Error response from daemon: Get "https://registry-1.docker.io/v2/": unauthorized: incorrect username or password

TL;DR: The credentials are wrong or stale. Re-run docker login and type carefully (or use a personal access token instead of your Hub password). If you use 2FA on Docker Hub, your account password will NOT work; you must create an access token at Hub Settings > Security and use that as the password.

The error

Error response from daemon: Get "https://registry-1.docker.io/v2/": unauthorized: incorrect username or password

Fix it

1. Log in fresh:

docker login Expected: prompts for username and password, then Login Succeeded.

1. On Docker Hub with 2FA: create a Personal Access Token (Hub > Account Settings > Security > New Access Token) and paste the token at the password prompt.
2. Verify:

docker pull [private-image] Expected: succeeds.

When this applies

• docker login rejected
• Authenticated pulls failing after a password change

When this does NOT apply

• Cloud registries (ECR/GCR/ACR use short-lived tokens; different flow)
• "authentication required" with no credential attempt (never logged in)

Versions

All Docker versions; Docker Hub behavior.

Why it happens

The registry validates the basic-auth pair on every token request. Wrong password, changed password, or Hub-side 2FA (which disables password auth for the CLI) all produce this exact message.

Edge cases

• Special characters in passwords can break non-interactive docker login -u user -p (shell interpolation); prefer interactive login or --password-stdin.
• Stale entries in ~/.docker/config.json or the credential helper override fresh logins; docker logout clears them.
• Rate-limited anonymous pulls show toomanyrequests, not unauthorized; do not confuse them.