written by Ricky Lim on 2025-11-12

Looking for a free, open-source alternative to Docker Desktop on Windows? Try Podman + WSL2!

I’ve set it up myself and will share my experience here.

Why Podman with WSL ?

• Open source & Free: Podman is an open-source container engine plus as a desktop application with no license restrictions.
• WSL Integration: Leverage your existing Linux tooling on Windows with WSL2 integration.

Getting started: Step by Step

1. Install Podman Desktop

First, download and install Podman Desktop from their official website.

2. Choose WSL2 during setup

When installing Podman Desktop, make sure to select the option to integrate with WSL2. This will create a dedicated "Podman Machine" within WSL2 to run your containers.

3. Start your Podman Machine

After installation, you might need to start the Podman machine manually. Head over to your WSL terminal and run:

podman machine start

Let's it spin up!

4. Find your podman machine's IP address [Optional]

This is useful during web app development to access your containerized web apps. To get the IP address, run this command in your WSL terminal:

wsl -d podman-machine-default ip -4 addr show eth0 | grep inet

• wsl -d podman-machine-default: This tells WSL to execute the following command within the "podman-machine-default" distribution (which is where Podman creates its virtual machine). The name may vary slightly, but it usually includes podman-machine.
• ip -4 addr show eth0: This command lists IP addresses of network interfaces. We're focusing on the primary interface (eth0).
• grep inet: Filters the output to only show lines containing "inet," which indicate an IPv4 address.

5. Run your first Podman container

Let’s See It In Action: Deploying a Basic Web Server:

podman run -p 8080:80 nginx

What's Happening? This command downloads a pre-built Nginx web server image from the internet. It also tells Podman to forward traffic coming in on port 8080 of your Windows machine to port 80 inside the container, allowing you to access it through your browser.

6. Test your container

Open your web browser and navigate to http://<PODMAN_MACHINE_IP>:8080 (replace <PODMAN_MACHINE_IP> with the IP address you obtained earlier). You should see the default Nginx welcome page, confirming that your container is up and running 🥳

Key Takeaways

Podmand with WSL2 provides a free-to-use alternative to Docker Desktop, leveraging the benefits of containerization without the licensing restrictions.