--- title: "Getting Started with Docker Rancher Desktop" description: "Learn how to get started with the Docker Desktop alternative, Docker Rancher Desktop in this ATA Learning tutorial!" canonical: "https://adamtheautomator.com/docker-rancher/" --- # Getting Started with Docker Rancher Desktop > Learn how to get started with the Docker Desktop alternative, Docker Rancher Desktop in this ATA Learning tutorial! Source: https://adamtheautomator.com/docker-rancher/ --- ATA Learning Tap to hide [ ATA Learning ](/) * [Home](/) * [Tutorials](/tutorials/) * [Instructors](/author/) * [Advertising](/advertising/) * [Recommended Resources](/resources/) * [About Adam](/about-adam/) Search for: * [](https://twitter.com/adbertram) * [](https://github.com/Adam-the-Automator) * [](https://www.linkedin.com/company/adam-the-automator-llc) * [](/feed/) ![Getting Started with Docker Rancher Desktop](https://adamtheautomator.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Getting-Started-with-Docker-Rancher-Desktop.jpg) # Getting Started with Docker Rancher Desktop [![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/2788bb1a3f735603f81eca51d68daec56a9d97e805a10268fb2c20afcc76b81b?s=192&d=mm&r=g)Nicholas Xuan Nguyen](https://adamtheautomator.com/author/nicholas-xuan-nguyen/)9 September 20226 min. read Categories: [IT Ops](/category/it-ops/) Tags:[Docker](/tag/docker/)[Kubernetes](/tag/kubernetes/)[macOS](/tag/macos/)[Windows](/tag/windows/) Table of Contents * [Prerequisites](#prerequisites) * [Installing Rancher Desktop](#installing-rancher-desktop) * [Using Rancher Desktop: Building Images](#using-rancher-desktop-building-images) * [Deploying a Container to Kubernetes](#deploying-a-container-to-kubernetes) * [Creating an NGINX Image](#creating-an-nginx-image) * [Deploying the NGINX Container to Kubernetes](#deploying-the-nginx-container-to-kubernetes) * [Conclusion](#conclusion) Do you love Docker but can’t settle with the command line? Perhaps you’re looking for the convenience of a front-end GUI. If so, then Docker Rancher Desktop might be the solution for you. Docker Rancher Desktop is a desktop application that can uncomplicate Docker and Kubernetes on your local machine. The application includes everything you need to run containers on your computer, including a GUI, command-line tools, and an integrated container registry. Sounds great so far? Don’t go anywhere because this article will teach you how to install Docker Rancher Desktop on your machine. You will also explore some features that make Rancher Desktop an attractive choice for developers and ops engineers. ## Prerequisites This tutorial will be a hands-on demonstration. If you’d like to follow along, be sure you have the following. * Windows 10 build 1909 or higher, except Home Edition. This tutorial uses Windows 10 21H2. * The computer CPU must have virtualization capabilities ([Intel VT-x](https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000005486/processors.html) or [AMD-V](https://www.techopedia.com/definition/4786/amd-virtualization-amd-v)). * 8 GB of RAM and 4 CPUs (may work with lower specs but with reduced performance). * A code editor such as [Visual Studio Code](https://code.visualstudio.com/). This tutorial will use [Visual Studio Code](https://adamtheautomator.com/visual-studio-code-tutorial/) to demonstrate commands and editing code. Related:[What You Need to Know about Visual Studio Code: A Tutorial](https://adamtheautomator.com/visual-studio-code-tutorial/) ## **Installing Rancher Desktop** Rancher Desktop is an open-source project that is free and available to any major operating system, such as Windows, macOS, and Linux. This tutorial will focus on Docker Rancher Desktop on Windows. The functionality and interface will be the same across your platform. The only main difference is with the installation. Follow the below steps to install Docker Rancher Desktop. 1\. Open your web browser and open the [Rancher Desktop GitHub releases page](https://github.com/rancher-sandbox/rancher-desktop/releases). The latest version as of this writing is 1.4.1. 2\. Scroll down to the Assets section. Click the _Rancher.Desktop.Setup-1.4.1.exe_ link. This file is a self-extracting executable. Save this file to a convenient location, such as your Downloads folder. ![Downloading Rancher Desktop](https://adamtheautomator.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/image.png) Downloading Rancher Desktop 3\. Locate and run the setup file to start the installation. ![Launch the Docker Rancher Desktop installer](https://adamtheautomator.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/image-1.png) Launch the Docker Rancher Desktop installer 4\. On the Rancher Desktop Setup installation wizard that appears, click I agree to accept the license agreement. ![Accept the license agreement](https://adamtheautomator.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/image-2.png) Accept the license agreement The installation starts right away. Wait a few minutes for the installation to complete. ![Docker Rancher Desktop installation progress](https://adamtheautomator.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/image-3.png) Docker Rancher Desktop installation progress 5\. After installing, click the Reboot now option and click Finish. The system reboot is necessary to complete the Rancher Desktop installation. ![Reboot after the installation](https://adamtheautomator.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/image-4.png) Reboot after the installation 6\. Launch the Rancher Desktop application after the reboot, either from the desktop shortcut or the Start menu. ![Launch Racher Desktop](https://adamtheautomator.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/image-5.png) Launch Racher Desktop 7\. The initial launch will show you the Welcome to Rancher Desktop window. Leave the default settings (Enable Kubernetes, select the stable, latest version, and containerd as the Container Runtime) and click Accept. ![Rancher Desktop initial configuration](https://adamtheautomator.