Docker Linux On Windows 10

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You can run Compose on macOS, Windows, and 64-bit Linux.

As far as Windows is concerned Docker is just another distro that runs on top of Linux’s kernel. The integration between Docker Desktop really enables different distro to talk to each other so in our case, Ubuntu was able to run and execute commands that affect the other VM running inside the docker distro.

Prerequisites

Docker Compose relies on Docker Engine for any meaningful work, so make sure youhave Docker Engine installed either locally or remote, depending on your setup.

  • On desktop systems like Docker Desktop for Mac and Windows, Docker Compose isincluded as part of those desktop installs.

  • On Linux systems, first install theDocker Enginefor your OS as described on the Get Docker page, then come back here forinstructions on installing Compose onLinux systems.

  • To run Compose as a non-root user, see Manage Docker as a non-root user.

Install Compose

  • Just checking the Task Manager should help people if they should use Docker for Windows or the Docker Toolbox. Current 'Getting Started' says this - Docker for Windows requires 64bit Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise and Education (1511 November update, Build 10586 or later) and Microsoft Hyper-V.
  • 'c: program files docker docker Docker for Windows.exe' c: program files docker docker Docker for Windows.exe – Alsushi May 9 '20 at 16:26 I've made a bat file with the script but when I execute it the cmd remains with the blinking caret instead of exiting.

Follow the instructions below to install Compose on Mac, Windows, Windows Server2016, or Linux systems, or find out about alternatives like using the pipPython package manager or installing Compose as a container.

Install a different version

The instructions below outline installation of the current stable release(v1.28.6) of Compose. To install a different version ofCompose, replace the given release number with the one that you want. Composereleases are also listed and available for direct download on theCompose repository release page on GitHub.To install a pre-release of Compose, refer to the install pre-release buildssection.

Install Compose on macOS

Docker Desktop for Mac includes Compose alongwith other Docker apps, so Mac users do not need to install Compose separately.For installation instructions, see Install Docker Desktop on Mac.

Install Compose on Windows desktop systems

Docker Desktop for Windows includes Composealong with other Docker apps, so most Windows users do not need toinstall Compose separately. For install instructions, see Install Docker Desktop on Windows.

If you are running the Docker daemon and client directly on MicrosoftWindows Server, follow the instructions in the Windows Server tab.

Install Compose on Windows Server

Follow these instructions if you are running the Docker daemon and client directlyon Microsoft Windows Server and want to install Docker Compose.

  1. Start an “elevated” PowerShell (run it as administrator).Search for PowerShell, right-click, and chooseRun as administrator. When asked if you want to allow this appto make changes to your device, click Yes.

  2. In PowerShell, since GitHub now requires TLS1.2, run the following:

    Then run the following command to download the current stable release ofCompose (v1.28.6):

Note: On Windows Server 2019, you can add the Compose executable to $Env:ProgramFilesDocker. Because this directory is registered in the system PATH, you can run the docker-compose --version command on the subsequent step with no additional configuration.

  1. Test the installation.

Install Compose on Linux systems

On Linux, you can download the Docker Compose binary from theCompose repository release page on GitHub.Follow the instructions from the link, which involve running the curl commandin your terminal to download the binaries. These step-by-step instructions arealso included below.

For alpine, the following dependency packages are needed:py-pip, python3-dev, libffi-dev, openssl-dev, gcc, libc-dev, rust, cargo and make.

  1. Run this command to download the current stable release of Docker Compose:

    To install a different version of Compose, substitute 1.28.6with the version of Compose you want to use.

    If you have problems installing with curl, seeAlternative Install Options tab above.

  2. Apply executable permissions to the binary:

Note: If the command docker-compose fails after installation, check your path.You can also create a symbolic link to /usr/bin or any other directory in your path.

For example:

  1. Optionally, install command completion for thebash and zsh shell.

  2. Test the installation.

Alternative install options

Install using pip

For alpine, the following dependency packages are needed:py-pip, python3-dev, libffi-dev, openssl-dev, gcc, libc-dev, rust, cargo, and make.

Compose can be installed frompypi using pip. If you installusing pip, we recommend that you use avirtualenv because many operatingsystems have python system packages that conflict with docker-composedependencies. See the virtualenvtutorial to getstarted.

If you are not using virtualenv,

pip version 6.0 or greater is required.

Install as a container

Compose can also be run inside a container, from a small bash script wrapper. Toinstall compose as a container run this command:

Install pre-release builds

If you’re interested in trying out a pre-release build, you can download releasecandidates from the Compose repository release page on GitHub.Follow the instructions from the link, which involves running the curl commandin your terminal to download the binaries.

Docker On Windows 10 Linux Subsystem

Pre-releases built from the “master” branch are also available for download athttps://dl.bintray.com/docker-compose/master/.

Pre-release builds allow you to try out new features before they are released,but may be less stable.

