Docker Now Available for Windows Home

docker, Windows

For the longest time, Docker just didn’t like Windows Home. Legend has it that, with VirtualBox running a Linux VM, you then can install Docker Toolbox on top of that. I’ve tried that route. It works until I try to do volume mounts to the host file system. Somehow somewhere in the Docker > Virtualbox > Windows Home link something’s not right.

With the recent changes to Windows to add Linux support, Docker can now run on Windows Home. Unless there are other reasons (e.g. Remote Desktop), there is no need to upgrade to Windows Professional ($99 USD).

Install Linux Support

The process to install Docker on Windows Home is kinda long and spans multiple pages. Here is the summary:

  • Get the “Windows 10 May 2020 Update” or later by downloading and running the “Windows 10 Update Assistant”: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10 . NOTE: This will take a while.
  • Run PowerShell as Administrator (Windows-S; type “PowerShell”; click “Run as Administrator”)
  • Run in PowerShell:
    dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux /all /norestart
  • Restart Windows
  • Run PowerShell as Administrator (Windows-S; type “PowerShell”; click “Run as Administrator”)
  • Run in PowerShell:
    wsl --set-default-version 2
  • Open Microsoft Store and search for “Windows Subsystem for Linux” (WSL) (https://aka.ms/wslstore) and install a Linux distribution (e.g. “Ubuntu”)
  • Run the Linux distribution. You will be prompted to create a user account and set its password. See https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install-win10#troubleshooting-installation for troubleshooting if necessary.

Install Docker for Windows

  • Go to https://hub.docker.com/editions/community/docker-ce-desktop-windows/ and download “Docker Desktop for Windows” (Don’t worry about the wording about Windows Professional). This downloads the “Docker Desktop Installer.exe” file that you then run.
  • Typically this will install into C:\Program Files\Docker\Docker. The runnable is “Docker Desktop.exe“.

References

https://hub.docker.com/editions/community/docker-ce-desktop-windows/

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install-win10