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/image-6.png) Rancher Desktop initial configuration 8\. Wait for the Rancher Desktop to finish downloading components and starting services, and you’ll be ready to use the application. ![Wait for Rancher Desktop to download components and start services](https://adamtheautomator.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/image-7.png) Wait for Rancher Desktop to download components and start services ## Using Rancher Desktop: Building Images Now that you have Docker Rancher Desktop installed, you can begin using it to build images. This section will teach you how to build a simple hello-world image using a _Dockerfile_ and the [nerdctl](https://github.com/containerd/nerdctl) CLI. Related:[Using the Dockerfile ENTRYPOINT and CMD Instructions](https://adamtheautomator.com/dockerfile-entrypoint/) Before diving in deep, familiarize yourself with the tools and names you’ll use as part of Rancher Desktop. * `kubectl - the command-line interface for managing Kubernetes.` * `nerdctl [](https://github.com/containerd/nerdctl)- the command-line interface for managing (build, run, and push) images for Nerd applications.` * [](https://helm.sh/)**[Helm](https://helm.sh/)** **–** a Kubernetes package manager for installing, upgrading, and deleting applications. Related:[Getting Started With Kubernetes Helm](https://adamtheautomator.com/kubernetes-helm/) * **Docker Compose** – the tool for defining and running multi-container applications. * [](https://github.com/moby/moby)[Moby](https://github.com/moby/moby) – a tool for accelerating the development of containerized applications. * [**K3d**](https://k3d.io/v5.4.4/) – a lightweight wrapper tool around [k3s](https://github.com/k3s-io/k3s), a certified Kubernetes distribution by Rancher. > Note: You will use the nerdctl and kubectl throughout this tutorial. Follow the below steps to build a boilerplate hello-word image. 1\. Open a PowerShell window. 2\. Run the following command to verify the nerdctl version. This step ensures that nerdctl is available on your machine. ```powershell nerdctl -v ``` ![Get the nerdctl version](https://adamtheautomator.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/image-8.png) Get the nerdctl version 3\. Run the below command to create a new _hello-world_ folder in your profile directory. This folder will host the files related to your hello-world application. ```powershell mkdir ~/hello-world ; cd ~/hello-world ``` 4\. Open the current folder in Visual Studio Code. ```powershell code $(pwd) ``` 5\. Once in VSCode, click on the New File icon and create a new file called _Dockerfile._ ![Create a new Dockerfile](https://adamtheautomator.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/image-9.png) Create a new Dockerfile 6\. Copy and paste the following content into this _Dockerfile_ file. This content defines a hello-world image that prints “Hello, world!” on the screen. Save the file after editing. ``` FROM alpine CMD ["echo", "Hello World!!"] ``` ![Adding the Dockerfile code](https://adamtheautomator.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/image-10.png) Adding the Dockerfile code 7\. Run the below command on the terminal to build the image locally. * The –tag flag specifies a name and tag for the image (helloworld:v1.0). * The . (dot) at the end of the command tells nerdctl to look for the _Dockerfile_ in the current working directory. ```powershell nerdctl build --tag helloworld:v1.0 . ``` If the build is successful, you will see the following output. ![Building a container image](https://adamtheautomator.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/image-11.png) Building a container image 8\. List the images in your local registry by running the following command. ```powershell nerdctl images ``` You will see the helloworld image in the output. You can also see the image’s ID, Created time, and Size. ![Listing the images](https://adamtheautomator.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/image-12.png) Listing the images 9\. Run the following command to run the container. The –rm flag tells nerdctl to remove the container after running. This flag is useful for development and testing as you can quickly create and destroy containers without worrying about disk space. ```powershell nerdctl run --rm helloworld:v1.0 ``` You will see the following output after successfully running the container. ![Running the container](https://adamtheautomator.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/image-13.png) Running the container 10\. Finally, remove the image from the registry to free up disk space if you don’t use it anymore. To do so, run the below command to untag and delete the image from the registry. ```powershell nerdctl rmi helloworld:v1.0 ``` ![Removing image](https://adamtheautomator.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/image-14.png) Removing image ## Deploying a Container to Kubernetes So far, you have built a hello world container image and run the container locally. In this section, you will learn to build and deploy an NGINX image to Kubernetes and expose it locally. ### Creating an NGINX Image 1\. Create the _nginx_ folder and open that folder in VSCode. ```powershell mkdir $env:USERPROFILE\nginx code $env:USERPROFILE\nginx ``` ![Create and open the NGINX folder in VSCode](https://adamtheautomator.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/image-15.png) Create and open the NGINX folder in VSCode 2\. Once in VSCode, click the New File icon and create a new file named _index.html_. ![Create an index.html file](https://adamtheautomator.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/image-16.png) Create an index.html file 3\. Copy the code below, paste it into _index.html_, and save the file. ```markup

Hello World from NGINX!!

