error: failed to initialize display on rootless official Docker

error: failed to initialize display on rootless official Docker - Printable Version

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error: failed to initialize display on rootless official Docker - doubledown - 2026-04-08

Hello All!

I've been struggling to configure Jellyfin to run on rootless docker with transcoding. My main issue is that I get the following error when I'm doing the official Configure With Linux Virtualization installation guide's validation step:

Code:
$ docker exec -it jellyfin /usr/lib/jellyfin-ffmpeg/vainfo

Trying display: drm

error: failed to initialize display

I'm running a fresh install of Debian, with rootless docker setup, using docker compose, docker having its own dedicated user called 'dockeruser'. I'm pasting every detail I can below.

Code:
$ cat /etc/os-release 

PRETTY_NAME="Debian GNU/Linux 13 (trixie)"

NAME="Debian GNU/Linux"

VERSION_ID="13"

VERSION="13 (trixie)"

VERSION_CODENAME=trixie

DEBIAN_VERSION_FULL=13.4

ID=debian

HOME_URL="https://www.debian.org/"

SUPPORT_URL="https://www.debian.org/support"

BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.debian.org/"

user/group in container:

Code:
$ docker exec -it jellyfin ls -l /dev/dri

total 0

crw-rw---- 1 nobody nogroup 226,  0 Apr  7 21:24 card0

crw-rw---- 1 nobody nogroup 226, 128 Apr  7 21:24 renderD128

Code:
$ uname -a

Linux asgard 6.12.74+deb13+1-amd64 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Debian 6.12.74-2 (2026-03-08) x86_64 GNU/Linux

user/group on host:

Code:
$ ls -l /dev/dri

total 0

drwxr-xr-x 2 root root        80 Apr  7 23:24 by-path

crw-rw---- 1 root video  226,  0 Apr  7 23:24 card0

crw-rw---- 1 root render 226, 128 Apr  7 23:24 renderD128

My docker-compose.yml:

Code:
services:

  jellyfin:

    image: jellyfin/jellyfin:10.11.8

    container_name: jellyfin

    hostname: jellyfin

    group_add:

      - "992" # 'render' group for GPU acceleration

      - "44" # 'video' group for GPU acceleration

      - "996" # 'input' group for GPU acceleration

    networks:

      - media_net

      - infra_net

    ports:

      - 8096:8096  # http traffic

      - 8920:8920  # https traffic

      - 1900:1900  # service auto-discovery

      - 7359:7359  # service auto-discovery

    devices:

      - /dev/dri/card0:/dev/dri/card0

      - /dev/dri/renderD128:/dev/dri/renderD128

    volumes:

      - jellyfin-config:/config

      - /mnt/disk1/jellyfin-cache:/cache

      - /mnt/md0/media:/media:ro

    restart: 'unless-stopped'

dockeruser on host (docker's own dedicated user):

Code:
$ id

uid=1001(dockeruser) gid=1001(dockeruser) groups=1001(dockeruser),44(video),992(render)

$ groups

dockeruser video render

/etc/group on host

Code:
render:x:992:dockeruser

video:x:44:dockeruser

dockeruser:x:1001:

user/group on container:

Code:
$ docker exec -it jellyfin id

uid=1001 gid=65534(nogroup) groups=65534(nogroup),44(video),992,996

$ docker exec -it jellyfin groups

nogroup video groups: cannot find name for group ID 992

992 groups: cannot find name for group ID 996

996

on host

Code:
$ echo $DOCKER_HOST

unix:///run/user/1001/docker.sock

I have tried many things:

I've added group_add to compose file to pass in the group for render and video
I've tried to do 'user: 1001:1001' in compose file, no success
tried to do 'user: 1001:992' and 'user: 1001:44', no success
if I chmod 0666 card0 and renderD128, the vainfo works in the container but that's a bad practice

I've read on other places that it seems like people can run it in a rootless fashion.

I'm out of options at this point. What am I doing wrong?

Edit: Forgot to mention that I have an Intel CPU with iGPU.

Code:
$ cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep "model name" | head -1

model name : 12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-12400