Install Docker on Linux Mint 20.2 Mate Edition

linux-mint-mate-20.2-install-docker.md

Install Docker on Linux Mint 20.2 Mate Edition

Using the Graphical User Interface (GUI)

1. Click the Linux Mint Menu Button at the bottom left of the screen to open the Linux Mint Menu.
2. Under the "System" section, click "Software Manager".
3. In the Software Manager window, use the search box at the top right and search for "docker".
4. Click on "Docker.io - Linux Container Runtime".
5. Click the green "Install" button at the top right. Enter your administrator password when prompted.
6. Open the Linux Mint Menu again (see step 1), search for "Users and Groups", and click it to open the "User Settings".
7. Click on the "Manage Groups" button, which brings up the "Group settings" window.
8. Find the "docker" group, select it, and click the "Properties" button on the right side of the window to bring up the "Group 'docker' Properties" window.
9. Under the "Group Members" section, check the checkbox for all the users that should be added to the docker group to be allowed be allowed to use Docker. NOTE: This will give these users escalated privileges on your system!
10. Click the "Ok" button to save the configuration. Close out the remaining dialogs by clicking the "Close" button on each.
11. Restart your system. Alternatively, you can run sudo systemctl restart docker and log out and relogin to your desktop session or start a new login shell (see "Troubleshooting" below).

Using Command Line Interface (CLI)

Docker is available in the default repositories. You can install via apt:

sudo apt install docker.io

Then add yourself to the docker group:

sudo usermod -a -G docker $(whoami)

Restart the docker service and relogin, reboot, or start a new login shell (see "Troubleshooting" below).

Troubleshooting

You can check that everything is operational with Docker by running docker ps or docker version from the terminal:

$ docker ps
CONTAINER ID   IMAGE     COMMAND   CREATED   STATUS    PORTS     NAMES

$ docker version
Client:
 Version:           20.10.7
 API version:       1.41
 Go version:        go1.13.8
 Git commit:        20.10.7-0ubuntu1~20.04.1
 Built:             Wed Aug  4 22:52:25 2021
 OS/Arch:           linux/amd64
 Context:           default
 Experimental:      true

Server:
 Engine:
  Version:          20.10.7
  API version:      1.41 (minimum version 1.12)
  Go version:       go1.13.8
  Git commit:       20.10.7-0ubuntu1~20.04.1
  Built:            Wed Aug  4 19:07:47 2021
  OS/Arch:          linux/amd64
  Experimental:     false
 containerd:
  Version:          1.5.2-0ubuntu1~20.04.2
  GitCommit:        
 runc:
  Version:          1.0.0~rc95-0ubuntu1~20.04.2
  GitCommit:        
 docker-init:
  Version:          0.19.0
  GitCommit:        

Permission Denied

Running docker ps shows:

Got permission denied while trying to connect to the Docker daemon socket at unix:///var/run/docker.sock: Get http://%2Fvar%2Frun%2Fdocker.sock/v1.24/containers/json: dial unix /var/run/docker.sock: connect: permission denied

Docker Service should be running

Ensure the docker service is running:

sudo systemctl status docker

should show it in the active (running) status.

If not, restart it with sudo systemctl restart docker.

Your user should be part of the 'docker' group

Ensure you're a member of the docker group:

grep -E "^docker:" /etc/group | cut -d: -f4

Should show your user in the comma separated list. If it doesn't, add yourself to the docker group (see instructions above).

Your tty session should show correct group membership

Running:

id -nG

Should show docker in the group list. If not, relogin to your system or restart the system, or use su $(whoami) to start a new login shell (see this StackExchange answer).