Read this tutorial which will help you to understand how to get bash or ssh into a running container in background mode. This tutorial is written by well known experienced DevOps trainer - Rajesh and published on scmGalaxy. Step 1: First of all, try to find your active container by running # docker ps or # docker ps -a Step 2: If the container is not running, # docker start your_id Step 3: If we use attach we can use only one instance of shell. # sudo docker attach 665b4a1e17b6 #by ID Read complete tutorial click here Reference:- This tutorial was originally posted on scmGalaxy.com