Install and configure

Table of contents

Install interactively

  1. In the Docker Admin Console, navigate to your organization.

  2. Under Security and access, select the Deploy Docker Desktop page.

  3. Select the Download MSI installer button.

  4. Once downloaded, double-click Docker Desktop Installer.msi to run the installer.

  5. Once you've accepted the license agreement, you can choose the install location. By default, Docker Desktop is installed at C:\Program Files\Docker\Docker.

  6. Configure the Docker Desktop installation. You can:

    • Create a desktop shortcut

    • Set the Docker Desktop service startup type to automatic

    • Disable Windows Container usage

    • Select the engine for Docker Desktop. Either WSL or Hyper-V. If your system only supports one of the two options, you won't be able to select which backend to use.

  7. Follow the instructions on the installation wizard to authorize the installer and proceed with the install.

  8. When the installation is successful, select Finish to complete the installation process.

If your administrator account is different to your user account, you must add the user to the docker-users group:

  1. Run Computer Management as an administrator.
  2. Navigate to Local Users and Groups > Groups > docker-users.
  3. Right-click to add the user to the group.
  4. Sign out and sign back in for the changes to take effect.

Note

When installing Docker Desktop with the MSI, in-app updates are automatically disabled. This feature ensures your organization maintains the required Docker Desktop version. For Docker Desktop installed with the .exe installer, in-app updates remain supported.

Docker Desktop notifies you when an update is available. To update Docker Desktop, download the latest installer from the Docker Admin Console. Navigate to the Deploy Docker Desktop page > under Security and access.

To keep up to date with new releases, check the release notes page.

Install from the command line

This section covers command line installations of Docker Desktop using PowerShell. It provides common installation commands that you can run. You can also add additional arguments which are outlined in configuration options.

When installing Docker Desktop, you can choose between interactive or non-interactive installations.

Interactive installations, without specifying /quiet or /qn, display the user interface and let you select your own properties.

When installing via the user interface it's possible to:

  • Choose the destination folder
  • Create a desktop shortcut
  • Configure the Docker Desktop service startup type
  • Disable Windows Containers
  • Choose between the WSL or Hyper-V engine

Non-interactive installations are silent and any additional configuration must be passed as arguments.

Common installation commands

Important

Admin rights are required to run any of the following commands.

Installing interactively with verbose logging 

msiexec /i "DockerDesktop.msi" /L*V ".\msi.log"

Installing interactively without verbose logging 

msiexec /i "DockerDesktop.msi"

Installing non-interactively with verbose logging 

msiexec /i "DockerDesktop.msi" /L*V ".\msi.log" /quiet

Installing non-interactively and suppressing reboots 

msiexec /i "DockerDesktop.msi" /L*V ".\msi.log" /quiet /norestart

Installing non-interactively with admin settings 

msiexec /i "DockerDesktop.msi" /L*V ".\msi.log" /quiet /norestart ADMINSETTINGS="{"configurationFileVersion":2,"enhancedContainerIsolation":{"value":true,"locked":false}}" ALLOWEDORG="docker"

Installing with the passive display option

You can use the /passive display option instead of /quiet when you want to perform a non-interactive installation but show a progress dialog.

In passive mode the installer doesn't display any prompts or error messages to the user and the installation cannot be cancelled.

For example:

msiexec /i "DockerDesktop.msi" /L*V ".\msi.log" /passive /norestart

Tip

Some useful tips to remember when creating a value that expects a JSON string as it’s value:

  • The property expects a JSON formatted string
  • The string should be wrapped in double quotes
  • The string shouldn't contain any whitespace
  • Property names are expected to be in double quotes

Common uninstall commands

When uninstalling Docker Desktop, you need to use the same .msi file that was originally used to install the application.

If you no longer have the original .msi file, you need to use the product code associated with the installation. To find the product code, run:

Get-WmiObject Win32_Product | Select-Object IdentifyingNumber, Name | Where-Object {$_.Name -eq "Docker Desktop"}

It should return output similar to the following:

IdentifyingNumber                      Name
-----------------                      ----
{10FC87E2-9145-4D7D-B493-2E99E8D8E103} Docker Desktop

Note

This command can take some time to return, depending on the number of installed applications.

