How to remove BTRFS subvolumes used by docker?

Question

I was playing with docker and then I found with btrfs list many docker subvolumes like this one:

ID 23305 gen 3405505 top level 22147 path var/lib/docker/btrfs/subvolumes/1464e922.....

I do not use docker. How to get rid off of these subvolumes? There is too many to just delete it one by one... Thanks

You can change Docker's storage driver to overlay2 to prevent this from happening. That's the driver that Docker will (usually) use if /var/lib/docker is not on a btrfs filesystem. — gronostaj, Commented Sep 12, 2022 at 17:57

Jan · Accepted Answer · 2022-09-12 15:38:03Z

9

sudo su
cd /var/lib/docker/btrfs/subvolumes
ls /var/lib/docker/btrfs/subvolumes | xargs btrfs subvolume delete

answered Sep 12, 2022 at 15:38

Jan

3773 silver badges10 bronze badges

Thank you, this is working on Fedora 38. Seems Docker always left the subvolume without any explanation. It's sucks so much.
– Benyamin Limanto
Commented May 23, 2023 at 2:32

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Nick Breen · Accepted Answer · 2023-07-22 04:21:42Z

1

Docker leaves these lying around even though the images and volumes have been removed, ask docker to clean them up:

docker system prune

answered Jul 22, 2023 at 4:21

Nick Breen

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2 Answers 2