Visual Studio Code - Open in container: this error may indicate that the docker daemon is not running: open //./pipe/docker_engine: access is denied

Question

While attempting to open a project in container in Visual Studio Code, using Rancher Desktop on a Windows 10 machine, I got the following error:

"error during connect: this error may indicate that the docker daemon is not running: Get "http://%2F%2F.%2Fpipe%2Fdocker_engine/v1.24/version": open //./pipe/docker_engine: Access is denied."

Althought this looks quite similar to error during connect: This error may indicate that the docker daemon is not running, the error (access is denied) is different (None of the answers to that post solved the problem for me).

Note, also, that CLI docker commands (such as docker --version, docker ps -a, ...) run correctly.

How to solve the problem?

Answer 1

The problem was actually known and a solution was reported here:

https://docs.rancherdesktop.io/troubleshooting-tips/#q-how-can-i-fix-the-docker-error-when-starting-a-container-using-the-vs-code-dev-containers-extension-with-version-v0266

Changing the "Dev > Containers: Mount Wayland Socket (Applies to All Profiles)." setting solved the problem for me.