Installing Podman on Windows

This guide outlines the steps to install Podman on a Windows environment.

1. Enable Required Windows Features

Open PowerShell as Administrator and execute:

dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux /all /norestart
dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:VirtualMachinePlatform /all /norestart

Restart your computer to apply the changes.

2. Install WSL 2

Download and install the latest WSL 2 update from:

https://wslstorestorage.blob.core.windows.net/wslblob/wsl_update_x64.msi

3. Set WSL 2 as Default Version

In PowerShell, set WSL 2 as the default version:

wsl --set-default-version 2

4. Download and Install Podman

Download the latest Podman release for Windows from:

https://github.com/containers/podman/releases

5. Initialize Podman Machine

After installation, initialize the Podman machine:

podman machine init

https://github.com/containers/podman/blob/main/docs/tutorials/podman-for-windows.md
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install-manual