Uninstalling Docker completely from Debian

How to Uninstall Docker Completely from Debian

If you no longer need Docker on your Debian system, here’s how to fully remove Docker and its related components, including docker-compose. Follow these steps for a thorough cleanup:

1. Stop Docker Services

sudo systemctl stop docker
sudo systemctl stop docker.socket

2. Remove Docker Packages

Uninstall Docker Engine and all related components:

sudo apt-get purge -y docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin

If you previously installed older versions:

sudo apt-get purge -y docker docker-engine docker.io containerd runc

3. Remove Manually Installed Docker Compose (if any)

If you installed docker-compose manually (e.g. via curl or pip), remove it like this:

sudo rm -f /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
sudo pip uninstall docker-compose

4. Delete Docker Data (Optional but Recommended)

This will remove all Docker images, containers, volumes, and custom configurations:

sudo rm -rf /var/lib/docker
sudo rm -rf /var/lib/containerd
sudo rm -rf ~/.docker

5. Remove Unused Dependencies

sudo apt-get autoremove -y

6. Verify Docker and Docker Compose Are Gone

which docker
which docker-compose
docker --version
docker-compose --version

All commands should return “command not found” or no path if Docker and Docker Compose are fully removed.

Done! You’ve successfully removed all Docker-related components from your system.

Let us know in the comments if you’d like help reinstalling or migrating to alternatives like Podman.

This post is also available in fr_FR.