Docker puts wrong IP in hosts file

[FritsvanCampen]

Description

This has been an issue for years but a recent change broke the workaround.

The issue is that docker puts the wrong IP address in the hosts file every time it starts. The correct IP address is 127.0.0.1 but instead docker puts 192.168.178.x or whatever your local IP address is.

The workaround is to make your hosts-file read only so docker can't overwrite it. For a while that was fine, then Docker began to complain that it can't start Hyper-V because it can't edit the hosts file. Manually clicking 'Restart' would still start the Hyper-V. That doesn't work anymore in the the most recent version of Docker. Hyper-V will not start unless it has write-access to the hosts file, and then it butchers the file and you have to manually fix it every time :sadface:

Reproduce

1. Start docker
2. Docker edits the hosts file
3. Nothing works
4. Manually edit the hosts file
5. Everything works

Expected behavior

Docker leaves lines

127.0.0.1 host.docker.internal
127.0.0.1 gateway.docker.internal

in your hosts file intact.

docker version

Client:
 Version:           27.5.1
 API version:       1.47
 Go version:        go1.22.11
 Git commit:        9f9e405
 Built:             Wed Jan 22 13:41:44 2025
 OS/Arch:           windows/amd64
 Context:           desktop-linux

Server: Docker Desktop 4.38.0 (181591)
 Engine:
  Version:          27.5.1
  API version:      1.47 (minimum version 1.24)
  Go version:       go1.22.11
  Git commit:       4c9b3b0
  Built:            Wed Jan 22 13:41:17 2025
  OS/Arch:          linux/amd64
  Experimental:     false
 containerd:
  Version:          1.7.25
  GitCommit:        bcc810d6b9066471b0b6fa75f557a15a1cbf31bb
 runc:
  Version:          1.1.12
  GitCommit:        v1.1.12-0-g51d5e946
 docker-init:
  Version:          0.19.0
  GitCommit:        de40ad0

docker info

Client:
 Version:    27.5.1
 Context:    desktop-linux
 Debug Mode: false
 Plugins:
  ai: Ask Gordon - Docker Agent (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.7.3
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-ai.exe
  buildx: Docker Buildx (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.20.1-desktop.2
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-buildx.exe
  compose: Docker Compose (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v2.32.4-desktop.1
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-compose.exe
  debug: Get a shell into any image or container (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  0.0.38
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-debug.exe
  desktop: Docker Desktop commands (Beta) (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.1.4
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-desktop.exe
  dev: Docker Dev Environments (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.1.2
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-dev.exe
  extension: Manages Docker extensions (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v0.2.27
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-extension.exe
  feedback: Provide feedback, right in your terminal! (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v1.0.5
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-feedback.exe
  init: Creates Docker-related starter files for your project (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v1.4.0
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-init.exe
  sbom: View the packaged-based Software Bill Of Materials (SBOM) for an image (Anchore Inc.)
    Version:  0.6.0
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-sbom.exe
  scout: Docker Scout (Docker Inc.)
    Version:  v1.16.1
    Path:     C:\Program Files\Docker\cli-plugins\docker-scout.exe

Server:
 Containers: 9
  Running: 9
  Paused: 0
  Stopped: 0
 Images: 73
 Server Version: 27.5.1
 Storage Driver: overlay2
  Backing Filesystem: extfs
  Supports d_type: true
  Using metacopy: false
  Native Overlay Diff: true
  userxattr: false
 Logging Driver: json-file
 Cgroup Driver: cgroupfs
 Cgroup Version: 2
 Plugins:
  Volume: local
  Network: bridge host ipvlan macvlan null overlay
  Log: awslogs fluentd gcplogs gelf journald json-file local splunk syslog
 CDI spec directories:
  /etc/cdi
  /var/run/cdi
 Swarm: inactive
 Runtimes: io.containerd.runc.v2 runc
 Default Runtime: runc
 Init Binary: docker-init
 containerd version: bcc810d6b9066471b0b6fa75f557a15a1cbf31bb
 runc version: v1.1.12-0-g51d5e946
 init version: de40ad0
 Security Options:
  seccomp
   Profile: unconfined
  cgroupns
 Kernel Version: 6.12.5-linuxkit
 Operating System: Docker Desktop
 OSType: linux
 Architecture: x86_64
 CPUs: 16
 Total Memory: 3.819GiB
 Name: docker-desktop
 ID: 33a73fe4-1d35-43da-8d98-aebb95062d26
 Docker Root Dir: /var/lib/docker
 Debug Mode: false
 HTTP Proxy: http.docker.internal:3128
 HTTPS Proxy: http.docker.internal:3128
 No Proxy: hubproxy.docker.internal
 Labels:
  com.docker.desktop.address=npipe://\\.\pipe\docker_cli
 Experimental: false
 Insecure Registries:
  hubproxy.docker.internal:5555
  127.0.0.0/8
 Live Restore Enabled: false

WARNING: daemon is not using the default seccomp profile

Diagnostics ID

?

Additional Info

No response