IdentifyingNumber is the applications product code and can be used to uninstall Docker Desktop. For example:

msiexec /x {10FC87E2-9145-4D7D-B493-2E99E8D8E103} /L*V ".\msi.log" /quiet

Uninstalling interactively with verbose logging 

msiexec /x "DockerDesktop.msi" /L*V ".\msi.log"

Uninstalling interactively without verbose logging 

msiexec /x "DockerDesktop.msi"

Uninstalling non-interactively with verbose logging 

msiexec /x "DockerDesktop.msi" /L*V ".\msi.log" /quiet

Uninstalling non-interactively without verbose logging 

msiexec /x "DockerDesktop.msi" /quiet

Configuration options

Important

In addition to the following custom properties, the Docker Desktop MSI installer also supports the standard Windows Installer command line options.

Property Description Default
ENABLEDESKTOPSHORTCUT Creates a desktop shortcut. 1
INSTALLFOLDER Specifies a custom location where Docker Desktop will be installed. C:\Program Files\Docker
ADMINSETTINGS Automatically creates an admin-settings.json file which is used to control certain Docker Desktop settings on client machines within organizations. It must be used together with the ALLOWEDORG property. None
ALLOWEDORG Requires the user to sign in and be part of the specified Docker Hub organization when running the application. This creates a registry key called allowedOrgs in HKLM\Software\Policies\Docker\Docker Desktop. None
ALWAYSRUNSERVICE Lets users switch to Windows containers without needing admin rights 0
DISABLEWINDOWSCONTAINERS Disables the Windows containers integration 0
ENGINE Sets the Docker Engine that's used to run containers. This can be either wsl , hyperv, or windows wsl
PROXYENABLEKERBEROSNTLM When set to 1, enables support for Kerberos and NTLM proxy authentication. Available with Docker Desktop 4.33 and later 0
PROXYHTTPMODE Sets the HTTP Proxy mode. This can be either system or manual system
OVERRIDEPROXYHTTP Sets the URL of the HTTP proxy that must be used for outgoing HTTP requests. None
OVERRIDEPROXYHTTPS Sets the URL of the HTTP proxy that must be used for outgoing HTTPS requests. None
OVERRIDEPROXYEXCLUDE Bypasses proxy settings for the hosts and domains. Uses a comma-separated list. None
HYPERVDEFAULTDATAROOT Specifies the default location for the Hyper-V VM disk. None
WINDOWSCONTAINERSDEFAULTDATAROOT Specifies the default location for Windows containers. None
WSLDEFAULTDATAROOT Specifies the default location for the WSL distribution disk. None
DISABLEANALYTICS When set to 1, analytics collection will be disabled for the MSI. For more information, see Analytics. 0

Additionally, you can also use /norestart or /forcerestart to control reboot behaviour.

By default, the installer reboots the machine after a successful installation. When ran silently, the reboot is automatic and the user is not prompted.

Analytics

The MSI installer collects anonymous usage statistics to better understand user behaviour and to improve the user experience by identifying and addressing issues or optimizing popular features.

How to opt-out

When you install Docker Desktop from the default installer GUI, select the Disable analytics checkbox located on the bottom-left corner of the Welcome dialog.

When you install Docker Desktop from the command line, use the DISABLEANALYTICS property.

msiexec /i "win\msi\bin\en-US\DockerDesktop.msi" /L*V ".\msi.log" DISABLEANALYTICS=1

Persistence

If you decide to disable analytics for an installation, your choice is persisted in the registry and honoured across future upgrades and uninstalls.

However, the key is removed when Docker Desktop is uninstalled and must be configured again via one of the previous methods.

The registry key is as follows:

SOFTWARE\Docker Inc.\Docker Desktop\DisableMsiAnalytics

When analytics is disabled, this key has a value of 1.

Additional resources