Error: “error creating aufs mount to” when building dockerfile

Question

I get this error when I try to build a docker file

 error creating aufs mount to /var/lib/docker/aufs/mnt   
 /6c1b42ce1a98b1c0f2d2a7f17c196221445f1054566065         


        

Answer 1

I have removed /var/lib/docker/aufs/diff and got the same problem:

error creating aufs mount to /var/lib/docker/aufs/mnt/blah-blah-init: invalid argument

It solved by running the following commands:

docker stop $(docker ps -a -q);
docker rm $(docker ps -a -q);
docker rmi -f $(docker images -a -q)

Answer 2

A similar issue arose while I was using Docker in Windows:

ERROR: Service 'daemon' failed to build: error creating overlay mount
to /var/lib/docker/overlay2/83c98f716020954420e8b89e6074b1af6
1b2b86cd51ac6a54724ed263b3663a2-init/merged: no such file or directory

The problem occurred after having removed a volume from the image's Dockerfile, rebuilding the image and then rebooting the PC. Maybe this is a common cause?

I managed to solve the problem by clicking Docker -> Settings -> Reset -> Reset to factory defaults...

All my images were subsequently lost but that didn't matter for me. I also figured that removing the VM disk image (the path to which can be found under the Advanced tab in Settings) could solve the issue. I haven't tried this approach however.

Answer 3

I had some unresolved errors after removing /var/lib/docker/aufs, which a couple extra steps cleared up.

To add to @benwalther answer, since I lack the reputation to comment:

# Cleaning up through docker avoids these errors
#   ERROR: Service 'master' failed to build:
#     open /var/lib/docker/aufs/layers/<container_id>: no such file or directory
#   ERROR: Service 'master' failed to build: failed to register layer:
#     open /var/lib/docker/aufs/layers/<container_id>: no such file or directory
docker rm -f $(docker ps -a -q)
docker rmi -f $(docker images -a -q)

# As per @BenWalther's answer above
sudo service docker stop
sudo rm -rf /var/lib/docker/aufs

# Removing the linkgraph.db fixed this error:
#   Conflict. The name "/jenkins_data_1" is already in use by container <container_id>.
#   You have to remove (or rename) that container to be able to reuse that name.
sudo rm -f /var/lib/docker/linkgraph.db


sudo service docker start

Answer 4

Unfortunately on my system I could not resolve this with the above answers. The docker administration kept remembering a certain file in the aufs layer that it couldn't reach anymore. Other solutions didn't work either. So if this is an option for you, you could try the following fix: uninstall/purge docker and docker-engine:

apt-get purge docker docker-engine

Then make sure everything from /var/lib/docker is removed.

rm -rf /var/lib/docker

After that install docker again.

Answer 5

I just had a similar issue on Lubuntu (Ubuntu 4.15.0-20-generic) with Docker CE 18.03. None of the described options helped.

It appears that latest docker versions use the overlay2 storage driver. However some applications require aufs. Thus a possible fix might be to simply use this docker guide to change the storage driver to aufs (simply replace "overlay2" with "aufs") as in this guide.