Install docker on WSL without docker desktop

Introduction

Reference doc : Install Docker in WSL 2 without Docker Desktop — Nick Janetakis

DOwnload and install docker compose

Install curl and git :

sudo apt-get install curl git

Second step : create install-docker.sh script:

#!/bin/sh

rm -rf installation-docker-temp
mkdir installation-docker-temp
cd installation-docker-temp

# Install Docker, you can ignore the warning from Docker about using WSL
curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com -o get-docker.sh
sudo sh get-docker.sh

# Add your user to the Docker group
sudo usermod -a -G docker $USER

# Install Docker Compose v2
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install docker-compose-plugin

# Sanity check that both tools were installed successfully
docker --version
docker compose version

# Using Ubuntu 22.04 or Debian 10 / 11? You need to do 1 extra step for iptables
# compatibility, you'll want to choose option (1) from the prompt to use iptables-legacy.

sudo update-alternatives --config iptables
cd ../ && rm -rf installation-docker-temp 

Thurd step : execute the script :

sudo sh install-docker.sh

Fourth step: edit /etc/sudoers and add this line in group privileges section :

%docker ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/dockerd

Fifth step: Install systemd on wsl2

Close all WSL terminals an update all VMs :

wsl --update

Once this operation is complete, find out about the /etc/wsl.conf file in the distribution's filesystem with the following line (if the file does not exist, create it) :

[boot]
systemd=true

In PowerShell restart the VM :

wsl.exe --shutdown

Once the distribution is relaunched, normally the systemd command is now active. We must now enable the automatic start of the docker service:

sudo systemctl enable docker

Link to original documentation : Systemd support is now available in WSL! - Windows Command Line