diff --git a/src/zenml/services/container/container_service.py b/src/zenml/services/container/container_service.py
index 4b8e0e6d094..2223cf58637 100644
--- a/src/zenml/services/container/container_service.py
+++ b/src/zenml/services/container/container_service.py
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@
 from zenml.services.service import BaseService, ServiceConfig
 from zenml.services.service_status import ServiceStatus
 from zenml.utils import docker_utils
+from zenml.utils.docker_utils import check_docker
 from zenml.utils.io_utils import (
     create_dir_recursive_if_not_exists,
     get_global_config_directory,
@@ -217,6 +218,10 @@ def check_status(self) -> Tuple[ServiceState, str]:
             providing additional information about that state (e.g. a
             description of the error, if one is encountered).
         """
+        # Check if Docker is available first
+        if not check_docker():
+            return (ServiceState.INACTIVE, "Docker daemon is not running")
+
         container: Optional[Container] = None
         try:
             container = self.docker_client.containers.get(self.container_id)
diff --git a/src/zenml/zen_server/deploy/docker/docker_provider.py b/src/zenml/zen_server/deploy/docker/docker_provider.py
index e77a6082af6..9fe6df50054 100644
--- a/src/zenml/zen_server/deploy/docker/docker_provider.py
+++ b/src/zenml/zen_server/deploy/docker/docker_provider.py
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 #  permissions and limitations under the License.
 """Zen Server docker deployer implementation."""
 
+import os
 import shutil
 from typing import ClassVar, Optional, Tuple, Type, cast
 from uuid import uuid4
@@ -30,6 +31,7 @@
     ServiceEndpointHealthMonitorConfig,
     ServiceEndpointProtocol,
 )
+from zenml.utils.docker_utils import check_docker
 from zenml.zen_server.deploy.base_provider import BaseServerProvider
 from zenml.zen_server.deploy.deployment import LocalServerDeploymentConfig
 from zenml.zen_server.deploy.docker.docker_zen_server import (
@@ -253,6 +255,27 @@ def _get_service(self) -> BaseService:
         Raises:
             KeyError: If the server deployment is not found.
         """
+        # Check if Docker is available first
+        if not check_docker():
+            # Docker is not available, so we can't have a running Docker service
+            # Clean up the stale service configuration
+            service_config_path = DockerZenServer.config_path()
+            if os.path.exists(service_config_path):
+                logger.warning(
+                    "Docker daemon is not running. Cleaning up stale Docker "
+                    "ZenML server configuration at %s",
+                    service_config_path,
+                )
+                try:
+                    shutil.rmtree(service_config_path)
+                except Exception as e:
+                    logger.debug(
+                        "Failed to clean up stale Docker config: %s", e
+                    )
+            raise KeyError(
+                "The docker ZenML server is not deployed (Docker daemon not running)."
+            )
+
         service = DockerZenServer.get_service()
         if service is None:
             raise KeyError("The docker ZenML server is not deployed.")