
Run the installer, and you will have a new command multipass available.
#DOCKER DESKTOP NEEDS PRIVILEGED ACCESS INSTALL#
To install Multipass, go to and download the installer for your operating system.
#DOCKER DESKTOP NEEDS PRIVILEGED ACCESS WINDOWS#
Setting up a Multipass instance for Docker on either Windows or macOS It is simpler this time around because of the Docker Context feature, and how Multipass makes it easy to launch a lightweight Linux virtual machine. In other words, this plan relies on an explicit Linux hypervisor hosting a Docker instance.

Fortunately it's all simpler now than it used to be. To avoid using Docker Desktop, we need to return to the basics of installing a virtual machine running Linux for installing Docker Engine, then somehow work some magic. We're sitting at the command line typing docker pull or docker build and not knowing that every command is reaching inside a virtual Linux instance to do everything. The magic of Docker Desktop is that the hypervisor is invisible to us. Inside that Linux is the Linux version of Docker Engine. Inside the Docker Desktop product is a lightweight hypervisor running a virtual Linux instance. The game plan for running Docker on macOS or Windows without using Docker Desktop It is worth exploring and understanding that alternative. In other words, there is a worthwhile to Docker Desktop. Where it used to be difficult to set up Docker on macOS or Windows using a virtual machine, it is now very easy. Again, see: Docker Inc squeezing money from Docker Desktop and other Docker tools.Ĭhoosing to use Docker Desktop is affected by another fact. Docker is still free, but parts of the Docker ecosystem requires a fee. It's important to note that Docker is not no longer free. But, there are those of us who wonder what they can use instead of Docker Desktop. Since Docker provides excellent business value, there's a good argument to be made for paying the fee. Some of us might shy away from paying $5 per month (or so) for Docker Desktop. The fees also include services on Docker Hub. The short story is that organizations above a certain size are expected to pay $5 (or so) per month per developer.


For details, see: Docker Inc squeezing money from Docker Desktop and other Docker tools. Throughout its history, Docker Desktop has been free, but in August 2021 Docker Inc announced the new freemium model. It comes with a nice GUI for managing the local Docker instance with mouse clicks. Using Docker Desktop was a huge simplification, since everything for Docker is installed as a normal application. In the olden days that meant using VirtualBox, which is a heavy-weight virtual machine system. Since Docker runs natively on Linux, a Linux virtual machine can be installed and install on it Docker Engine for Linux. In the old days of Docker, getting it installed on a macOS or Windows machine was a major feat.
