How to install Docker in Ubuntu 20.04 (Docker host setup guide)

Docker community version available for Docker archive. In this demo, we will see,

• Installing Docker in Ubuntu 20.04
• Start docker service
• Enable docker daemon to start automatically across reboots
• Test docker installation

If you are looking for the steps to install the latest version of docker on Ubuntu 22.04, please refer to our new guide.

Installing Docker in Ubuntu 20.04

You can install docker in Ubuntu 20.04 version using apt, as follows,

sudo apt install docker.io

A detailed example of docker installation:

dev@ubuntu:~$ sudo apt install docker.io
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree      
Reading state information... Done
The following additional packages will be installed:
  bridge-utils cgroupfs-mount containerd pigz runc ubuntu-fan
Suggested packages:
  aufs-tools btrfs-progs debootstrap docker-doc rinse zfs-fuse | zfsutils
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  bridge-utils cgroupfs-mount containerd docker.io pigz runc ubuntu-fan
0 upgraded, 7 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 69.3 MB of archives.
After this operation, 333 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
Get:1 https://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/universe amd64 pigz amd64 2.4-1 [57.4 kB]
Get:2 https://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main amd64 bridge-utils amd64 1.6-2ubuntu1 [30.5 kB]
Get:3 https://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/universe amd64 cgroupfs-mount all 1.4 [6,320 B]
Get:4 https://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main amd64 runc amd64 1.0.0~rc10-0ubuntu1 [2,549 kB]
Get:5 https://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main amd64 containerd amd64 1.3.3-0ubuntu2 [27.8 MB]
Get:6 https://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates/universe amd64 docker.io amd64 19.03.8-0ubuntu1.20.04 [38.9 MB]
Get:7 https://in.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main amd64 ubuntu-fan all 0.12.13 [34.5 kB]
Fetched 69.3 MB in 20s (3,476 kB/s)                                           
Preconfiguring packages ...
Selecting previously unselected package pigz.
(Reading database ... 223903 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../0-pigz_2.4-1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking pigz (2.4-1) ...
Selecting previously unselected package bridge-utils.
Preparing to unpack .../1-bridge-utils_1.6-2ubuntu1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking bridge-utils (1.6-2ubuntu1) ...
Selecting previously unselected package cgroupfs-mount.
Preparing to unpack .../2-cgroupfs-mount_1.4_all.deb ...
Unpacking cgroupfs-mount (1.4) ...
Selecting previously unselected package runc.
Preparing to unpack .../3-runc_1.0.0~rc10-0ubuntu1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking runc (1.0.0~rc10-0ubuntu1) ...
Selecting previously unselected package containerd.
Preparing to unpack .../4-containerd_1.3.3-0ubuntu2_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking containerd (1.3.3-0ubuntu2) ...
Selecting previously unselected package docker.io.
Preparing to unpack .../5-docker.io_19.03.8-0ubuntu1.20.04_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking docker.io (19.03.8-0ubuntu1.20.04) ...
Selecting previously unselected package ubuntu-fan.
Preparing to unpack .../6-ubuntu-fan_0.12.13_all.deb ...
Unpacking ubuntu-fan (0.12.13) ...
Setting up runc (1.0.0~rc10-0ubuntu1) ...
Setting up bridge-utils (1.6-2ubuntu1) ...
Setting up pigz (2.4-1) ...
Setting up cgroupfs-mount (1.4) ...
Setting up containerd (1.3.3-0ubuntu2) ...
Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/containerd.service →
/lib/systemd/system/containerd.service.
Setting up ubuntu-fan (0.12.13) ...
Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/ubuntu-fan.service →
/lib/systemd/system/ubuntu-fan.service.
Setting up docker.io (19.03.8-0ubuntu1.20.04) ...
Adding group `docker' (GID 136) ...
Done.
Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/sockets.target.wants/docker.socket → /lib/sy
stemd/system/docker.socket.
docker.service is a disabled or a static unit, not starting it.
Processing triggers for systemd (245.4-4ubuntu3.2) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.9.1-1) ...
dev@ubuntu:~$

Start Docker service and enable docker daemon upon reboot,

sudo systemctl start docker
sudo systemctl enable docker

Example

dev@ubuntu:~$ sudo systemctl start docker
dev@ubuntu:~$ sudo systemctl enable docker
Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/docker.service → /lib/systemd/system/docker.service.
dev@ubuntu:~$

Testing your docker installation

devops@codetryout:~$ docker --version
Docker version 20.10.7, build 20.10.7-0ubuntu1~20.04.1