Goodbye Docker Desktop: running Docker natively in WSL 2

After a Windows 10 update Docker Desktop + WSL 2 stopped working:

Cannot connect to the Docker daemon at unix:///var/run/docker.sock
WSL distro terminated abruptly … exit status 1

Hours of resets and reinstalls later, the simplest fix was to bypass Docker Desktop entirely and install the Linux engine inside the Ubuntu WSL 2 distro.

Native-WSL installation (3 commands)

# 1 – accept PPA label change (only needed if apt warns)
sudo apt-get update -o Acquire::AllowReleaseInfoChange::Label=yes

# 2 – remove any Desktop shim that blocks the script
sudo rm -f /usr/bin/docker

# 3 – install engine + CLI
curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com | sh
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER && newgrp docker

Start the service (Ubuntu 22.04+ auto-starts it):

sudo service docker start
docker run hello-world

What you gain

Migration notes

• Volumes & images now live at \\wsl$\Ubuntu\var\lib\docker.
  Export any data from docker-desktop-data before uninstalling Desktop.

• To avoid port conflicts, run only one daemon at a time:

  • sudo service docker stop when you want to return to Desktop.
  • Restore Desktop’s socket with
    sudo ln -sf /mnt/wsl/shared-docker/docker.sock /var/run/docker.sock.
• Docker Compose v2 is included in the install script (docker compose …).

So unless you rely on Desktop-only features (GUI dashboards, Extensions, Dev Environments), running Docker straight inside WSL 2 is the cleaner option.

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