Ports are not available: exposing port TCP the all-interfaces address:8080: bind: address already in use

TL;DR: The host port is taken. Identify the holder with docker ps and ss -tlnp, then either stop it or publish a different host port. This message is the newer daemon wording for the classic port conflict; the fix is identical to the older 'port is already allocated' error.

The error

Ports are not available: exposing port TCP the all-interfaces address:8080 -> the all-interfaces address:0: listen tcp4 the all-interfaces address:8080: bind: address already in use

Fix it

1. Check running containers first:

docker ps --filter "publish=8080" Expected: the conflicting container, if any.

1. Then host processes:

sudo ss -tlnp | grep ':8080' Expected: process and PID.

1. Resolve by stopping the holder or remapping:

docker run -p 8081:8080 [image] Expected: starts cleanly.

When this applies

• docker run -p failing with "Ports are not available"
• Docker Desktop and Engine 24+ which use this wording

When this does NOT apply

• Container app failing to bind its OWN port (that is inside the container; check the app config)
• "port is already allocated" (older wording, same fix)

Versions

Docker Engine 23+, Docker Desktop 4.20+.

Why it happens

The daemon pre-validates port availability before creating the container's network endpoint. Anything in the host network namespace already bound to that port, including a previous instance of the same container, trips the check.

Edge cases

• Docker Desktop on Mac/Windows: the "host" here is the Linux VM; a process inside the VM (rare) or the port-forwarding layer can be the holder.
• Ephemeral port exhaustion on busy hosts can produce this for high port numbers; check cat /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_local_port_range.
• Restart policies can recreate the conflict automatically; docker update --restart=no the old container before remapping.