---
description: Find the recommended Docker Engine post-installation steps for Linux
  users, including how to run Docker as a non-root user and more.
keywords: run docker without sudo, docker running as root, docker post install, docker
  post installation, run docker as non root, docker non root user, how to run docker
  in linux, how to run docker linux, how to start docker in linux, run docker on linux
title: Linux post-installation steps for Docker Engine
linkTitle: Post-installation steps
weight: 90
aliases:
- /engine/installation/linux/docker-ee/linux-postinstall/
- /engine/installation/linux/linux-postinstall/
- /install/linux/linux-postinstall/
---

These optional post-installation procedures describe how to configure your
Linux host machine to work better with Docker.

## Manage Docker as a non-root user

The Docker daemon binds to a Unix socket, not a TCP port. By default it's the
`root` user that owns the Unix socket, and other users can only access it using
`sudo`. The Docker daemon always runs as the `root` user.

If you don't want to preface the `docker` command with `sudo`, create a Unix
group called `docker` and add users to it. When the Docker daemon starts, it
creates a Unix socket accessible by members of the `docker` group. On some Linux
distributions, the system automatically creates this group when installing
Docker Engine using a package manager. In that case, there is no need for you to
manually create the group.

<!-- prettier-ignore -->
> [!WARNING]
>
> The `docker` group grants root-level privileges to the user. For
> details on how this impacts security in your system, see
> [Docker Daemon Attack Surface](../security/_index.md#docker-daemon-attack-surface).

> [!NOTE]
>
> To run Docker without root privileges, see
> [Run the Docker daemon as a non-root user (Rootless mode)](../security/rootless.md).

To create the `docker` group and add your user:

1. Create the `docker` group.

   ```console
   $ sudo groupadd docker
   ```

2. Add your user to the `docker` group.

   ```console
   $ sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
   ```

3. Log out and log back in so that your group membership is re-evaluated.

   > If you're running Linux in a virtual machine, it may be necessary to
   > restart the virtual machine for changes to take effect.

   You can also run the following command to activate the changes to groups:

   ```console
   $ newgrp docker
   ```

4. Verify that you can run `docker` commands without `sudo`.

   ```console
   $ docker run hello-world
   ```

   This command downloads a test image and runs it in a container. When the
   container runs, it prints a message and exits.

   If you initially ran Docker CLI commands using `sudo` before adding your user