Skip to content

Document FSCTL_EXTEND_VOLUME read-only issue #22902

New issue

Have a question about this project? Sign up for a free GitHub account to open an issue and contact its maintainers and the community.

Sign up for GitHub

By clicking “Sign up for GitHub”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy statement. We’ll occasionally send you account related emails.

Already on GitHub? Sign in to your account

Merged
merged 3 commits into from
Jun 24, 2025
Merged

Document FSCTL_EXTEND_VOLUME read-only issue #22902

Changes from all commits
Commits
Show all changes
3 commits
Select commit Hold shift + click to select a range
6d5ca2b
Document FSCTL_EXTEND_VOLUME read-only issue
aheck Jun 24, 2025
ec94be7
Apply suggestions from code review
aevesdocker Jun 24, 2025
841a135
move location of content
aevesdocker Jun 24, 2025
File filter

Filter by extension

Filter by extension
Conversations
Failed to load comments.
Loading
Jump to
Jump to file
Failed to load files.
Loading
Diff view
Diff view
32 changes: 32 additions & 0 deletions content/manuals/desktop/troubleshoot-and-support/troubleshoot/topics.md
View file
Open in desktop
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -462,6 +462,38 @@

Try [enabling nested virtualization](/manuals/desktop/setup/vm-vdi.md#turn-on-nested-virtualization).

### Docker Desktop with Windows Containers fails with "The media is write protected""

Check warning on line 465 in content/manuals/desktop/troubleshoot-and-support/troubleshoot/topics.md

View workflow job for this annotation

GitHub Actions / vale 

[vale] reported by reviewdog 🐶
[Docker.HeadingLength] Try to keep headings short (< 8 words).

Raw Output:
{"message": "[Docker.HeadingLength] Try to keep headings short (\u003c 8 words).", "location": {"path": "content/manuals/desktop/troubleshoot-and-support/troubleshoot/topics.md", "range": {"start": {"line": 465, "column": 5}}}, "severity": "INFO"}

#### Error message

`FSCTL_EXTEND_VOLUME \\?\Volume{GUID}: The media is write protected`

#### Cause

If you're encountering failures when running Docker Desktop with Windows Containers, it might be due to
a specific Windows configuration policy: FDVDenyWriteAccess.

This policy, when enabled, causes Windows to mount all fixed drives not encrypted by BitLocker-encrypted as read-only.
This also affects virtual machine volumes and as a result, Docker Desktop may not be able to start or run containers
correctly because it requires read-write access to these volumes.

FDVDenyWriteAccess is a Windows Group Policy setting that, when enabled, prevents write access to fixed data drives that are not protected
by BitLocker. This is often used in security-conscious environments but can interfere with development tools like Docker.
In the Windows registry it can be found at `HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Policies\Microsoft\FVE\FDVDenyWriteAccess`.

#### Solutions

Docker Desktop does not support running Windows Containers on systems where FDVDenyWriteAccess is enabled. This setting interferes with the
ability of Docker to mount volumes correctly, which is critical for container functionality.

To use Docker Desktop with Windows Containers, ensure that FDVDenyWriteAccess is disabled. You can check and change this setting in the registry or through Group Policy Editor (`gpedit.msc`) under:

**Computer Configuration** > **Administrative Templates** > **Windows Components** > **BitLocker Drive Encryption** > **Fixed Data Drives** > **Deny write access to fixed drives not protected by BitLocker**

> [!NOTE]
>
> Modifying Group Policy settings may require administrator privileges and should comply with your organization's IT policies. If the setting gets reset after some time this usually means that it was overriden by the centralized configuration of your IT department. Talk to them before making any changes.

Check failure on line 495 in content/manuals/desktop/troubleshoot-and-support/troubleshoot/topics.md

View workflow job for this annotation

GitHub Actions / vale 

[vale] reported by reviewdog 🐶
[Vale.Spelling] Did you really mean 'overriden'?

Raw Output:
{"message": "[Vale.Spelling] Did you really mean 'overriden'?", "location": {"path": "content/manuals/desktop/troubleshoot-and-support/troubleshoot/topics.md", "range": {"start": {"line": 495, "column": 201}}}, "severity": "ERROR"}

### `Docker Desktop Access Denied` error message when starting Docker Desktop

#### Error message
Expand Down