Error while fetching server API version: (2, 'CreateFile', 'The system cannot find the file specified.') [1544] Failed to execute script docker-compose

Context and Solution:

In Windows 11, thrown when docker-compose commands like up and down were executed. Reason was Docker Desktop didn't start or failed to start/stop. Once Docker Desktop started running, docker-compose commands worked fine!

Error:

Traceback (most recent call last):

  File "docker\api\client.py", line 214, in _retrieve_server_version

  File "docker\api\daemon.py", line 181, in version

  File "docker\utils\decorators.py", line 46, in inner

  File "docker\api\client.py", line 237, in _get

  File "requests\sessions.py", line 543, in get

  File "requests\sessions.py", line 530, in request

  File "requests\sessions.py", line 643, in send

  File "requests\adapters.py", line 439, in send

  File "urllib3\connectionpool.py", line 670, in urlopen

  File "urllib3\connectionpool.py", line 392, in _make_request

  File "http\client.py", line 1255, in request

  File "http\client.py", line 1301, in _send_request

  File "http\client.py", line 1250, in endheaders

  File "http\client.py", line 1010, in _send_output

  File "http\client.py", line 950, in send

  File "docker\transport\npipeconn.py", line 32, in connect

  File "docker\transport\npipesocket.py", line 23, in wrapped

  File "docker\transport\npipesocket.py", line 72, in connect

  File "docker\transport\npipesocket.py", line 52, in connect

pywintypes.error: (2, 'CreateFile', 'The system cannot find the file specified.')

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):

  File "docker-compose", line 3, in <module>

  File "compose\cli\main.py", line 81, in main

  File "compose\cli\main.py", line 200, in perform_command

  File "compose\cli\command.py", line 60, in project_from_options

  File "compose\cli\command.py", line 152, in get_project

  File "compose\cli\docker_client.py", line 41, in get_client

  File "compose\cli\docker_client.py", line 170, in docker_client

  File "docker\api\client.py", line 197, in __init__

  File "docker\api\client.py", line 221, in _retrieve_server_version

docker.errors.DockerException: Error while fetching server API version: (2, 'CreateFile', 'The system cannot find the file specified.')

[6016] Failed to execute script docker-compose

WARNING: The VERCEL_TOKEN variable is not set. Defaulting to a blank string.

WARNING: The PUBLIC_HOST_ID variable is not set. Defaulting to a blank string.

Traceback (most recent call last):

  File "docker\api\client.py", line 214, in _retrieve_server_version

  File "docker\api\daemon.py", line 181, in version

  File "docker\utils\decorators.py", line 46, in inner

  File "docker\api\client.py", line 237, in _get

  File "requests\sessions.py", line 543, in get

  File "requests\sessions.py", line 530, in request

  File "requests\sessions.py", line 643, in send

  File "requests\adapters.py", line 439, in send

  File "urllib3\connectionpool.py", line 670, in urlopen

  File "urllib3\connectionpool.py", line 392, in _make_request

  File "http\client.py", line 1255, in request

  File "http\client.py", line 1301, in _send_request

  File "http\client.py", line 1250, in endheaders

  File "http\client.py", line 1010, in _send_output

  File "http\client.py", line 950, in send

  File "docker\transport\npipeconn.py", line 32, in connect

  File "docker\transport\npipesocket.py", line 23, in wrapped

  File "docker\transport\npipesocket.py", line 72, in connect

  File "docker\transport\npipesocket.py", line 52, in connect

pywintypes.error: (2, 'CreateFile', 'The system cannot find the file specified.')

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):

  File "docker-compose", line 3, in <module>

  File "compose\cli\main.py", line 81, in main

  File "compose\cli\main.py", line 200, in perform_command

  File "compose\cli\command.py", line 60, in project_from_options

  File "compose\cli\command.py", line 152, in get_project

  File "compose\cli\docker_client.py", line 41, in get_client

  File "compose\cli\docker_client.py", line 170, in docker_client

  File "docker\api\client.py", line 197, in __init__

  File "docker\api\client.py", line 221, in _retrieve_server_version

docker.errors.DockerException: Error while fetching server API version: (2, 'CreateFile', 'The system cannot find the file specified.')

[1544] Failed to execute script docker-compose