Enable Kubernetes in Docker Desktop: A Step‑by‑Step Guide

Enable Kubernetes in Docker Desktop

Overview

As the de‑facto standard for container orchestration, Kubernetes is the foundation of modern applications, but many beginners get stuck at the first hurdle: obtaining a working K8s environment. Building a full cluster locally requires substantial hardware, so the simplest approach is to use the built‑in Kubernetes provided by Docker Desktop on Windows or macOS.

Step by Step

First, install Docker Desktop (just click Next). For better performance, use WSL 2 as the backend; the latest Docker Desktop defaults to WSL 2. The example uses version 3.3.1, which includes Kubernetes v1.19.7.

Choose a host backend:

WSL 2: enable "Windows Subsystem for Linux" in Windows Features, then install a Linux distribution from the Microsoft Store. 适用于 Linux 的 Windows 子系统 Hyper‑V: enable Hyper‑V in Windows Features (note that Hyper‑V may conflict with other VM software).

Hyper-V

2.1 Enable K8s Service

Because Docker Hub mirrors are slow, configure Docker Engine to use faster registry mirrors. Add the following JSON to the registry-mirrors field (using Docker’s official and USTC mirrors):

{ "registry-mirrors": [ "https://docker.mirrors.ustc.edu.cn", "https://registry.docker-cn.com" ], "insecure-registries": [], "debug": false, "experimental": false, "features": { "buildkit": true } }

After saving the configuration, restart Docker Desktop.

Clone the k8s-for-docker-desktop repository and locate the load_images.ps1 PowerShell script. This script pulls the required images from Alibaba Cloud, ensuring the image versions match the built‑in Kubernetes version, then loads them into Docker.

If PowerShell blocks script execution, run: Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned Once the script finishes, the images listed in images.properties will be present locally.

Open Docker Desktop settings, go to the Kubernetes page, check "Enable Kubernetes", and click "Apply & Restart". After a minute or two, the K8s cluster will start.

2.2 Enable Dashboard

After the cluster is up, you can deploy the Kubernetes Dashboard for a visual interface. In the cloned repository, apply the kubernetes-dashboard.yaml file: kubectl apply -f kubernetes-dashboard.yaml Check the deployment and pod status:

kubectl get deployment -n kubernetes-dashboard
kubectl get pods -n kubernetes-dashboard

Start a proxy to access the dashboard: kubectl proxy Retrieve the token for login:

$TOKEN=((kubectl -n kube-system describe secret default | Select-String "token:") -split " +")[1]
kubectl config set-credentials docker-for-desktop --token="${TOKEN}"
echo $TOKEN

Open the dashboard at:

http://localhost:8001/api/v1/namespaces/kubernetes-dashboard/services/https:kubernetes-dashboard:/proxy/