Different Docker Version in Windows and Rancher Desktop VM

[ISimionEndava]

Hi, I installed Rancher Desktop (no prior Docker install/Docker Desktop install or anything like that) on Windows 11. I installed it with the dockerd option, I checked the docker version on Powershell, and I got 24.0.6; I entered the Rancher Desktop VM (rdctl shell) and checked the docker version, and I got 23.0.6; for docker-compose, I got the same version 2.21.0 both on Powershell and on Rancher Desktop VM (rdctl shell).

1. How come I have a different docker version? I would expect the docker version to be the same, wouldn't I?
2. Can I update the docker version provided by Rancher Desktop to the latest version (24.0.7) and docker-compose to the latest version (2.23.0)? And if yes, how can I achieve that?

[mook-as]

There's two parts, the docker client and the docker server. Currently we're using docker client 24.0.6 but docker server 23.0.6 (because the latter is using alpine packages). And docker-compose is a separate thing altogether.

As for upgrading:

• I don't think we have anything that we can support. You can try things, but if things break you'll have to figure out how to fix them yourself.
• Upgrading the server is unlikely to be possible; Alpine 3.18 only has docker-engine 23.0.6. You may be able to force install the version from Alpine edge, but that might break the install.
• For the clients (docker, docker-compose) you can try getting binaries from elsewhere and using it instead of the ones shipped by Rancher Desktop. For example, you may be able to get things from docker-compose releases.

Again, if things break you'll have to figure out the issue yourself, especially if you change the dockerd version manually.

[ISimionEndava]

Thank you for getting back to me so quickly; the answers are helpful.

1. You are saying docker-compose is a separate thing altogether; can you expand more on that, please?
2. If I am successful in updating docker and docker-compose for both the client and the server, what will happen when a new Rancher Desktop update gets released? I expect to get the versions for both client and server from the new Rancher Desktop update, or would I still stay with the versions I updated manually?

[mook-as]

1. docker-compose is a separate binary that is built from https://github.com/docker/compose — the docker CLI runs it as a plugin. It's placed in %USERPROFILE%\.docker\cli-plugins and the docker CLI will find it based on it starting with docker-. If you want way too much detail, the origin design seems to have been here.
2. When a new Rancher Desktop is installed, the VM will be upgraded; this means that anything done on the rancher-desktop WSL distribution will get wiped out. This includes your docker server changes. (We keep container data in rancher-desktop-data instead for this reason.) I'd recommend that if you want to use a different docker client, do that completely outside of Rancher Desktop, so that would at least not be affected by upgrades.

[ISimionEndava]

Cannot thank you enough.

Where does the docker CLI reside after the Rancher Desktop install? I understand now that docker-compose will be placed in %USERPROFILE%\.docker\cli-plugins, but where docker CLI would be placed?

[mook-as]

In PowerShell, try Get-Command docker. It should be in either:

• (Admin installs) C:\Program Files\Rancher Desktop\resources\resources\win32\bin
• (Per-user installs) C:\Users\<>\AppData\Local\Programs\Rancher Desktop\resources\resources\win32\bin

Note that that's off the top of my head, so you may need to adjust. Also, I recommend not overwriting them, and just have a new one somewhere else and add it to your %PATH% before the Rancher Desktop ones.

[ISimionEndava]

Thank you so much for every answer; you have been a real help. Thanks again for sharing your insights with me.