Install Docker Desktop on Fedora

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

This page contains information on how to install, launch and upgrade Docker Desktop on a Fedora distribution.

Prerequisites

To install Docker Desktop successfully, you must:

Meet the system requirements.
Have a 64-bit version of either Fedora 35 or Fedora 36.

Additionally, for a Gnome Desktop environment you must install AppIndicator and KStatusNotifierItem Gnome extensions.

For non-Gnome Desktop environments, gnome-terminal must be installed:

$ sudo dnf install gnome-terminal

Install Docker Desktop

To install Docker Desktop on Fedora:

Set up Docker’s package repository.
Download latest RPM package from the release page.
Install the package with dnf as follows:

$ sudo dnf install ./docker-desktop-<version>-<arch>.rpm

There are a few post-install configuration steps done through the post-install script contained in the RPM package.

The post-install script:

Sets the capability on the Docker Desktop binary to map privileged ports and set resource limits.
Adds a DNS name for Kubernetes to /etc/hosts.
Creates a link from /usr/bin/docker to /usr/local/bin/com.docker.cli.

Launch Docker Desktop

To start Docker Desktop for Linux, search Docker Desktop on the Applications menu and open it. This launches the whale menu icon and opens the Docker Dashboard, reporting the status of Docker Desktop.

Alternatively, open a terminal and run:

$ systemctl --user start docker-desktop

When Docker Desktop starts, it creates a dedicated context that the Docker CLI can use as a target and sets it as the current context in use. This is to avoid a clash with a local Docker Engine that may be running on the Linux host and using the default context. On shutdown, Docker Desktop resets the current context to the previous one.

The Docker Desktop installer updates Docker Compose and the Docker CLI binaries on the host. It installs Docker Compose V2 and gives users the choice to link it as docker-compose from the Settings panel. Docker Desktop installs the new Docker CLI binary that includes cloud-integration capabilities in /usr/local/bin and creates a symlink to the classic Docker CLI at /usr/local/bin/com.docker.cli.

After you’ve successfully installed Docker Desktop, you can check the versions of these binaries by running the following commands:

$ docker compose version
Docker Compose version v2.5.0

$ docker --version
Docker version 20.10.14, build a224086349

$ docker version
Client: Docker Engine - Community
Cloud integration: 1.0.24
Version:           20.10.14
API version:       1.41
...

To enable Docker Desktop to start on login, from the Docker menu, select Settings > General > Start Docker Desktop when you log in.

Alternatively, open a terminal and run:

$ systemctl --user enable docker-desktop

To stop Docker Desktop, click on the whale menu tray icon to open the Docker menu and select Quit Docker Desktop.

Alternatively, open a terminal and run:

$ systemctl --user stop docker-desktop

Upgrade Docker Desktop

Once a new version for Docker Desktop is released, the Docker UI shows a notification. You need to first remove the previous version and then download the new package each time you want to upgrade Docker Desktop. Run:

$ sudo dnf remove docker-desktop
$ sudo dnf install ./docker-desktop-<version>-<arch>.rpm

Uninstall Docker Desktop

To remove Docker Desktop for Linux, run:

$ sudo dnf remove docker-desktop

For a complete cleanup, remove configuration and data files at $HOME/.docker/desktop, the symlink at /usr/local/bin/com.docker.cli, and purge the remaining systemd service files.

$ rm -r $HOME/.docker/desktop
$ sudo rm /usr/local/bin/com.docker.cli

Remove the credsStore and currentContext properties from $HOME/.docker/config.json. Additionally, you must delete any edited configuration files manually.

Next steps

Take a look at the Get started training modules to learn how to build an image and run it as a containerized application.
Review the topics in Develop with Docker to learn how to build new applications using Docker.

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