Unable to start Docker Service in Ubuntu 16.04

Update

It seems that in newer versions of docker and Ubuntu the unit file for docker is simply masked (pointing to /dev/null).
You can verify it by running the following commands in the terminal:

sudo file /lib/systemd/system/docker.service
sudo file /lib/systemd/system/docker.socket

You should see that the unit file symlinks to /dev/null.
In this case, all you have to do is follow S34N’s suggestion, and run:

sudo systemctl unmask docker.service
sudo systemctl unmask docker.socket
sudo systemctl start docker.service
sudo systemctl status docker

I’ll also keep the original post, that answers the error log stating that the storage driver should be replaced:

Original Post

I had the same problem, and I tried fixing it with Salva Cort’s suggestion, but printing /etc/default/docker says:

# THIS FILE DOES NOT APPLY TO SYSTEMD

So here’s a permanent fix that works for systemd (Ubuntu 15.04 and higher):

1. create a new file /etc/systemd/system/docker.service.d/overlay.conf with the following content:

   [Service]
   ExecStart=
   ExecStart=/usr/bin/docker daemon -H fd:// -s overlay
   

2. flush changes by executing:

   sudo systemctl daemon-reload
   

3. verify that the configuration has been loaded:

   systemctl show --property=ExecStart docker
   

4. restart docker:

   sudo systemctl restart docker