Now docker commands work from Windows using the new WSL 2 engine. If you have installed Docker Desktop on a system that supports WSL 2, this option is turned on by default.

Start Docker Desktop from the Windows Start menu.įrom the General tab, select Use WSL 2 based engine.

Read the information displayed on the screen and turn on the WSL 2 feature to continue. Depending on which version of Windows you are using, Docker Desktop may prompt you to turn on WSL 2 during installation.

Follow the usual installation instructions to install Docker Desktop.

Download and install the latest version of Docker Desktop for Windows.

To avoid any potential conflicts with using WSL 2 on Docker Desktop, you must uninstall any previous versions of Docker Engine and CLI installed directly through Linux distributions before installing Docker Desktop. For detailed instructions, refer to the Microsoft documentation.

Installed the WSL 2 feature on Windows.For more information, see System requirements. Windows 10, version 21H2 or later, or Windows 11, version 21H2 or later.At a minimum WSL version 1.1.3.0., but ideally the latest version of WSL to avoid Docker Desktop not working as expected.Prerequisitesīefore you turn on the Docker Desktop WSL 2 feature, ensure you have: This means Docker Desktop only uses the required amount of CPU and memory resources it needs, while allowing CPU and memory-intensive tasks such as building a container, to run much faster.Īdditionally, with WSL 2, the time required to start a Docker daemon after a cold start is significantly faster. In addition, WSL 2 provides improvements to file system sharing and boot time.ĭocker Desktop uses the dynamic memory allocation feature in WSL 2 to improve the resource consumption.

With Docker Desktop running on WSL 2, users can leverage Linux workspaces and avoid maintaining both Linux and Windows build scripts. Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) 2 is a full Linux kernel built by Microsoft, which lets Linux distributions run without managing virtual machines.

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