Not able to start docker on CPU pods

I used to be able to run docker on CPU pods last year without needing to do anything else than just installing docker, but now I am not able to start docker after installing it.

I get this error:

Cannot connect to the Docker daemon at unix:///var/run/docker.sock. Is the docker daemon running?

Cannot connect to the Docker daemon at unix:///var/run/docker.sock. Is the docker daemon running?

So, naturally I try

sudo systemctl start docker

sudo systemctl start docker

but then I get this error:

System has not been booted with systemd as init system (PID 1). Can't operate.
Failed to connect to bus: Host is down

System has not been booted with systemd as init system (PID 1). Can't operate.
Failed to connect to bus: Host is down

Ok, even this doesn't work than I try to run the docker daemon in attached mode by this

sudo dockerd

sudo dockerd

and I get this error at the end and it exits:

INFO[2025-10-18T12:23:16.396620627Z] stopping healthcheck following graceful shutdown  module=libcontainerd
failed to start daemon: Error initializing network controller: error obtaining controller instance: failed to register "bridge" driver: failed to create NAT chain DOCKER: iptables failed: iptables --wait -t nat -N DOCKER: iptables v1.8.7 (nf_tables): Could not fetch rule set generation id: Permission denied (you must be root)

 (exit status 4)

INFO[2025-10-18T12:23:16.396620627Z] stopping healthcheck following graceful shutdown  module=libcontainerd
failed to start daemon: Error initializing network controller: error obtaining controller instance: failed to register "bridge" driver: failed to create NAT chain DOCKER: iptables failed: iptables --wait -t nat -N DOCKER: iptables v1.8.7 (nf_tables): Could not fetch rule set generation id: Permission denied (you must be root)

 (exit status 4)

How do i make it work?
This is on compute type cpu5g with 2vcpu and 8GB RAM

message.txt10.45KB

Runpod•4mo ago•

16 replies

YoYo

Not able to start docker on CPU pods

I used to be able to run docker on CPU pods last year without needing to do anything else than just installing docker, but now I am not able to start docker after installing it.

I get this error:

Cannot connect to the Docker daemon at unix:///var/run/docker.sock. Is the docker daemon running?

Cannot connect to the Docker daemon at unix:///var/run/docker.sock. Is the docker daemon running?

So, naturally I try

sudo systemctl start docker

sudo systemctl start docker

but then I get this error:

System has not been booted with systemd as init system (PID 1). Can't operate.
Failed to connect to bus: Host is down

System has not been booted with systemd as init system (PID 1). Can't operate.
Failed to connect to bus: Host is down

Ok, even this doesn't work than I try to run the docker daemon in attached mode by this

sudo dockerd

sudo dockerd

and I get this error at the end and it exits:

INFO[2025-10-18T12:23:16.396620627Z] stopping healthcheck following graceful shutdown  module=libcontainerd
failed to start daemon: Error initializing network controller: error obtaining controller instance: failed to register "bridge" driver: failed to create NAT chain DOCKER: iptables failed: iptables --wait -t nat -N DOCKER: iptables v1.8.7 (nf_tables): Could not fetch rule set generation id: Permission denied (you must be root)

 (exit status 4)

INFO[2025-10-18T12:23:16.396620627Z] stopping healthcheck following graceful shutdown  module=libcontainerd
failed to start daemon: Error initializing network controller: error obtaining controller instance: failed to register "bridge" driver: failed to create NAT chain DOCKER: iptables failed: iptables --wait -t nat -N DOCKER: iptables v1.8.7 (nf_tables): Could not fetch rule set generation id: Permission denied (you must be root)

 (exit status 4)

How do i make it work?
This is on compute type cpu5g with 2vcpu and 8GB RAM

message.txt10.45KB

Not able to start docker on CPU pods

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