Bind for 0.0.0.0:8080 failed: port is already allocated — how to fix

docker: Error response from daemon: driver failed programming external connectivity on endpoint web: Bind for 0.0.0.0:8080 failed: port is already allocated.

Quick fix: Find what uses the port with docker ps --filter publish=8080 (or sudo lsof -i :8080), stop it, or run your container on another host port: -p 8081:8080.

What it means

-p 8080:80 asks Docker to listen on host port 8080. Something already listens there, so Docker can't.

Find what's using the port

Another container (including stopped-but-restarting ones):

docker ps -a --filter "publish=8080"

Any process on the host:

sudo lsof -i :8080
# or
sudo ss -ltnp | grep :8080

Fix 1: stop the other container

docker stop <container>
docker rm <container>      # if you don't need it

With Compose, an old project might still be running: docker compose ls, then docker compose -p <name> down.

Fix 2: use a different host port

The left number is the host port, the right one the container port:

docker run -p 8081:80 nginx

In compose.yaml:

ports:
  - "8081:80"

Fix 3: port held by a ghost

If nothing shows up but the error stays, the Docker proxy may be stuck. Restart Docker:

sudo systemctl restart docker

On Windows, ports can be reserved by Hyper-V/WinNAT. Check with netsh interface ipv4 show excludedportrange protocol=tcp and pick a port outside those ranges.

Last updated 2026-10-27.