2. Follow the usual installation instructions to install Docker Desktop. Depending on which version of Windows you are using, Docker Desktop may prompt you to turn on WSL 2 during installation. Read the information displayed on the screen and turn on the WSL 2 feature to continue.
3. Start Docker Desktop from the **Windows Start** menu.
4. Navigate to **Settings**.
5. From the **General** tab, select **Use WSL 2 based engine**..
If you have installed Docker Desktop on a system that supports WSL 2, this option is turned on by default.
6. Select **Apply & Restart**.
Now `docker` commands work from Windows using the new WSL 2 engine.
> [!TIP]
>
> By default, Docker Desktop stores the data for the WSL 2 engine at `C:\Users\[USERNAME]\AppData\Local\Docker\wsl`.
> If you want to change the location, for example, to another drive you can do so via the `Settings -> Resources -> Advanced` page from the Docker Dashboard.
> Read more about this and other Windows settings at [Changing settings](/manuals/desktop/settings-and-maintenance/settings.md)
## Enabling Docker support in WSL 2 distributions
WSL 2 adds support for "Linux distributions" to Windows, where each distribution behaves like a VM except they all run on top of a single shared Linux kernel.
Docker Desktop does not require any particular Linux distributions to be installed. The `docker` CLI and UI all work fine from Windows without any additional Linux distributions. However for the best developer experience, we recommend installing at least one additional distribution and enable Docker support:
1. Ensure the distribution runs in WSL 2 mode. WSL can run distributions in both v1 or v2 mode.
To check the WSL mode, run:
```console
$ wsl.exe -l -v
```
To upgrade the Linux distribution to v2, run:
```console
$ wsl.exe --set-version (distribution name) 2
```
To set v2 as the default version for future installations, run:
```console
$ wsl.exe --set-default-version 2
```
2. When Docker Desktop starts, go to **Settings** > **Resources** > **WSL Integration**.
The Docker-WSL integration is enabled on the default WSL distribution, which is [Ubuntu](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install). To change your default WSL distribution, run:
```console
$ wsl --set-default <distribution name>
```
If **WSL integrations** isn't available under **Resources**, Docker may be in Windows container mode. In your taskbar, select the Docker menu and then **Switch to Linux containers**.