diff --git a/changes/21006-fleetctl-preview b/changes/21006-fleetctl-preview
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9fe2fd3286
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changes/21006-fleetctl-preview
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+* Fixed a bug in `fleetctl preview` that was causing it to fail if Docker was installed without support for the deprecated `docker-compose` CLI
diff --git a/cmd/fleetctl/preview.go b/cmd/fleetctl/preview.go
index a48734871c..1aa78695f9 100644
--- a/cmd/fleetctl/preview.go
+++ b/cmd/fleetctl/preview.go
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ func (d dockerCompose) Command(arg ...string) *exec.Cmd {
 
 func newDockerCompose() (dockerCompose, error) {
 	// first, check if `docker compose` is available
-	if err := exec.Command("docker compose").Run(); err == nil {
+	if err := exec.Command("docker", "compose").Run(); err == nil {
 		return dockerCompose{dockerComposeV2}, nil
 	}