Custom kernels on WSL

Docker Desktop depends on several kernel features built into the default WSL 2 Linux kernel distributed by Microsoft. Consequently, using a custom kernel with Docker Desktop on WSL 2 is not officially supported and may cause issues with Docker Desktop startup or operation.

However, in some cases it may be necessary to run custom kernels; Docker Desktop does not block their use, and some users have reported success using them.

If you choose to use a custom kernel, it is recommended you start from the kernel tree distributed by Microsoft from their official repository and then add the features you need on top of that.

It's also recommended that you:

• Use the same kernel version as the one distributed by the latest WSL2 release. You can find the version by running wsl.exe --system uname -r in a terminal.
• Start from the default kernel configuration as provided by Microsoft from their repository and add the features you need on top of that.
• Make sure that your kernel build environment includes pahole and its version is properly reflected in the corresponding kernel config (CONFIG_PAHOLE_VERSION).