diff --git a/app/Actions/Server/ValidateServer.php b/app/Actions/Server/ValidateServer.php
index 7c973130c4..f4855b9ffa 100644
--- a/app/Actions/Server/ValidateServer.php
+++ b/app/Actions/Server/ValidateServer.php
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ class ValidateServer
         if ($this->docker_version) {
             return 'OK';
         } else {
-            $this->error = 'Docker Engine is not installed. Please install Docker manually before continuing: <a target="_blank" class="text-black underline dark:text-white" href="https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/#server">documentation</a>.';
+            $this->error = $server->dockerEngineVersionError();
             $server->update([
                 'validation_logs' => $this->error,
             ]);
diff --git a/app/Jobs/ValidateAndInstallServerJob.php b/app/Jobs/ValidateAndInstallServerJob.php
index 987b53e7f6..7ebfbbc142 100644
--- a/app/Jobs/ValidateAndInstallServerJob.php
+++ b/app/Jobs/ValidateAndInstallServerJob.php
@@ -160,14 +160,14 @@ class ValidateAndInstallServerJob implements ShouldBeEncrypted, ShouldQueue
             // Validate Docker version
             $dockerVersion = $this->server->validateDockerEngineVersion();
             if (! $dockerVersion) {
-                $requiredDockerVersion = str(config('constants.docker.minimum_required_version'))->before('.');
-                $errorMessage = 'Minimum Docker Engine version '.$requiredDockerVersion.' is not installed. Please install Docker manually before continuing: <a target="_blank" class="underline" href="https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/#server">documentation</a>.';
+                $errorMessage = $this->server->dockerEngineVersionError();
                 $this->server->update([
                     'validation_logs' => $errorMessage,
                     'is_validating' => false,
                 ]);
                 Log::error('ValidateAndInstallServer: Docker version not sufficient', [
                     'server_id' => $this->server->id,
+                    'docker_version' => $this->server->dockerVersion(),
                 ]);
 
                 return;
diff --git a/app/Livewire/Server/ValidateAndInstall.php b/app/Livewire/Server/ValidateAndInstall.php
index 27a7c580e1..c7ce754732 100644
--- a/app/Livewire/Server/ValidateAndInstall.php
+++ b/app/Livewire/Server/ValidateAndInstall.php
@@ -320,8 +320,7 @@ class ValidateAndInstall extends Component
                 instant_remote_process(ensureProxyNetworksExist($this->server)->toArray(), $this->server, false);
                 StartProxy::dispatch($this->server);
             } else {
-                $requiredDockerVersion = str(config('constants.docker.minimum_required_version'))->before('.');
-                $this->error = 'Minimum Docker Engine version '.$requiredDockerVersion.' is not installed. Please install Docker manually before continuing: <a target="_blank" class="underline" href="https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/#server">documentation</a>.';
+                $this->error = $this->server->dockerEngineVersionError();
                 $this->server->update([
                     'validation_logs' => $this->error,
                 ]);
diff --git a/app/Models/Server.php b/app/Models/Server.php
index e8d3e7c12a..e1eac85d6a 100644
--- a/app/Models/Server.php
+++ b/app/Models/Server.php
@@ -2567,13 +2567,11 @@ $siteAddress {
     public function validateDockerEngineVersion()
     {
         $dockerVersionRaw = instant_remote_process(['docker version --format json'], $this, false);
-        $dockerVersionJson = json_decode($dockerVersionRaw, true);
-        $dockerVersion = data_get($dockerVersionJson, 'Server.Version', '0.0.0');
-        $this->rememberDockerVersion(is_string($dockerVersion) ? $dockerVersion : null);
+        $dockerVersion = dockerEngineVersionFromJson($dockerVersionRaw);
+        $this->rememberDockerVersion($dockerVersion);
         $composeVersionRaw = instant_remote_process(['docker compose version --short'], $this, false);
         $this->rememberComposeVersion(is_string($composeVersionRaw) ? $composeVersionRaw : null);
-        $dockerVersion = checkMinimumDockerEngineVersion($dockerVersion);
-        if (is_null($dockerVersion)) {
+        if (is_null(checkMinimumDockerEngineVersion($dockerVersion))) {
             $this->settings->is_usable = false;
             $this->settings->save();
 
@@ -2587,6 +2585,25 @@ $siteAddress {
         return true;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Explains why validateDockerEngineVersion() failed: the version could not be read, or it is too old.