Upgrading

If you’re upgrading from Compose 1.2 or earlier, remove ormigrate your existing containers after upgrading Compose. This is because, as ofversion 1.3, Compose uses Docker labels to keep track of containers, and yourcontainers need to be recreated to add the labels.

If Compose detects containers that were created without labels, it refusesto run, so that you don’t end up with two sets of them. If you want to keep usingyour existing containers (for example, because they have data volumes you wantto preserve), you can use Compose 1.5.x to migrate them with the followingcommand:

Alternatively, if you’re not worried about keeping them, you can remove them.Compose just creates new ones.

Uninstallation

To uninstall Docker Compose if you installed using curl:

To uninstall Docker Compose if you installed using pip:

Got a “Permission denied” error?

If you get a “Permission denied” error using either of the abovemethods, you probably do not have the proper permissions to removedocker-compose. To force the removal, prepend sudo to either of the abovecommands and run again.

Docker

Where to go next

compose, orchestration, install, installation, docker, documentation

Linux Development in Windows 10 with Docker and WSL 2

I’m first and foremost a Windows guy. But for a few years now, moving away from working mostly with .NET and into a plethora of open source technologies has given me the opportunity to change platforms and run a Linux-based system as my daily driver. Ubuntu, which I honestly love for work, has been serving me well by supporting my development workflow with languages like PHP, JavaScript and Ruby. And with the help of the excellent Visual Studio Code editor, I’ve never looked back. There’s always been an inclination in the back of my mind though, to take some time and give Windows another shot.

With the latest improvements coming to the Windows Subsystem for Linux with its second version, the new and exciting Windows Terminal, and Docker support for running containers inside WSL2, I think the time is now.

In this post, we’ll walk through the steps I took to set up a PHP development environment in Windows, running in a Ubuntu Docker container running on WSL 2, and VS Code. Let’s go.

Note: You have to be on the latest version of Windows 10 Pro (Version 2004) in order to install WSL 2 by the usual methods. If not, you’d need to be part of the Windows Insider Program to have access to the software.

What’s new with WSL 2

This is best explained by the official documentation. However, being a WSL 1 veteran, I’ll mention a few improvements made which have sparked my interest in trying it again.

1. It’s faster and more compatible

WSL 2 introduces a complete architectural overhaul. Now, Windows ships with a full Linux Kernel which WSL 2 distributions run on. This results in greatly improved file system performance and much better compatibility with Linux programs. It’s no longer running a Linux look-alike, but actual Linux.

2. It’s better integrated with Windows

This is a small one: we can now use the Windows explorer to browse files within a WSL distribution. This is not a WSL 2 exclusive feature, it has been there for a while now. I think it’s worth mentioning though, because it truly is a great convenience and a far cry from WSL’s first release, where Microsoft specifically advised against manipulating WSL distribution file systems from Windows. If nothing else, this makes WSL feel like a first class citizen in the Windows ecosystem and shows that Microsoft actually cares about making it a good experience.

3. It can run Docker

I’ve recently been learning more and more about Docker and it’s quickly becoming my preferred way of setting up development environments. Due to its lightweightness, ease of use, repeatability, and VM-like compartmentalization, I find it really convenient to develop against a purpose-built Docker container, rather than directly in my local machine. And with VS Code’s Remote development extension, the whole thing is very easy to set up. Docker for Windows now supports running containers within WSL, so I’m eager to try that out and see how it all works.

4. A newer version means several bugfixes

Performance notwithstanding, WSL’s first release was pretty stable. I did, however, encounter some weird bugs and gotchas when working with the likes of SSH and Ruby during certain tasks. It was nothing major, as workarounds were readily available. I’ve already discussed some of them here, so I won’t bother mentioning them here again. But thanks to the fact that the technology has matured since last time I saw it, and considering the architectural direction it is going in, I’m excited to not have to deal with any number of quirks.

The development environment

Ok, now with some of the motivation out of the way, let’s try and build a quick PHP Hello World app running in a Docker container inside WSL 2, make sure we can edit and debug it with VS Code, and access it in a browser from Windows.

Step 1: Install WSL 2 and Ubuntu

Step 1 is obviously to install WSL and a Linux distribution that we like. Microsoft’s own documentation offers an excellent guide on how to do just that. But in summary, we need to:

  1. Enable the “Windows Subsystem for Linux” and “Virtual Machine Platform” features by running these on an elevated PowerShell:
  1. Restart your machine.
  2. Set WSL 2 as the default version with: wsl --set-default-version 2, also from PowerShell.
  3. Install your desired distribution from the Microsoft Store. I chose Ubuntu 20.04 LTS.
  4. After installing, open the “Ubuntu 20.04 LTS” app from the Start menu and it should come up with a command line console. Wait for it to finish installing. It should prompt for a username and password along the way. Choose something you won’t forget.

Optionally, you can install the Windows Terminal app to get a better command line experience. Windows Terminal can be used to interact with PowerShell and the classic CMD, as well as with our WSL distributions.

