VF
Victor Frye
Your friendly neighborhood developer
Docker is synonymous with containers. For years, Docker Desktop has been the go-to solution for Windows developers to build, run, and manage containers locally without complex setups and for ease of use. However, alternatives have emerged and matured and Docker Desktop licensing has stopped being free for many users and enterprises. One such alternative is Podman, a daemonless container engine that offers Docker compatibility and a similar hassle-free experience for Windows developers. This post will guide you through the steps to migrate from Docker Desktop to Podman on Windows.
There are many reasons Docker Desktop remains a staple for Windows developers. There's even more for why Docker became the de facto standard for containers. However, Docker Desktop licensing has stopped being free for many users and enterprises. This change did not include the open-source Docker Engine, which remains free to use and includes the command-line interface, as well as Docker Compose. This change disproportionately impacts Windows users. On macOS and Linux, Docker works seamlessly due to Unix-like operating systems and Linux container compatibility. On Windows, Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) is the underlying technology that makes the Docker engine work and requires a lot of complex setup to interact with across Windows and WSL. Docker Desktop abstracts this complexity away.
What always bothered me about moving away from Docker Desktop was the lack of a simple solution that provided a similar onboarding experience. Enter Podman.
Podman is an open-source container engine that provides a Docker-compatible CLI and API. It is sponsored by Red Hat and has gained significant traction in the container ecosystem. Podman offers several advantages over Docker Desktop, but the most compelling are compliance and parity. You can utilize Podman without worrying about licensing fees, and with a quick series of steps, you can get the same benefits of Docker Desktop including a GUI, WSL integration, Docker CLI compatibility, and container management without the cost.
So how do you get started?
Some assumptions before we begin:
This is the most important step. If you have Docker Desktop installed, it may conflict with Podman. It may also make you non-compliant with Docker's licensing terms. Uninstall Docker Desktop completely. One way to do this is through WinGet, the Windows package manager, if you installed it that way or via the Microsoft Store. You can run the following command in a terminal:
winget uninstall Docker.DockerDesktop
There are multiple ways to install Podman on Windows. I recommend using WinGet because command-line tools are precise and repeatable. I also just love using the terminal.
There are additional tools that we will install alongside Podman to provide a similar experience to Docker Desktop. These include:
docker CLI commands.docker compose and podman compose commands (optional).winget install --id RedHat.Podman --exact
winget install --id RedHat.Podman-Desktop --exact
winget install --id Docker.DockerCLI --exact
winget install --id Docker.DockerCompose --exact
winget install --id Kubernetes.kubectl --exact
After installation, you should be able to run podman version in your terminal to verify Podman is installed correctly. You can also launch Podman Desktop and see the desktop application GUI.
Okay, now we have all of our tools installed. The next step is to enable Docker compatibility in Podman Desktop. This will allow all Docker tools to utilize the Podman engine. Unfortunately, you have to leave the CLI to do this.
After this, you should have a new Docker Compatibility section which shows system socket status, Podman Compose CLI support and Docker CLI context. That Docker CLI context is very important. It means any docker commands you run in your terminal will now utilize Podman as the backend engine! This is the magic that makes the transition seamless.
At this point, assuming installations succeeded and no UI changes confounded you, you should be ready to go! Let's verify everything is working correctly with some simple commands:
First, let's check the Podman version:
podman version
You will notice output that includes a Client and Server section, similar to Docker. Most important to note is the server version. Podman Desktop runs the podman machine in WSL for us. If you are seeing issues here or with podman commands, you may want to restart your computer and ensure Podman Desktop is auto-running the podman machine. You can check this with the following command:
podman machine list
This command should show a running machine named podman-machine-default and I would expect the last up time to be Currently running.
Now, let's verify Docker CLI compatibility by running:
docker version
This should output two sections again: Client and Server. The server section should match the Podman server version from earlier. This means your Docker CLI is successfully talking to the Podman engine!
The last thing to do is verify we can pull and run a container. You can use any hello world, but I like using the Microsoft MCR Hello World image. Let's do it:
docker run mcr.microsoft.com/mcr/hello-world:latest
You should see output similar to the following:
Hello from Docker!
This message shows that your installation appears to be working correctly.
To generate this message, Docker took the following steps:
1. The Docker client contacted the Docker daemon.
2. The Docker daemon pulled the "hello-world" image from the Docker Hub.
(amd64)
3. The Docker daemon created a new container from that image which runs the
executable that produces the output you are currently reading.
4. The Docker daemon streamed that output to the Docker client, which sent it
to your terminal.
To try something more ambitious, you can run an Ubuntu container with:
$ docker run -it ubuntu bash
Share images, automate workflows, and more with a free Docker ID:
https://hub.docker.com/
For more examples and ideas, visit:
https://docs.docker.com/get-started/
In our case, the Docker client actually contacted the Podman engine. You can also skip the docker CLI and run the same command with podman:
podman run mcr.microsoft.com/mcr/hello-world:latest
At this point, you have successfully migrated from Docker Desktop to Podman on Windows! You can continue using all your existing Docker CLI commands and workflows, but now with Podman as the backend engine. You also have a GUI with Podman Desktop that provides similar functionality to Docker Desktop.
For additional reading about containers, consider learning about multi-stage builds. Otherwise, happy containerizing with Podman!