Unable to run docker desktop in virtual display

[joy.bhuiya]

I set up a virtual display for NoMachine (Ubuntu) to access the PC remotely. The virtual display works fine. However, the main issue is that Docker Desktop doesn’t run in the virtual display, no matter what I try to fix it. It runs perfectly on the physical display. It seems there are some graphical restrictions in the virtual session. Is there any solution to this issue?

– NoMachine 8.16.1_1 (free version)
– Virtual display
– Server machine – Ubuntu 24.04 (GNOME Shell 46.0)
– Accessed from –  Windows 10 Home

[Britgirl]

Hi, no there aren’t any graphical restrictions.

Can you submit a screenshot of what you actually see?

[joy.bhuiya]

From the attachments we can find the images.

The first image is the view from the physical display, where Docker Desktop started automatically and its icon appeared in both the top bar and the dock.

In contrast, the second image is the view from the virtual display. Even though I started Docker Desktop manually via the CLI — and the terminal confirms it is running — the application doesn’t actually launch. Clicking the icon in the dock has no effect, and I also noticed that the Docker Desktop icon is missing from the top bar.

Attachments:

1. 

   image.png
   

2. 

   image-1.png
   

[Britgirl]

That behaviour is directly related to the Docker Desktop application. It was created to work on physical desktop. When you create a virtual desktop and start Docker Desktop it will start on the physical desktop. The same behavior appears on vnc and rdp sessions as far as we are aware.

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