+     */
+    public function dockerEngineVersionError(): string
+    {
+        $requiredVersion = str(config('constants.docker.minimum_required_version'))->before('.');
+        $documentation = '<a target="_blank" class="underline" href="https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/#server">documentation</a>';
+        $dockerVersion = $this->dockerVersion();
+
+        if (is_null($dockerVersion)) {
+            $command = $this->isNonRoot() ? 'sudo docker version --format json' : 'docker version --format json';
+            $user = e($this->user);
+
+            return "Coolify could not read the Docker Engine version. Run \"{$command}\" on the server as the {$user} user. It must exit without an error and print only JSON. Text from shell startup files (for example ~/.bashrc) breaks the output.";
+        }
+
+        return "Docker Engine {$dockerVersion} is installed, but Coolify needs version {$requiredVersion} or newer. Please upgrade Docker: {$documentation}.";
+    }
+
     public function validateCoolifyNetwork($isSwarm = false, $isBuildServer = false)
     {
         if ($isBuildServer) {
diff --git a/tests/Feature/ServerDockerVersionValidationTest.php b/tests/Feature/ServerDockerVersionValidationTest.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f41992431c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/Feature/ServerDockerVersionValidationTest.php
@@ -0,0 +1,87 @@
+<?php
+
+use App\Events\ServerReachabilityChanged;
+use App\Livewire\Server\ValidateAndInstall;
+use App\Models\InstanceSettings;
+use App\Models\PrivateKey;
+use App\Models\Server;
+use App\Models\Team;
+use App\Models\User;
+use Illuminate\Foundation\Testing\RefreshDatabase;
+use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Event;
+use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Process;
+use Livewire\Livewire;
+
+uses(RefreshDatabase::class);
+
+beforeEach(function () {
+    InstanceSettings::forceCreate(['id' => 0]);
+    Event::fake([ServerReachabilityChanged::class]);
+
+    $user = User::factory()->create();
+    $this->team = Team::factory()->create();
+    $user->teams()->attach($this->team, ['role' => 'owner']);
+    $this->actingAs($user);
+    session(['currentTeam' => $this->team]);
+
+    $this->server = Server::factory()->create([
+        'team_id' => $this->team->id,
+        'user' => 'root',
+        'private_key_id' => PrivateKey::factory()->create(['team_id' => $this->team->id])->id,
+    ]);
+});
+
+function fakeDockerVersionOutput(string $output, int $exitCode = 0): void
+{
+    Process::fake([
+        '*compose*' => Process::result(output: 'v2.40.3', exitCode: 0),
+        '*' => Process::result(output: $output, exitCode: $exitCode),
+    ]);
+}
+
+function validateDockerVersionError(Server $server): ?string
+{
+    $component = Livewire::test(ValidateAndInstall::class, ['server' => $server])->instance();
+    $component->uptime = '1 day';
+    $component->validateDockerVersion();
+
+    return $component->error;
+}
+
+it('accepts Docker Engine 29', function () {
+    fakeDockerVersionOutput('{"Client":{"Version":"29.6.2"},"Server":{"Version":"29.6.2"}}');
+
+    expect($this->server->validateDockerEngineVersion())->toBeTrue()
+        ->and($this->server->fresh()->dockerVersion())->toBe('29.6.2');
+});
+
+it('reports an unreadable docker version instead of a too old one', function (string $output, int $exitCode) {
+    fakeDockerVersionOutput($output, $exitCode);
+
+    $error = validateDockerVersionError($this->server);
+
+    expect($error)->toContain('could not read the Docker Engine version')
+        ->toContain('Run "docker version --format json" on the server as the root user')
+        ->not->toContain('Minimum Docker Engine version')
+        ->and($this->server->fresh()->dockerVersion())->toBeNull()
+        ->and($this->server->fresh()->validation_logs)->toBe($error);
+})->with([
+    'text before the json' => ['Welcome to the server'."\n".'{"Server":{"Version":"29.6.2"}}', 0],
+    'command failed' => ['', 1],
+]);
+
+it('reports the detected version when docker is too old', function () {
+    fakeDockerVersionOutput('{"Server":{"Version":"23.0.6"}}');
+
+    expect(validateDockerVersionError($this->server))
+        ->toContain('Docker Engine 23.0.6 is installed')
+        ->toContain('version 24 or newer');
+});
+
+it('shows the sudo command for non-root servers', function () {
+    $this->server->update(['user' => 'deploy']);
+    fakeDockerVersionOutput('not json');
+
+    expect(validateDockerVersionError($this->server->fresh()))
+        ->toContain('Run "sudo docker version --format json" on the server as the deploy user');
+});