.nh
.TH "DOCKER" "1" "Jan 2026" "Docker Community" "Docker User Manuals"

.SH NAME
docker-container-pause - Pause all processes within one or more containers


.SH SYNOPSIS
\fBdocker container pause CONTAINER [CONTAINER...]\fP


.SH DESCRIPTION
The \fBdocker container pause\fR command suspends all processes in the specified containers.
On Linux, this uses the freezer cgroup. Traditionally, when suspending a process
the \fBSIGSTOP\fR signal is used, which is observable by the process being suspended.
With the freezer cgroup the process is unaware, and unable to capture,
that it is being suspended, and subsequently resumed. On Windows, only Hyper-V
containers can be paused.

.PP
See the freezer cgroup documentation
\[la]https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/cgroup\-v1/freezer\-subsystem.txt\[ra] for
further details.

.PP
\fBdocker-container-unpause(1)\fP to unpause all processes within a container.


.SH SEE ALSO
\fBdocker-container(1)\fP