How to fix Error response from daemon: Get https://registry-1.docker.io/v2/: unauthorized: incorrect username or password in Docker

Docker Hub requires your username for CLI authentication, not your email address. Your username is displayed in the top-right corner when logged into Docker Hub.

# Wrong - using email
docker login -u [email protected]

# Correct - using username (lowercase)
docker login -u myusername

Important: Docker Hub usernames are case-insensitive on the website but the CLI requires lowercase. If your username shows as "MyUsername" on the site, use "myusername" in the CLI.

To find your username:
1. Go to [hub.docker.com](https://hub.docker.com)
2. Sign in with your email
3. Your username appears in the top-right corner

If you have two-factor authentication (2FA) enabled, or if password login keeps failing, use a Personal Access Token (PAT) instead:

Create a Personal Access Token:
1. Log in to [hub.docker.com](https://hub.docker.com)
2. Click your username > Account Settings
3. Select Security from the left menu
4. Click New Access Token
5. Enter a description (e.g., "CLI access")
6. Select the appropriate permissions (Read/Write for push, Read for pull only)
7. Click Generate and copy the token

Use the token to log in:

# Using the token as your password
docker login -u myusername
# When prompted for password, paste your access token

# Or non-interactively (for CI/CD)
echo "YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN" | docker login -u myusername --password-stdin

Note: Access tokens are required when 2FA is enabled. Your regular password will not work.

Corrupted or stale credentials can cause authentication failures. Clear them completely:

# Log out from Docker Hub
docker logout

# Check where credentials are stored
cat ~/.docker/config.json

If you see a credsStore field, credentials are managed by a credential helper. Clear those as well:

On Linux (using pass or secretservice):

# Remove Docker credentials from the secret store
# For GNOME Keyring/secretservice
secret-tool clear server registry-1.docker.io

# Or rename the config to start fresh
mv ~/.docker/config.json ~/.docker/config.json.backup

On macOS:

# Remove from Keychain
security delete-generic-password -s "Docker Credentials"

On Windows:
- Open Credential Manager
- Find and remove Docker-related entries

Then log in again:

docker login -u myusername

Authentication tokens are time-sensitive. If your system clock is significantly wrong, authentication will fail.

# Check current system time
date

# Compare with actual time
# If off by more than a few minutes, sync it:

# On Linux (systemd)
sudo timedatectl set-ntp true
sudo systemctl restart systemd-timesyncd

# On macOS
sudo sntp -sS time.apple.com

# On Windows (PowerShell)
w32tm /resync

Docker Desktop on Windows/Mac should automatically sync time with the host, but VM clock drift can occur after sleep/hibernate.

Sometimes specifying the registry URL explicitly can help:

# Log in specifying Docker Hub explicitly
docker login docker.io

# Or with the full registry URL
docker login registry-1.docker.io

# For other registries, use their specific URLs
docker login ghcr.io          # GitHub Container Registry
docker login gcr.io           # Google Container Registry
docker login your-registry.azurecr.io  # Azure Container Registry

This ensures Docker is authenticating against the correct registry.

If your password contains special characters, they may be misinterpreted by the shell. Use the --password-stdin flag to avoid shell escaping issues:

# Safe way to pass passwords with special characters
echo 'my$pecial!Pa$$word' | docker login -u myusername --password-stdin

# Or use a file (make sure to delete it afterward)
cat password.txt | docker login -u myusername --password-stdin
rm password.txt

Alternatively, change your Docker Hub password to one without problematic characters like:
- $ (variable expansion)
- ! (history expansion)
- ' or " (quote characters)
- \ (escape character)

If you run Docker with sudo, credentials are stored in root's home directory. Be consistent:

# If you use sudo for Docker commands
sudo docker login -u myusername
sudo docker pull myimage

# Credentials stored in /root/.docker/config.json

# If you don't use sudo (user in docker group)
docker login -u myusername
docker pull myimage

# Credentials stored in ~/.docker/config.json

To avoid needing sudo:

# Add your user to the docker group
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

# Log out and back in, or run:
newgrp docker

# Now docker commands work without sudo
docker login -u myusername