why you cannot delete an image if there is a running container from that image. You just need to delete the container first.

docker ps -a                # Lists containers (and tells you which images they are spun from)

docker images               # Lists images 

docker rm <container_id>    # Removes a stopped container

docker rm -f <container_id> # Forces the removal of a running container (uses SIGKILL)

docker rmi <image_id>       # Removes an image 
                            # Will fail if there is a running instance of that image i.e. container

docker rmi -f <image_id>    # Forces removal of image even if it is referenced in multiple repositories, 
                            # i.e. same image id given multiple names/tags 
                            # Will still fail if there is a docker container referencing image

Update for Docker 1.13+ [Since Jan 2017]

In Docker 1.13, we regrouped every command to sit under the logical object it’s interacting with

Basically, above commands could also be rewritten, more clearly, as:

docker container ls -a
docker image ls
docker container rm <container_id>
docker image rm <image_id>

Also, if you want to remove EVERYTHING you could use:

docker system prune -a

WARNING! This will remove:

  • all stopped containers
  • all networks not used by at least one container
  • all unused images
  • all build cache

If you have multiples docker containers launched, use this

$ docker rm $(docker ps -aq)

It will remove all the current dockers listed in the "ps -aq" command.

Source : aaam on https://github.com/docker/docker/issues/12487


Noticed this is a 2-years old question, but still want to share my workaround for this particular question:

Firstly, run docker container ls -a to list all the containers you have and pinpoint the want you want to delete.

Secondly, delete the one with command docker container rm <CONTAINER ID> (If the container is currently running, you should stop it first, run docker container stop <CONTAINER ID> to gracefully stop the specified container, if it does not stop it for whatever the reason is, alternatively you can run docker container kill <CONTAINER ID> to force shutdown of the specified container).

Thirdly, remove the container by running docker container rm <CONTAINER ID>.

Lastly you can run docker image ls -a to view all the images and delete the one you want to by running docker image rm <hash>.


Remove docker images >

List all containers

docker container ls

List all images

docker image ls

Stop container by container id

docker container stop <container_id>

Remove container by container id

docker container rm <container_id>

If don't want stop and remove, can force remove

docker container rm -f <container_id>

Remove image

docker image rm <image_id>

Done!


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