Setting up Docker

In today’s development environment, containerization has become an essential practice for developers and IT professionals. Docker, one of the leading containerization platforms, allows us to automate the deployment of applications inside lightweight, portable, and self-sufficient containers. This technology not only simplifies the process of managing application dependencies and packages but also ensures that your application works cross-platform.

In this tutorial, we will guide you through the step-by-step process of setting up Docker on your system. Whether you are a new developer looking to learn about Docker or a seasoned one, this tutorial will guide you through the setup process for the following operating systems:

1. Mac
2. Windows
3. Linux

Docker setup for Mac

To set up Docker in MacOS, open the official Docker website to download the Docker desktop. Once the download is completed, install it on your Mac system.

👁 Images showing the download links

Once the installation is done, run the Docker desktop and open your terminal. In the terminal run the command docker –version to see the current version of Docker. Run docker run hello-world to confirm containers are working.

Docker setup for Windows

In Windows, the procedure for setting up Docker is the following:

• You will have to make sure Windows features required to run Docker are enabled. To turn these on search Turn Windows features on or off and open it.
• Once it is open, select the options called Hyper-V and Windows Subsystem for Linux

👁 Image showing which window feature to select

👁 Image showing which window feature to select

• Press OK to restart your system.

• Once this is done, download the Docker desktop from Docker website and install it.

• After installation, if your PC doesn’t have WSL enabled, you will get an error message like this:

👁 Image showing the WSL error

• To fix the problem, you must copy the given command in the error message and paste it inside PowerShell. Make sure to run PowerShell as administrator. Once you run the command, your system will restart.

• With this, the installation of Docker is done. To confirm it is working run the following two commands:

👁 Images showing the docker listing in CMD

👁 Images showing "Hello Docker!" confirmation.

Docker setup for Linux

When it comes to Linux, you must be careful as Docker only supports Ubuntu, Debian, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), and Fedora. You can follow the steps below to setup Docker on Linux:

Checking the KVM Virtualization Support

• To load the module, run:

modprobe kvm 
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• Depending on your CPU, the next command will differ:

modprobe kvm_intel # Intel processors 
modprobe kvm_amd # AMD processors 
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• To check if the KVM module is working, run the Command:

lsmod | grep kvm 
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The following steps require you to set up KVM device user permissions:

• You will have to check the ownership of /dev/kvm and to do that, run:

ls -al /dev/kvm 
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• The next step requires you to add your user name, $USER, to the kvm group:

sudo usermod -aG kvm $USER 
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You are done with checking the KVM. Now we will move to setting up the Docker Desktop.

Setting up the Docker Desktop in Linux

• First, you need to update your package database. To do that, run:

sudo apt get-update 
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• Install the Docker engine like so:

sudo apt install docker.io 
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• Once the above installation is done, you need to enable the docker services. To do that, run the following commands:

sudo systemctl enable docker 
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To confirm that the docker services are running, run the command:

sudo systemctl status 
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Note: If the services are not running, run the command:

sudo systemctl start docker 
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• Finally, to check if Docker is running, run a Docker container like so:

sudo docker run hello-world 
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• You should get a response like this:

👁 Images showing "Hello Docker!" confirmation

Conclusion

Congratulations! In this article, we’ve walked through setting up a Docker container for Mac, Windows, and Linux—the first step towards mastering Docker. With Docker, you’re now equipped to create consistent and isolated environments for your applications, making development, testing, and deployment more efficient and reliable.

To learn more about computer science concepts, check out these articles on Codecademy.

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