How to access docker data from linux wsl2

Question

I'm running Docker on windows using WSL2. The docker data directory can be access from windows using this path:

\\wsl.localhost\docker-desktop-data\version-pack-data\community\docker

But when I try to access the same folder from WSL, I couldn't find it.

From the linux terminal, I can find the following directory:

/mnt/wsl/docker-desktop-data/version-pack-data

However, it's empty! it doesn't show community folder or any other folders inside of it!

OS: Windows 11 build 10.0.22000.176 Docker: version 20.10.8, build 3967b7d Docker Desktop: Version 4.0.0

Answer 1

For some reason, you have to re-mount it on a different path like this:

1. In powershell:

net use h: \\wsl$\docker-desktop-data

2. In wsl:

sudo mkdir /mnt/yourdockermount
sudo mount -t drvfs h: /mnt/yourdockermount

Source: https://github.com/microsoft/WSL/discussions/4176#discussioncomment-831817

The above worked for me. It was also suggested to do it in one step like so:

In wsl: sudo mount -t drvfs '\\wsl$\docker-desktop-data' /mnt/yourdockermount

Source: https://github.com/microsoft/WSL/discussions/4176#discussioncomment-1458301

Answer 2

Slightly older question dusted off by @ADJenks' answer, which certainly will work.

But IMHO a better solution is the one I detail in this Super User answer. Since that's a fairly long read, I'll repeat it here. From inside a WSL2 distribution:

$ findmnt -a | grep "version-pack-data\s"
| |-/mnt/wsl/docker-desktop-data/version-pack-data        /dev/sdf[/version-pack-data]          ext4          rw,relatime,discard,errors=remount-ro,data=ordered
# Using the block device returned (sdf in this case):
$ sudo mount /dev/sdf /mnt/wsl/instances/docker-desktop-data -o X-mount.mkdir
$ cd /mnt/wsl/instances/docker-desktop-data

The advantage here is that you will be using the native Ext4 filesystem. Using drvfs will not provide native permissions, symlinks, and other POSIX features.