Prerequisites & Environment Setup

To follow this tutorial you need a system capable of running Docker containers. Below are the specific requirements for each operating system.

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System Requirements (All Platforms)

Requirement	Minimum	Recommended
RAM	8 GB	16 GB
Free disk space	10 GB	20 GB
CPU cores	2	4+
Internet connection	Required for downloading images	—

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Linux

Docker Installation

Option A — Docker Engine (native, recommended):

# Ubuntu / Debian
sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y docker.io
sudo systemctl enable --now docker

# Fedora
sudo dnf install -y docker
sudo systemctl enable --now docker

Option B — Docker Desktop for Linux:

Download from docs.docker.com/desktop/install/linux

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macOS

Docker Installation

Docker Desktop for Mac (recommended):

1. Download from docs.docker.com/desktop/install/mac
2. Choose the Apple Silicon version if you have an M1/M2/M3/M4 Mac, or Intel version for Intel Macs
3. Drag the .dmg into the Applications folder and launch Docker Desktop
4. Accept the terms and follow the setup wizard

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Windows

Docker Installation

Docker Desktop for Windows (recommended):

1. Download from docs.docker.com/desktop/install/windows
2. Run the installer and ensure “Use WSL 2 instead of Hyper-V” is selected
3. After installation, launch Docker Desktop
4. It will prompt you to install the WSL2 kernel if missing — follow the instructions

WSL2 Setup (if needed manually)

If Docker Desktop does not automatically configure WSL2:

# Run in PowerShell as Administrator
wsl --install -d ubuntu

Then in Docker Desktop → Settings → Resources → WSL Integration, enable integration with your WSL2 distro.

Docker Desktop Configuration

• Open Docker Desktop → Settings → Resources → Advanced
• Allocate at least 4 CPUs and 8 GB of memory
• Under Settings → General, enable “Use WSL 2 based engine”

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Common Verification Checklist

After Docker is installed, confirm everything works:

# Check Docker version
docker --version

# Run the test container
docker run --rm hello-world

# Verify architecture (on ARM Macs, check emulation if needed)
docker run --rm --platform linux/amd64 alpine uname -m

Expected Output

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

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