Docker Desktop System Requirements Windows 11 Wsl 2 Jun 2026
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Internet Connection: Necessary for downloading the installer, pulling base images, and updates.
Windows Subsystem for Linux: The core framework for running Linux binaries on Windows. Linux Kernel Update docker desktop system requirements windows 11 wsl 2
Before installing Docker, you must enable two specific Windows features:
Docker Desktop is a powerful tool for developers, but running it smoothly on Windows 11 using the WSL 2 backend requires specific hardware and software configurations. Ensuring your system meets these requirements is the first step toward a stable containerization environment. Minimum Hardware Requirements Linux Kernel Update Before installing Docker, you must
Processor: 64-bit processor with Second Level Address Translation (SLAT). RAM: Minimum 4 GB of system RAM.
✅ Run systeminfo in CMD – find “Hyper-V Requirements: Yes” ✅ Run wsl --list --verbose – shows a default WSL 2 distro (e.g., Ubuntu) ✅ Run docker --version in WSL 2 terminal – confirms Docker CLI works inside Linux RAM: Minimum 4 GB of system RAM
Limit Resource Usage: Create a .wslconfig file in your Windows user profile folder to cap the amount of RAM and CPU cores WSL 2 can consume, preventing Docker from "hogging" your entire system. To help you get started, A guide on to save RAM? Steps to migrate your files into the Linux file system?









