Sometimes, you want I want to run on Docker container on Windows, but I don’t want to have to worry about using Docker Desktop. Instead, I use Windows Subsystem Linux (WSL) in conjunction with the Docker engine via a terminal window. In this guide, I’ll show you how to install Docker on Windows 10 or 11 without using Docker Desktop.

Enable WSL and install a Linux Distribution

Open PowerShell or CMD as administrator and run:

wsl --install 

Restart your computer if prompted.

Install a Linux Distribution, if you run ubuntu in Powershell wsl will install the respective distribution for you and then you’ll create a UNIX username and password.

Set WSL Version to 2

In Powershell, set the default WSL version to 2 using the following command:

wsl --set-default-version 2

Install Docker Engine in WSL

Launch your installed Linux distribution and update package lists

sudo apt update

Install Docker’s package dependencies

sudo apt install apt-transport-https ca-certificates curl software-properties-common

Add Docker’s official GPG Key

curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo apt-key add -

Add Docker repository

sudo add-apt-repository "deb [arch=amd64] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu focal stable"

Install Docker Engine

sudo apt update
sudo apt install docker-ce

Start the Docker Service

sudo service docker start

Run Docker Without sudo (optional, but recommended)

Add your user to the Docker group

sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

Restart your terminal or start a new terminal instance and validate that you can now run docker without sudo.

Test Docker Installation

Run a test container

docker run hello-world

This setup allows you to run Docker containers in on Windows without the need of Docker Desktop by leveraging WSL 2.

If you need any assistance with your configuration, please leave a comment below.