Containers can provide a quick way to spin up an app without having to worry about the backend OS. With Docker on WSL you can easily test multiple containers. Docker provides some great documentation, but it’s a little confusing to get it working with WSL.

Get Docker for Windows

Let’s head over to the Docker website to download the community edition for our Windows 10 machine. If you search “Docker CE for Windows” you should find the download link for this page Docker for Windows

Install Docker on Windows 10
(You’ll need to create a Docker hub account to download)

Install with the defaults (including the option to run Linux container.) Launch docker from the icon on your desktop. You’ll be prompted about installing Hyper-V. Hit okay to allow it to install. That will add the Hyper-V feature and reboot your system.

Prompt to enable Hyper-V

After you’ve installed Docker and enabled Hyper-V you need to set a feature in Docker to work with WSL. Find the Docker icon on the bottom right corner and right mouse-clike and choose Settings. Check the box next to “Expose Daemon”

Enable port on Docker app

We now have Docker running on our Windows 10 machine.

Prepare Ubuntu for Docker setup

We have Docker running on Windows so let’s get into WSL/Bash prompt to get it working on the Linux side.

Update apt package index:
sudo apt-get udpate

Install packages for docker: (copy and paste entire section)

sudo apt-get install apt-transport-https \  
ca-certificates \ 
curl \ 
gnupg-agent \ 
software-properties-common


Install Docker GPG key:

curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo apt-key add -

Verify key from previous step:
sudo apt-key fingerprint 0EBFCD88

Setup the repository: (copy and paste entire section)

sudo add-apt-repository \
   "deb [arch=amd64] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu \
   $(lsb_release -cs) \
   stable"

Run Update Again:
sudo apt-get update

Install Docker CE

sudo apt-get install docker-ce

Install Docker Compose

sudo curl -L "https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/1.24.1/docker-compose-$(uname -s)-$(uname -m)" -o /usr/local/bin/docker-compose

Set Permissions for binaries:

sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker-compose

Allow Docker to speak to host

We need to edit .bashrc
nano ~/.bashrc

Add the following line to the bottom of the file and save it
export DOCKER_HOST=tcp://localhost:2375

Add export to bashrc

Reload .bashrc:
source ~/.bashrc

Allow Docker CLI access without root access
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

Now, restart WSL and test your docker setup from WSL:
docker run hello-world



References:
https://docs.docker.com/install/linux/docker-ce/ubuntu/
https://docs.docker.com/compose/install/