Step 2: Install Docker

Installing Docker is very straightforward. Just download the installer for Docker Desktop for Windows, execute it, and follow the wizard’s steps. Make sure that during setup the “Use the WSL 2 based engine” option is selected. In most cases, the installer will detect WSL 2 and automatically have the option selected.

Follow the official instructions for more details on the process, but it really is that simple.

Step 3: Install some useful VS Code extensions

Our objective is to create a new development environment inside a Docker container and connect to it directly with VS Code. To do that, we use a few useful extensions:

  1. The Docker extension which allows us to browse and manage images and containers and other types of Docker assets.
  2. The Remote - WSL extension which allows VS Code to connect to a WSL distribution.
  3. The Remote - Containers extension which allows VS Code to connect to a container.

Step 4: Create the development container

The extensions that we installed will allow us to use VS Code to work on code from within our WSL Ubuntu as well as from the container. Specifically, we want to connect VS Code to a container. There are a few ways to do this, but I will describe the one I think is the easiest, most convenient and “automagic” by fully leveraging the tools.

Let’s begin by opening a WSL Ubuntu terminal session, which will show something like this:

The project directory

Let’s change to our home, create a new directory for our new project, and change into it.

Because we installed the Remote - WSL extension, we can open up this directory in VS Code with code .. Opening a terminal (Ctrl + `) in this VS Code instance opens WSL console, not Windows.

The Dockerfile

Now let’s create a new file called Dockerfile which will define what our development environment image will look like. For a no-frills PHP environment, mine looks like this:

This script will later be used to create our development container. It will have PHP, Xdebug and Composer. This is all we need for our simple Hello World app. For more complex scenarios, other software like database clients or PHP extensions can be easily installed with additional RUN statements that call upon the apt package manager.

Consider reading through Docker’s official documentation on Dockerfiles to learn more.

The configuration file

Now, to leverage VS Code’s capabilities, let’s add a development container configuration file. In our current location, we need to create a new directory called .devcontainer and, inside that, a new file called devcontainer.json. I put these contents in mine:

A default version of this file can be automatically generated by running the “Remote-Containers: Add Development Container Configuration Files…” command in VS Code’s Command Palette (Ctrl + Shift + P).

The development container

Now that we have all that in place, we can create our image, run our container, and start coding our app. Bring up the VS Code Command Palette with Ctrl + Shift + P and run the “Remote-Containers: Reopen in Container” command. The command will:

  1. Read the Dockerfile and create an image based on that. This is like running docker build -t AUTOGENERATED_IMAGE_ID .
  2. Run a container based on that image with the settings specified in .devcontainer/devcontainer.json. In our case, all it will do is enable the container’s port 5000 to be accessible by the host. This is more or less like running: docker run -d -p 5000:5000 -v ${PWD}:/workspaces/php-in-docker-demo AUTOGENERATED_IMAGE_ID
  3. Open a new VS Code instance connected to the container with the /workspaces/php-in-docker-demo directory open.

It will take a while, but after it’s done, we will have a VS Code instance running directly in the container. Open the VS Code terminal with Ctrl + ` and see for yourself. It will show a prompt looking like this:

You can for example, run php -v in this terminal, and expect something along these lines:

This is PHP running, not in Windows, not in our WSL Ubuntu, but in the Docker container.

Hello Windows + WSL 2 + Ubuntu + Docker + PHP + VS Code

Let’s now create our app. Add a new index.php file containing something silly like:

Then, in the VS Code console (remember, Ctrl + `), start up an instance of the built in PHP development server wth php -S 0.0.0.0:5000. It’s important that we use port 5000 because that’s the one that we configured our container to use.

Navigate to http://localhost:5000/ in your browser and feel good about a job well done.

Interactive debugging

When configuring our development container, we added Xdebug and the PHP Debug VS Code extension. This means that VS Code can leverage Xdebug to provide an interactive debugging experience for PHP code.

Almost everyting is set up at this point, we just need to do the usual VS Code configuration and add a launch.json file. To do so, in VS Code, press Ctrl + Shift + D to bring up the “Run” panel, click on the “create a launch.json file” link, and in the resulting “Select Environment” menu, select “PHP”.

Run Docker Linux On Windows 10

After that, the “Run” panel will show a green triangular “Start Debugging” button next to a “Listen to XDebug” text. If you haven’t already, start up a dev web server with php -S 0.0.0.0:5000, click on the “Start Debugging” button, put a breakpoint somewhere in your index.php file, and finally open up http://localhost:5000/ in a browser.

We’re interactively debugging PHP code running on a Docker container in WSL from our Windows IDE/​editor. Pretty cool, huh?

And that’s all for now. In this article we’ve learned how to set up a Linux development environment using Docker containers and WSL 2, with Windows 10 Pro. This is a nice approach for anybody who’s confortable on Windows and needs access to a Linux environment for development; and have that environment be easy to reproduce.

Resources:

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