Lesson 2 / 26

Installing Docker

Get Docker Desktop or Engine on your machine and confirm it works.

Desktop vs Engine

Docker Desktop (Windows/macOS) bundles a GUI, a Linux VM, and the CLI. On Linux, you typically install just the Docker Engine — the daemon and CLI, no extra VM needed.

Verify the install

After installing, confirm the CLI is on your PATH and the daemon is running.

docker --version
# Docker version 27.x.x, build xxxxxxx

docker info   # shows daemon status, containers, images, etc.

Run hello-world

The classic smoke test — it pulls a tiny image and runs it, printing a confirmation message.

docker run hello-world

Output:

Hello from Docker!
This message shows that your installation appears to be working correctly.