Install + run Docker Desktop without admin privileges on Windows

[LambdaScorpii]

Tell us about your request Admins can enable WSL2 via Group Policies on Windows, hence I would like to see that Docker Desktop can be installed + run on Windows without Admin Priviliges.

Which service(s) is this request for? Docker Desktop for Windows

Tell us about the problem you're trying to solve. What are you trying to do, and why is it hard? Currently it is complex to maintain as also Upgrades requires Admin rights, so removing this entirely would really help maintaining the Software.

Are you currently working around the issue?

Additional context

[chris-crone]

Thanks for the feedback @LambdaScorpii! We are actively looking into this

[UvZoomE]

Any update on this feature?

[KatTomrushka]

Hey folks, We have an beta version of the adminless installer available. 🎉

This per-user DD installer allows your IT team to add Docker Desktop to the self-service catalogue and thus enable local users to perform installs/ core updates themselves.

Limitations A per-user installation does not support features requiring admin rights, including:

• No Hyper-V or Windows containers backend support — only WSL 2 is available.
• The Visual Studio Docker plugin will not detect Docker Desktop.
• The installer cannot define kubernetes.docker.internal, host.docker.internal and gateway.docker.internal in the hosts file
• The Registry Access Management works but feature won't be available if users need to be offline.
• The installer does not support the --allowed-orgs and --admin-settings flags when using the --user mode — you can use alternative solutions to enforce sign-in and manage settings centrally, e..g Windows registry key or cloud policy for admin settings pushed from the admin console.

Hopefully there are no deal breakers?

How to Test

1. Download Docker Desktop via https://desktop.docker.com/win/main/amd64/Docker%20Desktop%20Installer.exe
2. Install Docker Desktop as a per-user install (powershell): .\Docker Desktop Installer.exe install --user --quiet --unattended
3. (optional) Enforce sign-in for users (powershell):

New-Item -Path "HKCU:\Software\Docker Inc.\Docker Desktop" -Force
Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Software\Docker Inc.\Docker Desktop" -Name "allowedOrgs" -Value '["your-org-name"]'

This will enforce authentication against the Fidelity organization when launching Docker Desktop.

We’d love your feedback on how this mode performs in your environment and whether it aligns with your security and deployment needs. Feel free to book time with me to discuss: https://calendly.com/kat-tomrushka/30min