Windows WSL

Overview

Dockerman supports Docker running under Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL 2). This guide covers setup and common configurations.

Prerequisites

• Windows 10 build 2004+ or Windows 11
• WSL 2 enabled
• Docker Desktop installed (with the WSL 2 backend) or Docker Engine running directly inside WSL 2

With Docker Desktop

If you use Docker Desktop's WSL 2 backend:

1. Open Docker Desktop settings
2. Go to Resources > WSL Integration
3. Enable integration for the WSL distributions you use
4. Install and launch Dockerman on Windows
5. Dockerman connects to Docker automatically

With Docker Engine in WSL 2

If you run Docker Engine directly inside WSL 2 (without Docker Desktop):

1. Start Docker Engine inside your WSL 2 distribution
2. Make sure the Docker socket is reachable at /var/run/docker.sock
3. Launch Dockerman — it detects the Docker socket automatically

Troubleshooting

Docker socket not found

Make sure Docker is running inside your WSL 2 distribution:

sudo service docker start

Slow performance

WSL 2 runs inside a virtual machine. For best performance:

• Keep project files on the WSL 2 filesystem (not on a Windows drive)
• Allocate enough memory to WSL 2 in .wslconfig

Connection refused

Verify Docker is reachable:

docker info

If it fails, restart the Docker service or review your WSL 2 configuration.