Docker in 2025: How To Install Docker

Docker has revolutionized the way we build, package, and ship applications. Whether you’re testing microservices locally or preparing for CI/CD deployment, installing Docker is your first step into the world of containers.

There are many tools you can use to get docker up and running locally on your Windows, MAC or Linux systems. Here’s a curated lineup of tools that make running Docker locally smoother, smarter, and more fun—whether you’re a CLI ninja or a GUI fan:

Essential Tools for Local Docker Workflows

Tool	Type	Description
Docker CLI	Command Line	The core interface for building, running, and managing containers
Docker Desktop	GUI + CLI	All-in-one app for Windows/macOS with GUI, Kubernetes, and WSL 2 support
Docker Compose	YAML-based CLI	Define and run multi-container apps with a single command
Docker-in-Docker (DinD)	Containerized Docker	Run Docker inside a container—great for CI/CD or isolated testing
WSL 2 + Docker Engine	Lightweight CLI	Install Docker directly inside a Linux distro on Windows (no Desktop needed)
Rancher Desktop	GUI	Open-source alternative to Docker Desktop with container runtime options
Podman	CLI	Docker-compatible daemonless container engine (no root required)
Minikube	CLI + GUI	Run Kubernetes locally with Docker as the container runtime
Kitematic	GUI (legacy)	Simple GUI for Docker (now deprecated but still usable for basic tasks)

Though there are many tools you can use to start your journey with Docker, the recommended tool to use is Docker Desktop as it brings together the Docker Engine, CLI, Compose, Kubernetes (optional), and a GUI dashboard—all in one package. Docker Desktop is a developer-friendly application that lets you build, run, and manage containerized applications right from your local machine. It’s available for Windows, macOS, and Linux, and provides both a graphical interface and command-line tools to streamline your container workflows.

Key Features of Docker Desktop

• Docker Extensions: Add-ons for debugging, security scanning, and more.
• Docker Engine & CLI: Core tools for building and running containers.
• Docker Compose: Manage multi-container apps with simple YAML files.
• Kubernetes (optional): Local cluster support for orchestration.
• GUI Dashboard: Visual management of containers, images, volumes, and networks.
• Dev Environments: Integrated setups for coding and testing.

On Windows and macOS, Docker Desktop runs containers inside a lightweight Linux VM, making it possible to use Docker even though those OSes don’t natively support Linux containers.

How to Install Docker Desktop on Windows 10/11

System Requirements

• Windows 10/11 64-bit: Home, Pro, Enterprise, or Education (version 22H2 or higher)
• Virtualization enabled in BIOS (Intel VT-x or AMD-V)
• WSL 2 (Windows Subsystem for Linux) installed
• 4GB+ RAM recommended

Download Docker Desktop from the URL https://www.docker.com/products/docker-desktop/.

Run docker desktop setup.exe file and you will see below window. Click OK to start the installation.

Docker Desktop leverages WSL 2 as its backend to run Linux containers without needing a heavy VM. Here’s what it enables:

• Native Linux container support on Windows
• Faster startup and file sharing between Windows and Linux
• WSL integration with your preferred Linux distro (e.g., Ubuntu)

Once installation is completed, click Close and Restart. During the Docker Desktop installation Windows will be restarted multiple times as it installs and activates WSL2 (Windows Subsystem for Linux).

Post Windows reboot the setup process will continue. Docker Desktop is free to use for personal use. Click Accept to continue.

Setup will next update the Windows Subsystem for Linux. Click any key to continue.

On the User Account Control dialog box, click Yes to continue.

Post Windows Subsystem for Linux install finishes, click any key to exit the window.

You will be taken back to the Docker Desktop Window. On the Welcome to docker page click on the Personal tab, enter your email address for the docker hub account and click Continue. If you don’t have one you can create one by clicking on Create an account.

Benefits of Linking Docker Hub with Docker Desktop

• Image Management Made Easy
  Push and pull container images directly from Docker Desktop to Docker Hub. This simplifies sharing, versioning, and deploying your containers across environments.
• Access to Official & Verified Images
  Browse and use trusted images from Docker Hub’s massive registry—like nginx, mysql, or ubuntu—right from your desktop.
• Cloud Sync & Collaboration
  Store images in private or public repositories and collaborate with teammates. Great for CI/CD pipelines and team-based development.
• Advanced Features & Insights
  Signing in unlocks access to Docker Scout, Build Cloud, and other tools that offer security scanning, cloud-based builds, and usage analytics.
• Seamless Dev-to-Prod Pipeline
  Build locally with Docker Desktop, then ship to the cloud via Docker Hub. It’s a smooth path from development to deployment.
• Centralized Account Management
  Manage your Docker ID, security settings, and access tokens from one place—Docker Home.

Enter the password and click Continue.

Click Open to go back to Docker Desktop window.

Click on Restart to continue.

You will then be greeted with the screen below.

Next we will download the WSL Linux distro for integration with Docker Desktop.

Open Microsoft Store and search for Ubuntu. As of this writing Ubuntu 24.04 is the latest LTS release. Click Get under Ubuntu 22.04.5 LTS to download and install it.

Once it is installed, go back to Docker Desktop and click the gear icon to open the settings page.

Click Resources, then WSL integration and toggle to option for Ubuntu-22.04 to ON and click Apply & Restart.