``` ![Add the HTML code](https://adamtheautomator.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/image-17.png) Add the HTML code 4\. Next, create a new file named _Dockerfile._ ![Create a new Dockerfile](https://adamtheautomator.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/image-18.png) Create a new Dockerfile 5\. Paste the following content into the _Dockerfile_ and save it. This file uses the official NGINX image as a base and copies the _index.html_ file from the local file system into the NGINX container. ``` FROM nginx:alpine COPY . /usr/share/nginx/html ``` ![Save the NGINX Dockerfile](https://adamtheautomator.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/image-19.png) Save the NGINX Dockerfile 6\. Run the following command to build the image. The –tag flag tags the image with nginx-helloworld:latest. The –namespace flag specifies the Kubernetes namespace in which to build the image. The resulting image will be available in the k8s.io namespace. ```powershell nerdctl --namespace k8s.io build --tag nginx-helloworld:latest . ``` The screenshot below shows a successful image build. ![Building the image](https://adamtheautomator.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/image-20.png) Building the image 7\. List the images in the k8s.io registry. ``` nerdctl --namespace k8s.io images ``` You will see nginx-helloworld image in the result. ![Listing the images in the k8s.io registry](https://adamtheautomator.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/image-21.png) Listing the images in the k8s.io registry ### Deploying the NGINX Container to Kubernetes 1\. Open the Rancher Desktop application, click the Kubernetes Settings, and ensure that the containerd container runtime is selected. Kubernetes requires the containerd runtime to run containers. ![Selecting the containerd container runtime](https://adamtheautomator.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/image-22.png) Selecting the containerd container runtime 2\. Switch to the VSCode PowerShell terminal and run the below command to deploy your NGINX container to Kubernetes. This command creates a deployment named hello-world and exposes it on port 80. The –image-pull-policy=Never flag ensures that kubectl does not pull the image from the remote registry. By default, Kubernetes will try to pull images from a remote registry if unavailable locally. In this case, you’re forcing the local image (nginx-helloworld:latest). ```powershell kubectl run hello-world --image=nginx-helloworld:latest --image-pull-policy=Never --port=80 ``` 3\. Next, run the following command to forward the container’s port 80 to the host’s port 8080. ```powershell kubectl port-forward pod/hello-world 8080:80 ``` ![Forwarding port 80 to port 8080](https://adamtheautomator.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/image-23.png) Forwarding port 80 to port 8080 4\. Now, open your web browser and access the application by this URL → http://localhost:8080. You will see the following output. ![Access the application](https://adamtheautomator.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/image-24.png) Access the application ## Conclusion This tutorial taught you how to get started with Docker Rancher Desktop and Kubernetes. You have also learned how to build a simple NGINX image and deploy it to Kubernetes. At this point, you should have a good understanding of how to use Rancher Desktop and Kubernetes. You can now continue exploring Kubernetes and learn more about its features. With this newfound knowledge, you can start building more complex applications and deployments. 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This tutorial guides you through installation and use for fast, effortless file sharing between different operating systems. ![](https://adamtheautomator.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Use-Windows-on-macOS-with-a-Crossover-for-Mac-Download.jpg) ### [Use Windows on macOS with a Crossover for Mac Download](/crossover-for-mac-download/) Discover how to run Windows applications on macOS with a Crossover for Mac download and use the best of both worlds! ![](https://adamtheautomator.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/How-to-Install-Kubernetes-on-Windows.jpg) ### [How to Install Kubernetes on Windows](/kubernetes-on-windows/) Discover how to use and install Kubernetes on Windows in this in-depth tutorial and how-to guide by ATA Learning! ## Categories * [IT Ops](/category/it-ops/) * [Cloud](/category/cloud/) * [DevOps](/category/devops/) * [Home Ops](/category/home-ops/) * [Information Security](/category/infosec/) * [Software Development](/category/software-development/) ## Site * [Home](/) * [Tutorials](/tutorials/) * [Instructors](/author/) * [Advertising](/advertising/) * [Recommended Resources](/resources/) * [About Adam](/about-adam/) Copyright 2026© ATA Learning | [Privacy Policy](/privacy/)