Docker In WSL: A No-Frills Guide

Docker is great, but how do you run Linux containers on Windows? In WSL, of course. The Docker Desktop application is certainly an option, but it eats up a lot of RAM thanks to its Electron-based GUI. It also has an LLM chatbot (because of course it does, it’s 2026 after all). Just the Docker Desktop installer takes up 598 MB. What if you want something simpler and with less RAM consumption? WSL 2 makes it really straightforward to set up Docker with some basic Windows integration. (Also, Docker Desktop demands payment for enterprise use; if your company fits the enterprise criteria but cannot afford $16/developer/month, run.) Console command conventions: $ means Linux, > means Windows (PowerShell).Path conventions: / means Linux, \ means Windows. Linux setup You need to have WSL and a distribution installed, and you must be using WSL 2. Read the install docs if you need to do it. ➡️ Start by installing Docker in the usual way for your Linux distribution of choice. I’m using Ubuntu…