How do I install Docker on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS?

I would like to build and run Docker containers on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS. How do I install Docker?

7 Answers

Docker comes in two flavours: The Comunity Edition (CE) and the Enterprise Edition (EE). See this question for the differences. Just take Docker CE if you don't know which to take.

There are two ways of installing it (thank you, Katu and Suor!). The official docker way is a bit more recent.

(A) Official Ubuntu Repositories

$ sudo apt-get install docker.io

In the past this way was discouraged as the docker package was super outdated. The universe sources are fairly recent now.

(B) Official Docker Way

The Ubuntu installation instructions list all you need in detail, but in most cases it boils down to:

(1) Set up the docker repository

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install apt-transport-https ca-certificates curl software-properties-common
curl -fsSL | sudo apt-key add -
sudo add-apt-repository "deb [arch=amd64] $(lsb_release -cs) stable"

(2) Install Docker CE

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install docker-ce

(3) Verify the installation

sudo docker run hello-world

The latest version can be found here. It was 18.06 in November 2018. This version is available in the sources from above, whereas the default Ubuntu package sources only contain Docker 1.5 (source). You can find changes in the docker release notes. Version 1.5 is so old that I could not find out how old it is.

To install the Ubuntu repository version

sudo apt install docker.io

Check the version with

docker --version

You may still want to do the post-install steps. Thanks @wisbucky

Easiest way to install docker on Ubuntu using following command that you can get from the

This script is meant for quick & easy install via:

$ curl -fsSL | sh

wget -qO- | sh

For test builds (ie. release candidates):

$ curl -fsSL | sh

 wget -qO- | sh

For rc build with experimental feature:

$ curl -fsSL | sh

 wget -qO- | sh

To install the community edition, add the GPG key

curl -fsSL | sudo apt-key add -

Add the docker repository

sudo add-apt-repository "deb [arch=amd64] $(lsb_release -cs) stable"
sudo apt-get update

To make sure, you're going to install docker from Docker repo,

apt-cache policy docker-ce

Now install docker,

sudo apt-get install -y docker-ce

It would be running by default, but you can check the status

sudo systemctl status docker

BTW, for Linux Mint (which is based on ubuntu), need to change the release name by hand, after adding the repository.

Sub steps:

sudo vi /etc/apt/sources.list.d/additional-repositories.list
According to underling ubuntu versions:
- Ubuntu 16.04
  Change sarah or other name, to xenial.
- Ubuntu 18.04
  Change tara or other name, to bionic.

You can follow below steps to install docker-ce in Ubuntu -

install the dependencies first

sudo apt install apt-transport-https ca-certificates curl software-properties-common

add the GPG key for the official Docker repository to the system:
```
curl -fsSL | sudo apt-key add -
```
Add the Docker repository in sources.list.d to APT sources using below command -
```
sudo add-apt-repository "deb [arch=amd64] $(lsb_release -cs) stable edge"
```
verify if you are able to install Docker from Docker repository
```
apt-cache policy docker-ce
```
Finally, install Docker CE package with below command
```
sudo apt-get install -y docker-ce
```

Voila, you have installed Docker-CE. You can verify installation by checking the version of docker-ce installed

docker --version

For more detailed instructions, follow this tutorial

Debian installation.

check your ubuntu code name

lsb_release -a | grep Code

Codename: xenial

check your cpu architecture

lscpu | grep Arch

Architecture:x86_64

Finaly download your debian src. Go to , choose your Ubuntu version, browse to pool/stable/ and choose amd64, armhf, ppc64el, or s390x. Download the .deb file for the Docker version you want to install.

sudo dpkg -i /path/to/package.deb