title: Unused Docker containers stuck in Removal in Progress state. Device or Resource Busy
body: <p>I'm running Docker version 20.10.5 on a Centos 7 Box.  I stopped my project with <code>docker-compose down</code> and every container had the same message -</p>
  <pre><code>Error response from daemon: container &lt;container ID&gt;: driver &quot;overlay2&quot; failed to remove root filesystem: unlinkat /var/lib/docker/overlay2/&lt;long number&gt;/merged: device or resource busy
  </code></pre>
  <p>I've stopped the daemon, I've reinstalled Docker, I've tried <code>umount, lsof, kill</code>, and all the docker go-away commands including <code>system prune</code> but still they hang on.</p>
  <p>(After re-installing Docker the status changes to <code>Dead</code>.  When I try to delete the zombie containers their status changes to <code>Removal In Progress</code>)</p>
  <p>How can I get rid of these containers?</p>