Table of Contents

Setting up Docker (and Docker Desktop) on Ubuntu

Sources

Prerequisites

  1. verify you have a GNOME-based desktop environment (Ubuntu Desktop is GNOME-based)
    1. if not install gnome-terminal - sudo apt install gnome-terminal
  2. verify you have KVM virtualization support - lsmod | grep kvm
    1. if kvm and kvm_<arch> is not listed check here
    2. ensure your user is part of the kvm group - sudo usermod -aG kvm $USER

Install Steps

  1. ensure apt-get is up to date - sudo apt-get update
  2. download the proper install for docker-desktop
    1. for Ubuntu this is a .deb file
    2. https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/dists/
      1. to make sense of the release names see https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases
      2. (24.04.2 LTS = “Noble Numbat” = https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/dists/noble/pool/stable/)
      3. find the right directory for your CPU architecture via dpkg --print-architecture
        1. https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/dists/noble/pool/stable/amd64/
      4. download the latest version of all install files
        • containerd.io<version><arch>.deb
        • docker-buildx-plugin<version><arch>.deb
        • docker-ce-cli<version><arch>.deb
        • docker-ce-rootless-extras…?
          • not certain about this one; it's listed in the download site but not the docs
        • docker-ce<version><arch>.deb
        • docker-compose-plugin<version><arch>.deb
      5. install the packages
        1. sudo dpkg -i ./containerd.io_*.deb ./docker-ce_*.deb ./docker-ce-cli_*.deb ./docker-buildx-plugin_*.deb ./docker-compose-plugin_*.deb

Startup and Verify Docker

  1. sudo service docker start
  2. verify with a hello-world container
    1. sudo docker run hello-world
  3. configure to start on boot
    1. sudo systemctl enable docker.service containerd.service

Configure Docker Logging

  1. vi /etc/docker/daemon.json
    1. add logging config per https://docs.docker.com/engine/logging/drivers/json-file/#usage

Install Docker Desktop