In this article, I will take you through the steps to install Docker Desktop on Windows 10. Docker Desktop is an easy to use application that allows you to build and share containerized applications and microservices. It comes with both free and paid subscription. Docker Desktop provides access to rich set of libraries of images and templates from Docker Hub. It consists of Docker Engine, Docker CLI client, Docker Compose, Docker Content Trust, Kubernetes, and Credential Helper. We will now see the steps to install Docker Desktop in great detail.

Key Features

Some of the key features Docker Desktop provides are:-

• Ability to containerize and share any application on any cloud platform, in multiple languages and frameworks
• Easy installation and setup of a complete Docker development environment
• Includes the latest version of Kubernetes
• Automatic updates to keep you up to date and secure
• On Windows, the ability to toggle between Linux and Windows Server environments to build applications
• Fast and reliable performance with native Windows Hyper-V virtualization
• Ability to work natively on Linux through WSL 2 on Windows machines
• Volume mounting for code and data, including file change notifications and easy access to running containers on the localhost network
• In-container development and debugging with supported IDEs

How to Install Docker Desktop on Windows 10 [Step by Step]

Also Read: How to Download and install Git on Windows 10 {Easy Steps}

Step 1: Prerequisites

a) You should have a running Windows 10 System.

b) You should have Internet Access to download the Software.

c) You should have administrator access to install software in the System.

 

Step 2: Download Docker Desktop

In the first step, you need to download the latest Docker Desktop software from the official Download Page. Depending on when you are downloading, version could be different. As of now, the latest version is 4.2.0 so I will download and install this one.

Step 3: Install Docker Desktop

Once the software is downloaded, you can double click on it to start with the installation process.

a) Configuration

You will see a window like below where Install required Windows components for WSL 2 and add shortcut to desktop will be pre selected. You can click on ok to proceed.

b) Unpacking Files

Then it will start installing like below. You can track the progress from below window.

c) Installation Completed

Once the installation is successfully completed, it will show like below. Here you need to Click on Close and restart to Restart the System.

d) Service Agreement

Once the System is restarted, you will get below Service Agreement Window. You can go through the Agreement to check all the terms and then click on I accept the terms. Then click on Accept to proceed.

e) Install Kernel Update

Next, you need to install the WSL 2 Linux Kernel through a separate MSI update package. For that, you need to click on below link which will redirect you to the package download link. You can download and install update package and then come back here and click on Restart.

f) Docker Engine Start

After restart you will see below Docker Start up Page. You can either go through the quick tutorial by clicking on Start or proceed further by clicking on Skip tutorial. For the moment, we will click on Skip Tutorial.

Then it will show below window with the message No containers running. This confirms Docker service started successfully and is now ready for you to create some containers.

 

Step 4: Using Docker 

You can now try to run some docker commands through Windows CMD. Go to Start and type cmd. Then press Enter to start the terminal. Now use docker pull ubuntu command to pull the latest Ubuntu image from Docker Hub Library. If you see output like below then docker is working as expected.

C:\>docker pull ubuntu
Using default tag: latest
latest: Pulling from library/ubuntu
7b1a6ab2e44d: Pull complete
Digest: sha256:626ffe58f6e7566e00254b638eb7e0f3b11d4da9675088f4781a50ae288f3322
Status: Downloaded newer image for ubuntu:latest
docker.io/library/ubuntu:latest