How to Correctly Install Docker Desktop on Linux Ubuntu

In this Linux and Docker tutorial, we explain how to correctly install Docker Desktop on Linux Ubuntu. We thoroughly explain all the steps. The main motivation for creating this tutorial comes from the fact that the installation of Docker Desktop in Linux Ubuntu might be highly non-trivial for students and people who are not familiar with Linux systems.

Docker is a collection of Platform as a Service (PaaS) programs that use virtualization to run and manage programs in packages which are also known as containers. The program that manages and hosts the containers is called Docker Engine. Docker Desktop is a collection of Docker tools, an extension, and a GUI for the Docker Engine. It is free for personal use.

Containers run independently from each other, and they are isolated from one another. Containers contain their own software, configuration files, and libraries. Also, different containers can communicate with each other by using channels. You can use Docker to run Robot Operating System, Machine Learning Programs, and different applications and programs.

General website:

https://docs.docker.com/desktop/install/linux-install

Ubuntu additional instructions:

https://docs.docker.com/desktop/install/ubuntu

However, you have to be an experienced Linux user to understand these steps. Consequently, we created this tutorial to explain all the steps.

The YouTube tutorial is given below.

An older version of this tutorial is given here:

Prerequisites For Installing Docker Desktop on Linux Ubuntu

1. 64-bit Ubuntu Linux 22.04 or 24.04 system and support for hardware virtualization.

To check the Linux distribution, type:

lsb_release -a

Hardware virtualization needs to be enabled to run Docker Desktop. The hardware virtualization is enabled in the system BIOS. System BIOS is started by restarting the computer, and by pressing a certain keyboard key. In the case of my computer (HP Omen), I need to press ESC and F10 to enter BIOS. There there is an option to turn ON hardware virtualization. In fact, the hardware virtualization was automatically enabled on my machine. In your case, starting BIOS might require a different keyboard key. However, the principle is the same.

To check hardware virtualization, open a terminal and type:

lscpu | grep "Virtualization"

or

egrep -c '(vmx|svm)'  /proc/cpuinfo

or

sudo apt install cpu-checker

kvm-ok

2. KVM virtualization support. The KVM module should load automatically if the host has virtualization support.

To check if the KVM modules are enabled, run, in the terminal write this:

lsmod | grep kvm

To manually load

modprobe kvm

For Intel processors

modprobe kvm_intel

For AMD processors

modprobe kvm_amd

Set up KVM device user permissions. To check ownership of /dev/kvm, run:

ls -al /dev/kvm
sudo usermod -aG kvm $USER

3. QEMU must be version 5.2 or later.

To do that

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install qemu-system

4. It is required to have systemd init system. Since Ubuntu is based on Debian, it uses the systemd init system.

5. Gnome, KDE, or MATE Desktop environment.

To check your environment, in desktop, type

echo $XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP
gnome-shell --version

In our case, it is GNOME

6. Configuring ID mapping should be enabled in user namespaces. Note that for Docker Desktop version 4.35 and later, this is not required anymore.

Make sure that you see something like this, when you run the commands

cat /etc/subuid
aleksandar:100000:65536
cat /etc/subgid
aleksandar:100000:65536

If not, then

grep "$USER" /etc/subuid >> /dev/null 2&>1 || (echo "$USER:100000:65536" | sudo tee -a /etc/subuid)
 grep "$USER" /etc/subgid >> /dev/null 2&>1 || (echo "$USER:100000:65536" | sudo tee -a /etc/subgid)

7. Install Standard Unix Password Manager

sudo apt-get install pass

Installation of Docker Desktop on Linux Ubuntu

Go to

https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/ubuntu/#install-using-the-repository

and follow the instructions:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ca-certificates curl
sudo install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings
sudo curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc
sudo chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc

echo \
  "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu \
  $(. /etc/os-release && echo "${UBUNTU_CODENAME:-$VERSION_CODENAME}") stable" | \
  sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null

sudo apt-get update

The next step is to download the most recent Deb packages. To do that, go to the webpage and download the file (see section Install Docker Desktop)

https://docs.docker.com/desktop/setup/install/linux/ubuntu

or click this link

https://desktop.docker.com/linux/main/amd64/docker-desktop-amd64.deb?utm_source=docker&utm_medium=webreferral&utm_campaign=docs-driven-download-linux-amd64&_gl=11w4nj1g_gaMTk0NTE0OTY5Mi4xNzM3NjkzNjE4_ga_XJWPQMJYHQ*MTczOTc3NTA3MS41LjEuMTczOTc3NTIyMC42MC4wLjA.

The file will be downloaded in the ~/Downloads file

Next, open a terminal and type

cd ~
cd Downloads
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ./docker-desktop-amd64.de

This should install Docker Desktop. Ignore the error message shown below.

To start Docker Engine, click on Show Apps and search for Docker Desktop. Then, accept the license and register (or skip). This will start Docker Engine

To manually start Docker Desktop from the command line, type this

systemctl --user start docker-desktop

Check the versions

docker compose version

docker --version

docker version

To enable Docker Desktop to start on sign in

systemctl --user enable docker-desktop

To stop Docker Desktop

systemctl --user stop docker-desktop

To upgrade the Docker desktop:

sudo apt-get install ./docker-desktop-amd64.deb