How to Install Docker WITHOUT Docker Desktop on Windows 11

Hey peeps, been a while. One of the biggest annoyances for me as a software dev that mainly uses Linux on a work laptop, is having to deal with Docker Desktop on Windows. For some reason, docker doesn't offer an option to easily install the Docker-CLI interface on Windows without their desktop app, which in my opinion is slow, buggy and just a painful way to use the software. So in this video, I show you the complete process I've done to: * Run docker on windows without docker desktop; * Use a tool like portainer for an actual GOOD graphical experience for docker; * Move your storage somewhere else; * Keep your WSL instances running even when you're not using them to prevent slowdowns and Portainer becoming unavailable. # COMMANDS (in sequence): 1. Create a .wslconfig file in your user folder: New-Item .wslconfig 1.1. Insert this into it and save it (you can use Notepad): [general] instanceIdleTimeout=-1 2. Run the following WSL commands in sequence: wsl --update wsl --install Ubuntu 2.1. If you wish to change the location of your VM's storage: wsl --export Ubuntu path/to/your/.vhdx --vhd wsl --unregister Ubuntu wsl --import-in-place Ubuntu path/to/your/.vhdx 3. Open the VM's WSL settings: sudo nano /etc/wsl.conf 3.1. Insert this on it: [automount] enabled=true root=/ 4. Run the following commands in sequence: sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y sudo apt install -y apt-transport-https ca-certificates curl gnupg lsb-release # REMOVE THE SPACES IN "https:// download" (I can't use links in descriptions for some reason) curl -fsSL https:// download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/docker-archive-keyring.gpg echo "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/docker-archive-keyring.gpg] https:// download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu $(lsb_release -cs) stable" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list sudo apt update sudo apt install -y docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin sudo usermod -aG docker $USER newgrp docker sudo systemctl enable --now docker 5. Create a PowerShell profile (if you don't have any): New-Item -ItemType File -Path $PROFILE -Force 5.1. Insert this into it: function docker { wsl docker $args } 6. Install Portainer-CE: docker volume create portainer_data docker run -d -p 8000:8000 -p 9443:9443 --name portainer --restart=always -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock -v portainer_data:/data portainer/portainer-ce:lts