After setting up WSL2, if you want to run Docker but don’t want Docker Desktop (resource-heavy and requires a license), installing Docker CE directly in WSL2 is the cleaner approach.

Installation Steps

Update the package list and install the dependencies needed for apt to use HTTPS:

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sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ca-certificates curl gnupg lsb-release

Add Docker’s official GPG key:

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sudo mkdir -m 0755 -p /etc/apt/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg \
  | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg

Set up the Docker apt repository:

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echo \
  "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg] \
  https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu $(lsb_release -cs) stable" \
  | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null

Install Docker Engine:

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

Verify Installation

Run hello-world to confirm Docker is working:

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sudo docker run hello-world

To avoid typing sudo every time, add yourself to the docker group:

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sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

Open a new terminal for the change to take effect.

WSL2 Notes

WSL2 doesn’t start systemd by default, so the Docker daemon may not start automatically. You’ll need to start it manually each time you open WSL2:

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sudo service docker start

Alternatively, enable systemd support in /etc/wsl.conf (requires Windows 11 22H2 or later):

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[boot]
systemd=true

After making the change, restart WSL2 and Docker will start automatically.