Install Docker Desktop on Ubuntu

Table of contents

Docker Desktop terms

Commercial use of Docker Desktop in larger enterprises (more than 250 employees OR more than $10 million USD in annual revenue) requires a paid subscription.

This page contains information on how to install, launch and upgrade Docker Desktop on an Ubuntu distribution.

Prerequisites

To install Docker Desktop successfully, you must:

  • Meet the general system requirements.
  • Have an x86-64 system with Ubuntu 22.04, 24.04, or the latest non-LTS version.
  • For non-Gnome Desktop environments, gnome-terminal must be installed:
    $ sudo apt install gnome-terminal

Install Docker Desktop

Recommended approach to install Docker Desktop on Ubuntu:

  1. Set up Docker's package repository. See step one of Install using the apt repository.

  2. Download the latest DEB package. For checksums, see the Release notes.

  3. Install the package with apt as follows:

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

    Note

    At the end of the installation process, apt displays an error due to installing a downloaded package. You can ignore this error message.

    N: Download is performed unsandboxed as root, as file '/home/user/Downloads/docker-desktop.deb' couldn't be accessed by user '_apt'. - pkgAcquire::Run (13: Permission denied)

    By default, Docker Desktop is installed at /opt/docker-desktop.

There are a few post-install configuration steps done through the post-install script contained in the deb package.

The post-install script:

  • Sets the capability on the Docker Desktop binary to map privileged ports and set resource limits.
  • Adds a DNS name for Kubernetes to /etc/hosts.
  • Creates a symlink from /usr/local/bin/com.docker.cli to /usr/bin/docker. This is because the classic Docker CLI is installed at /usr/bin/docker. The Docker Desktop installer also installs a Docker CLI binary that includes cloud-integration capabilities and is essentially a wrapper for the Compose CLI, at/usr/local/bin/com.docker.cli. The symlink ensures that the wrapper can access the classic Docker CLI.

Launch Docker Desktop

To start Docker Desktop for Linux:

  1. Open your Applications menu in Gnome/KDE Desktop and search for Docker Desktop.

  2. Select Docker Desktop to start Docker.

    The Docker Subscription Service Agreement displays.

  3. Select Accept to continue. Docker Desktop starts after you accept the terms.

    Note that Docker Desktop won't run if you do not agree to the terms. You can choose to accept the terms at a later date by opening Docker Desktop.

    For more information, see Docker Desktop Subscription Service Agreement. It is recommended that you also read the FAQs.

Alternatively, open a terminal and run:

$ systemctl --user start docker-desktop

When Docker Desktop starts, it creates a dedicated context that the Docker CLI can use as a target and sets it as the current context in use. This is to avoid a clash with a local Docker Engine that may be running on the Linux host and using the default context. On shutdown, Docker Desktop resets the current context to the previous one.

The Docker Desktop installer updates Docker Compose and the Docker CLI binaries on the host. It installs Docker Compose V2 and gives users the choice to link it as docker-compose from the Settings panel. Docker Desktop installs the new Docker CLI binary that includes cloud-integration capabilities in /usr/local/bin/com.docker.cli and creates a symlink to the classic Docker CLI at /usr/local/bin.

After you’ve successfully installed Docker Desktop, you can check the versions of these binaries by running the following commands:

$ docker compose version
Docker Compose version v2.29.1

$ docker --version
Docker version 27.1.1, build 6312585

$ docker version
Client: 
 Version:           23.0.5
 API version:       1.42
 Go version:        go1.21.12
<...>

To enable Docker Desktop to start on sign in, from the Docker menu, select Settings > General > Start Docker Desktop when you sign in to your computer.

Alternatively, open a terminal and run:

$ systemctl --user enable docker-desktop

To stop Docker Desktop, select the Docker menu icon to open the Docker menu and select Quit Docker Desktop.

Alternatively, open a terminal and run:

$ systemctl --user stop docker-desktop

Upgrade Docker Desktop

Once a new version for Docker Desktop is released, the Docker UI shows a notification. You need to download the new package each time you want to upgrade Docker Desktop and run:

$ sudo apt-get install ./docker-desktop-<arch>.deb

Don't forget to substitute <arch> with the architecture you want.

Next steps