Open Terminal application and click on the drop down arrow and click Ubuntu 22.04.5 to open

This will open a new tab for Ubuntu 24.04.5. Run the docker version command and it should display the docker client and the docker engine version as below.

Run the below command to create a new Apache container using the httpd image.

docker container run -d -p 8080:80 httpd

Switch to Docker Desktop console and you should see the new container running and the httpd image downloaded under Images section.

How to Install Docker Desktop on MAC OS

Download Docker Desktop from the URL https://www.docker.com/products/docker-desktop/.

System Requirements

• macOS Version: Monterey 12.5 or later recommended
• Hardware: Intel or Apple Silicon (M1/M2) chips
• Disk Space: Minimum 4 GB RAM, 1 GB disk space
• Admin Rights: You’ll need them for installation

Open Finder and navigate to where you downloaded the Docker.dmg file and double click it to open.

Drag Docker.app to the Applications folder.

Click on Launchpad and click Docker to launch Docker Desktop.

Click Open on the security warning.

Click Accept to continue.

Leave the default option to choose recommended settings selected and click Finish to continue.

Enter the password for your account and click OK to —approve it to allow Docker to be added background services.

Use the docker hub credentials to login to Docker Desktop. Refer the Windows installation section for the same.

Next we will open a Mac OS Terminal and verify the docker installation. Run the docker version command for it.

Run the below command to create a new Apache container using the httpd image.

docker container run -d -p 8080:80 httpd

Switch to Docker Desktop console and you should see the new container running and the httpd image downloaded under Images section.

How to Install Docker on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Server

Until now we have installed Docker Desktop on Windows and MAC machines. Next we will try and level up our game by installing “Docker Engine” not Docker Desktop on Ubuntu server.

System Requirements

• Ubuntu Server 24.04 LTS
• Have sudo privileges
• System is connected to the internet

I have created a Ubuntu Server 24.04 LTS virtual machine named DCOKERHOST01 inside VMware workstation on my Windows 11 base machine. I have assigned it 10.100.1.101 IP address. I have already ran the below command to perform OS updates on the it.

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

Open Terminal Application and run the below command to ssh into the Ubuntu server having IP address 10.100.1.101 as user virtshinobi.

ssh [email protected]

Before we can install Docker Engine, we need to uninstall any conflicting packages. Linux distribution may provide unofficial Docker packages, which may conflict with the official packages provided by Docker. We must uninstall these packages before we install the official version of Docker Engine. Run the below command to remove them.

for pkg in docker.io docker-doc docker-compose docker-compose-v2 podman-docker containerd runc; do sudo apt-get remove $pkg; done

Installation methods

• Set up and install Docker Engine from Docker’s apt repository. Install it manually and manage upgrades manually.
• Use a convenience script. Only recommended for testing and development environments.

Method 1 – Manual install using the apt repository

Before we install Docker Engine for the first time on a new host machine, we need to set up the Docker apt repository. Afterward, we can install and update Docker from the repository.

1. Install Dependencies

Docker needs a few packages. Run the below command to install the dependencies.

sudo apt-get install ca-certificates curl -y

There could be a case that the packages are already installed and you might see below response to the command.

2. Add Docker’s Official GPG Key

Run the below commands to add the GPG key for the Official Docker repository to the system.

sudo install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings
sudo curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc
sudo chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc

3. Add Docker’s Repository

Run the below commands to add the official Docker Repository to apt package manager and update the package cache.

echo \
"deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu \
$(. /etc/os-release && echo "${UBUNTU_CODENAME:-$VERSION_CODENAME}") stable" | \
sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null
sudo apt-get update

4. Install Docker Engine

To install the latest version, run the below commands.

sudo apt-get install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin -y

Verify that the installation is successful by running the hello-world image:

sudo docker run hello-world

Method 2 – Install using the convenience script

Docker provides a convenience script at https://get.docker.com/ to install Docker into development environments non-interactively. The convenience script isn’t recommended for production environments, but it’s useful for creating a provisioning script tailored to your needs.

• The script requires root or sudo privileges to run.
• The script attempts to detect your Linux distribution and version and configure your package management system for you.
• The script doesn’t allow you to customize most installation parameters.
• The script installs dependencies and recommendations without asking for confirmation. This may install a large number of packages, depending on the current configuration of your host machine.
• By default, the script installs the latest stable release of Docker, containerd, and runc. When using this script to provision a machine, this may result in unexpected major version upgrades of Docker. Always test upgrades in a test environment before deploying to your production systems.
• The script isn’t designed to upgrade an existing Docker installation. When using the script to update an existing installation, dependencies may not be updated to the expected version, resulting in outdated versions.

Download the script file using the below command.

curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com -o get-docker.sh

We can run the script with the --dry-run option to learn what steps the script will run when invoke. Review the steps.

sudo sh ./get-docker.sh --dry-run

This example downloads the script from https://get.docker.com/ and runs it to install the latest stable release of Docker on Linux:

curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com -o get-docker.sh
sudo sh get-docker.sh

Verify that the installation is successful by running the hello-world image:

sudo docker run hello-world

Optional: Run Docker as Non-root

Give our user virtshinobi container superpowers—without sudo:

sudo usermod -aG docker virtshinobi

We’ll need to log out and back in for the change to take effect.

Post login verify that the installation is successful by running the hello-world image without sudo command.

docker run hello-world