Steps I did for success.
First remove old junk:
for pkg in docker.io docker-doc docker-compose podman-docker containerd runc; do sudo apt-get remove -y $pkg done
#2 Check what’s left
docker --version
docker compose version
dpkg -l | grep -i docker
systemctl status docker
docker ps -a
docker images
docker volume ls
docker network ls
docker system df
rc = removed, config files remain only.
rc ``docker.io
old Python compose wrappers installed, but not real Docker Engine.
sudo apt purge -y ``docker.io`` python3-compose python3-docker python3-dockerpty
sudo apt autoremove -y
Then check again
dpkg -l | grep -i docker
Start Fresh!
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y ca-certificates curl gnupg
sudo install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg |
sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg
sudo chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg
Next add the Docker apt repo:
echo \
"deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) \
signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg] \
https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu \
$(. /etc/os-release && echo "$VERSION_CODENAME") stable" | \
sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null
sudo apt update
Next install Docker Engine:
sudo apt install -y docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin
docker --version
docker compose version
Next: non-root Docker access.
sudo groupadd docker
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
Then apply it without reboot:
newgrp docker
Start Docker:
sudo service docker start
sudo service docker status
docker run hello-world
I used WSL so follow if you are.
Next tiny cleanup/test:
docker ps
Then check non-root access is really good:
groups
You should see docker in the group list.
if you have NVIDIA follow along:
First check NVIDIA is visible inside WSL:
nvidia-smi
if not fix it!
First verify package exists:
apt list --installed | grep nvidia-container
If nothing important shows up, run:
sudo apt install -y nvidia-container-toolkit
Then configure Docker runtime:
sudo nvidia-ctk runtime configure --runtime=docker
Then restart Docker:
sudo service docker restart
Now test GPU inside Docker:
docker run --rm --gpus all nvidia/cuda:12.6.3-base-ubuntu24.04 nvidia-smi
If that prints the GPU table, NVIDIA Docker is good.