What is the reason for WSL2 not being supported ?

[advnpzn]

I've tried running the script to install docker in WSL2 (Debian bookworm) and I got the following warning.

curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com/ -o get-docker.sh

# Executing docker install script, commit: e5543d473431b782227f8908005543bb4389b8de

WSL DETECTED: We recommend using Docker Desktop for Windows.
Please get Docker Desktop from https://www.docker.com/products/docker-desktop/


You may press Ctrl+C now to abort this script.
+ sleep 20

But I've modified the script locally to make is_wsl() throw a false.

is_wsl() {
	case "$(uname -r)" in
	*microsoft* ) false ;; # WSL 2
	*Microsoft* ) false ;; # WSL 1
	* ) false;;
	esac
}

And I was able to install docker in my Debian bookworm WSL2.
And it is even working perfectly fine.

wsl --version
WSL version: 2.1.5.0
Kernel version: 5.15.146.1-2
WSLg version: 1.0.60
MSRDC version: 1.2.5105
Direct3D version: 1.611.1-81528511
DXCore version: 10.0.25131.1002-220531-1700.rs-onecore-base2-hyp
Windows version: 10.0.22631.3447

I want to know why installing Docker in WSL2 is not supported and what issues do we face if someone installs Docker in WSL ?

[linghengqian]

• I observed this git from https://learn.microsoft.com/zh-cn/windows/wsl/tutorials/gpu-compute . But in reality, the script just intentionally does nothing for 20 seconds. The script does not block the installation.

cd /tmp/
curl https://get.docker.com | sh
sudo docker run hello-world

• Docker Engine in Rootful Mode does install properly.

linghengqian@DESKTOP-2OCN434:/tmp$ curl https://get.docker.com | sh
  % Total    % Received % Xferd  Average Speed   Time    Time     Time  Current
                                 Dload  Upload   Total   Spent    Left  Speed
100 21596  100 21596    0     0   175k      0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:--  177k
# Executing docker install script, commit: 0d6f72e671ba87f7aa4c6991646a1a5b9f9dae84

WSL DETECTED: We recommend using Docker Desktop for Windows.
Please get Docker Desktop from https://www.docker.com/products/docker-desktop/


You may press Ctrl+C now to abort this script.
+ sleep 20
+ sudo -E sh -c apt-get update -qq >/dev/null
[sudo] password for linghengqian:
+ sudo -E sh -c DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get install -y -qq ca-certificates curl >/dev/null
+ sudo -E sh -c install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings
+ sudo -E sh -c curl -fsSL "https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg" -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc
+ sudo -E sh -c chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc
+ sudo -E sh -c echo "deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu jammy stable" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list
+ sudo -E sh -c apt-get update -qq >/dev/null
+ sudo -E sh -c DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get install -y -qq docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-compose-plugin docker-ce-rootless-extras docker-buildx-plugin >/dev/null
+ sudo -E sh -c docker version
Client: Docker Engine - Community
 Version:           27.2.1
 API version:       1.47
 Go version:        go1.22.7
 Git commit:        9e34c9b
 Built:             Fri Sep  6 12:08:10 2024
 OS/Arch:           linux/amd64
 Context:           default

Server: Docker Engine - Community
 Engine:
  Version:          27.2.1
  API version:      1.47 (minimum version 1.24)
  Go version:       go1.22.7
  Git commit:       8b539b8
  Built:            Fri Sep  6 12:08:10 2024
  OS/Arch:          linux/amd64
  Experimental:     false
 containerd:
  Version:          1.7.22
  GitCommit:        7f7fdf5fed64eb6a7caf99b3e12efcf9d60e311c
 runc:
  Version:          1.1.14
  GitCommit:        v1.1.14-0-g2c9f560
 docker-init:
  Version:          0.19.0
  GitCommit:        de40ad0

================================================================================

To run Docker as a non-privileged user, consider setting up the
Docker daemon in rootless mode for your user:

    dockerd-rootless-setuptool.sh install

Visit https://docs.docker.com/go/rootless/ to learn about rootless mode.


To run the Docker daemon as a fully privileged service, but granting non-root
users access, refer to https://docs.docker.com/go/daemon-access/

WARNING: Access to the remote API on a privileged Docker daemon is equivalent
         to root access on the host. Refer to the 'Docker daemon attack surface'
         documentation for details: https://docs.docker.com/go/attack-surface/

================================================================================

linghengqian@DESKTOP-2OCN434:/tmp$

[linghengqian]

• @StefanScherer @silvin-lubecki @thaJeztah I noticed this was introduced by [DESKTOP-2757] Check for macOS and WSL and suggest Docker Desktop #170 . Considering the Microsoft Doc ( https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/tutorials/gpu-compute ) references this script, can we remove the 20 second delay on WSL installation?
• To avoid this delay, the installation steps for users on Ubuntu 22.04.4 WSL are a bit lengthy right now.

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo apt-get remove docker.io docker-doc docker-compose docker-compose-v2 podman-docker containerd runc
cd /tmp/
sudo apt-get install ca-certificates curl
sudo install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings
sudo curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc
sudo chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc

echo \
  "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu \
  $(. /etc/os-release && echo "$VERSION_CODENAME") stable" | \
  sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin -y
sudo groupadd docker
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
newgrp docker

# Changed to use `local` of `log-driver`
sudo vi /etc/docker/daemon.json

sudo systemctl restart docker
docker run hello-world

• I would say that Docker Desktop cannot be installed directly under WSL, refer to Unable to use Docker Desktop installed from Deb on Ubuntu 22.04 WSL ubuntu/WSL#486 . Docker Desktop can only be installed in a Windows Native environment.

[advnpzn]

I observed this git from https://learn.microsoft.com/zh-cn/windows/wsl/tutorials/gpu-compute . But in reality, the script just intentionally does nothing for 20 seconds. The script does not block the installation.

Wow, I guess I shouldn't have just assumed that after the 20 secs delay, it would just exit.

[linghengqian]

Fixed by #475 .