diff --git a/components/supervisor/pkg/supervisor/supervisor.go b/components/supervisor/pkg/supervisor/supervisor.go
index 0ed477bd26997f..7787a74b53a9dc 100644
--- a/components/supervisor/pkg/supervisor/supervisor.go
+++ b/components/supervisor/pkg/supervisor/supervisor.go
@@ -286,7 +286,7 @@ func Run(options ...RunOption) {
 	//   - in headless task we can not use reaper, because it breaks headlessTaskFailed report
 	if !cfg.isHeadless() {
 		go reaper(terminatingReaper)
-
+		installDockerConfig()
 		// We need to checkout dotfiles first, because they may be changing the path which affects the IDE.
 		// TODO(cw): provide better feedback if the IDE start fails because of the dotfiles (provide any feedback at all).
 		installDotfiles(ctx, cfg, tokenService, childProcEnvvars)
@@ -376,6 +376,19 @@ func Run(options ...RunOption) {
 	wg.Wait()
 }
 
+func installDockerConfig() {
+	const dockerConfigPath = "/home/gitpod/.docker/config.json"
+	if _, err := os.Stat(dockerConfigPath); err == nil {
+		// config exists already
+		return
+	}
+	cfgStr := []byte("{\n:\"auths\": {},\n\"credsStore\": \"gp\"}")
+	err := os.WriteFile(dockerConfigPath, cfgStr, 0600)
+	if err != nil {
+		log.WithError(err).Warn("installing docker config failed")
+	}
+}
+
 func installDotfiles(ctx context.Context, cfg *Config, tokenService *InMemoryTokenService, childProcEnvvars []string) {
 	repo := cfg.DotfileRepo
 	if repo == "" {