Docker Desktop’s Compose Plugin Bug: A Quick Fix for Windows 11 Users (updated)

Update (November 20, 2024)

Docker Desktop 4.36 has just been released (notes here) and it ships with docker-compose version 2.30.3.

Original post follows.

Like many developers working on Windows 11, I rely on Docker Desktop with WSL2 integration for running containers, a setup that has proven both reliable and efficient. However, after upgrading to Docker Desktop 4.35.1, I encountered an unexpected issue: the “unexpected character ‘-‘ in variable name” error in the docker-compose plugin.

This bug, which first appeared in Docker Desktop 4.35.0, affects the bundled docker-compose plugin. It’s currently being tracked as issue #14395 for Docker Desktop on Windows. While the issue has already been resolved in the docker-compose source code with version 2.30.3, this fix isn’t yet available via Docker Desktop’s regular update channel. The complete resolution will ship with Docker Desktop 4.36.

For those who need an immediate solution, I’ll show you how to manually update just the docker-compose plugin without waiting for the next Docker Desktop release. The fix is is two parts: we have to both update docker-compose on Windows and on the default WSL2 distro we use, if any. In my case it is an Ubuntu 22.04.

Windows

1. In PowerShell, check the current Compose version with docker compose version
2. Run the commands below:

cd $env:USERPROFILE\.docker\cli-plugins
mv docker-compose.exe docker-compose.exe.old
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/v2.30.3/docker-compose-windows-x86_64.exe" -OutFile "docker-compose.exe"

1. Rename docker-compose.exe symlink to docker-compose.exe.old
2. Download the updated exe to put it in the folder as docker-compose.exe
3. Restart Docker Desktop by right clicking on the icon in the tray bar

Ubuntu 22.04 on WSL2

1. Check the current Compose version with docker compose version
2. Run the commands below:

mkdir -p ~/.docker/cli-plugins
cd -p ~/.docker/cli-plugins
wget -q https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/v2.30.3/docker-compose-linux-x86_64 -O docker-compose
chmod +x docker-compose

1. Run docker compose version again to check for Compose to be updated
2. Done. No need to relaunch Docker Desktop

Final considerations

Before upgrading to Docker Desktop 4.36 revert the changes by deleting the downloaded files on WSL2 and Windows and renaming docker-compose.exe.old back to docker-compose.exe on Windows. Also, the procedure may be used to upgrade or install other Docker plugins.

I hope it helps. Thanks for reading.