[SOLVED] What is the difference between docker-desktop, docker-desktop-data and my WSL distro Ubuntu?

Issue

Command wsl --list --verbose returns the following list on my Windows machine:

$ wsl --list --verbose
  NAME                   STATE           VERSION
* docker-desktop-data    Running         2
  Ubuntu                 Running         2
  docker-desktop         Running         2

I have installed Docker Desktop on my machine. What is the difference between docker-desktop, docker-desktop-data and my WSL distro Ubuntu? Should Ubuntu not be selected as my WSL distribution?

P.S. If I select another entry from list with wsl --setdefault <name-of-distro> I do not notice significant changes. It confuses me more!

Solution

Should Ubuntu not be selected as my wsl?

Yes, it should. First up, I would recommend:

wsl --set-default Ubuntu

Your example in the question was missing the hyphen, so that may be why it didn't have any effect.

This should change the default distribution to Ubuntu. Without that, the wsl command (by itself, or with many arguments) will fail, since docker-desktop-data is not designed to be booted. See WSL issue #8727 for some more detail on that.

The problem often happens when Docker Desktop is installed before Ubuntu, or when Ubuntu was never properly set as default.

After setting it as default, confirm it with wsl -l -v again.

Then a simple wsl should start Ubuntu.

What is the difference between docker-desktop, docker-desktop-data and my WSL distro Ubuntu?

• Ubuntu is the WSL distribution here for daily use. It doesn't have to be Ubuntu, but that is the default with WSL. This is where you should install packages and run your normal shell.

• docker-desktop is a distribution supplied and managed by Docker Desktop that contains the Docker Engine. When started, Docker Desktop will start both Ubuntu and docker-desktop, injecting some links into Ubuntu so that it will be able to use the docker commands correctly.

  docker-desktop is managed by the Docker Desktop application. You shouldn't modify it. Any changes you make will likely be lost the next time Docker Desktop upgrades.

• docker-desktop-data is a non-bootable distribution that contains Docker volumes, containers, images, etc. It is also managed by Docker Desktop.

Answered By - NotTheDr01ds

Answer Checked By - Senaida (WPSolving Volunteer)