How to fix the Docker Desktop Linux installation with the addition of two files

Jack Wallen shows you what to do if you run into a situation where you’ve installed Docker on Linux, but it fails to connect to the Docker Engine.

Docker Desktop is a great way to begin your journey developing containers.

Docker Desktop is a well-designed GUI application that includes the Docker Engine, Docker CLI client, Docker Compose, Docker Content trust, Kubernetes support and even a Credential Helper.

Docker Desktop is user-friendly and makes it easy to pull images, deploy containers, add support for different development environments and more.

On Windows and macOS, the installation of Docker Desktop is very straightforward. However, once installed on Linux, you might run into a situation where the app will start but fails to connect to the Docker Engine.

Fortunately, there’s an easy fix for that. Here’s how.

On the Linux machine you’ve installed Docker Desktop, open a terminal window, and create the first file with the command sudo echo USER:10000:65536 >> /etc/subuid, where USER is your Linux username).

Next, create another file with the command sudo echo USER:10000:65536 >> /etc/subgid, again, where USER is your Linux username.

Once you’ve issued those two commands, start Docker Desktop, and it should connect to the Docker Engine, where you can start building and managing your container deployments.

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