How to fix denied: requested access to the resource is denied in Docker

The most common fix is to tag your image with your Docker Hub username as the namespace. Docker Hub requires images to follow the format username/image:tag.

# Check your current image name
docker images

# Tag the image with your username
docker tag myimage:latest YOUR_DOCKERHUB_USERNAME/myimage:latest

# Now push the correctly tagged image
docker push YOUR_DOCKERHUB_USERNAME/myimage:latest

Replace YOUR_DOCKERHUB_USERNAME with your actual Docker Hub username. You can find your username by logging into hub.docker.com.

Ensure you are authenticated with Docker Hub before pushing:

# Log in to Docker Hub
docker login

# Enter your username and password when prompted
# Or use stdin for CI/CD environments
echo "$DOCKER_PASSWORD" | docker login -u "$DOCKER_USERNAME" --password-stdin

After logging in, you should see "Login Succeeded". Your credentials are stored in ~/.docker/config.json.

If you were already logged in but still get the error, your credentials may be stale or corrupted. Force a fresh login:

# Log out first
docker logout

# Log back in
docker login

This clears any cached credentials and forces Docker to re-authenticate with the registry.

Docker Hub requires email verification before you can push images. If you have not confirmed your email:

1. Go to [hub.docker.com](https://hub.docker.com) and log in
2. Check your account settings for email verification status
3. If unverified, request a new verification email
4. Click the verification link in the email
5. Try pushing again after verification

To avoid retagging, build your image with the correct name from the beginning:

# Build with your username in the tag
docker build -t YOUR_DOCKERHUB_USERNAME/myimage:latest .

# Push directly
docker push YOUR_DOCKERHUB_USERNAME/myimage:latest

For CI/CD pipelines, use environment variables:

docker build -t $DOCKER_USERNAME/myimage:$TAG .
docker push $DOCKER_USERNAME/myimage:$TAG

If the above steps do not work, try a complete credential reset:

# Log out from all registries
docker logout

# Backup and remove the Docker config file
mv ~/.docker/config.json ~/.docker/config.json.backup

# Restart Docker daemon (Linux)
sudo systemctl restart docker

# Or restart Docker Desktop (macOS/Windows)
# Use the Docker Desktop menu to restart

# Log in fresh
docker login

This clears all stored credentials and forces a complete re-authentication.