I'm interested in installing Docker on a Win 11 Pro machine. BOINC resides on 2 separate drives with the .exe(s) on the system drive (C:/Program Files/BOINC/), and the data on the data drive (D:/BOINC/). When I d/l'ed the product from the Podman web site, all I got was an .exe file, which is currently sitting in D:/My Documents/Downloads/BOINC/, while expecting an installation package to install it into the correct directory (library/folder). My question is, if this is the case, should I just move the .exe to the Boinc directory on the system drive (C"), or did I do some wrong. The install instructions for Windows were unclear on this point.

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Following this as while on 10, I am not sure I am getting it right either though I have standard BOINC installation in default directories. The only non-standard bit being my Windows is running in a VM.

In reply to Cliff Harding's message of 30 Apr 2025:

I'm interested in installing Docker on a Win 11 Pro machine. BOINC resides on 2 separate drives with the .exe(s) on the system drive (C:/Program Files/BOINC/), and the data on the data drive (D:/BOINC/). When I d/l'ed the product from the Podman web site, all I got was an .exe file, which is currently sitting in D:/My Documents/Downloads/BOINC/, while expecting an installation package to install it into the correct directory (library/folder). My question is, if this is the case, should I just move the .exe to the Boinc directory on the system drive (C"), or did I do some wrong. The install instructions for Windows were unclear on this point.

Please follow these steps: https://github.com/BOINC/boinc/wiki/Installing-Docker#windows

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BOINC maintainer.
For any insight, check my BOINC Development Blog.

Please follow these steps: https://github.com/BOINC/boinc/wiki/Installing-Docker#windows

That is what I tried to do in a VM. I have it working on a native Linux installation. I will have another look at the Windows one and if I don't get anywhere will post again.

Installation, even after I activated the Virtual Machine Platform & Windows Subsystem for Linux features which were not installed on the machine and applied the necessary updates via Windows Update. Final straw was that WSL_E_DISTRO - Not_Found when attempting the command via the CMD function wsl -d boinc-buda-runner . Need to resolve, otherwise, I'll wait until the package is available vis normal BOINC updates.

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In reply to Cliff Harding's message of 30 Apr 2025:

Installation, even after I activated the Virtual Machine Platform & Windows Subsystem for Linux features which were not installed on the machine and applied the necessary updates via Windows Update. Final straw was that WSL_E_DISTRO - Not_Found when attempting the command via the CMD function wsl -d boinc-buda-runner . Need to resolve, otherwise, I'll wait until the package is available vis normal BOINC updates.

Did you follow this step:

BOINC provides a WSL 'image' that contains Podman. Download it from https://github.com/BOINC/boinc-buda-runner-wsl and open it.

?

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BOINC maintainer.
For any insight, check my BOINC Development Blog.

Yes, along with the exceptions (additions) noted above, I followed the instructions as closely as possible.

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Hi. I tried to follow the Docker installation instructions found here: https://github.com/BOINC/boinc/wiki/Installing-Docker-on-Windows as closely as possible, but I did not get the desired result. My laptop runs Windows 11 Pro, Version 24H2, OS build 26100.4652 if that's helpful.
I installed the latest version of WSL from here: https://github.com/microsoft/WSL/releases/download/2.4.13/wsl.2.4.13.0.x64.msi and that seemed to work.
Then, I downloaded the image from https://github.com/BOINC/boinc-buda-runner-wsl.
Next, I opened a command window and typed "wsl -d boinc-buda-runner". I never got the message "Podman setup complete".
When I run BOINC, I now see the lines below in the event log:
First, I see this:
7/14/2025 4:15:36 PM | | Starting BOINC client version 8.2.4 for windows_x86_64
cmd7/14/2025 4:17:01 PM | | Docker detection in boinc-buda-runner:
7/14/2025 4:17:01 PM | | - cmd: podman --version
7/14/2025 4:17:01 PM | | - output:
7/14/2025 4:17:11 PM | | Docker detection in boinc-buda-runner:
7/14/2025 4:17:11 PM | | - cmd: docker --version
7/14/2025 4:17:11 PM | | - output:
7/14/2025 4:18:58 PM | | Docker detection in podman-machine-default:
7/14/2025 4:18:58 PM | | - cmd: podman --version
7/14/2025 4:18:58 PM | | - output:
7/14/2025 4:19:08 PM | | Docker detection in podman-machine-default:
7/14/2025 4:19:08 PM | | - cmd: docker --version
7/14/2025 4:19:08 PM | | - output:
7/14/2025 4:19:29 PM | | Windows processor group 0: 16 processors

A little bit lower in the log are these lines:
7/14/2025 4:19:29 PM | | Usable WSL distros:
7/14/2025 4:19:29 PM | | - boinc-buda-runner (WSL 2) (default)
7/14/2025 4:19:29 PM | | - OS: unknown (unknown)
7/14/2025 4:19:29 PM | | - podman-machine-default (WSL 2)
7/14/2025 4:19:29 PM | | - OS: unknown (unknown)

I'm hoping that this info will help you figure out what's wrong and how to fix it. Thank you in advance for your help!

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--Steve

After downloading the image, have you opened by double-clicking on it (like any other regular file)?
What exactly do you see in the console output?

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BOINC maintainer.
For any insight, check my BOINC Development Blog.

In reply to Cliff Harding's message of 30 Apr 2025:

I'm interested in installing Docker on a Win 11 Pro machine. BOINC resides on 2 separate drives with the .exe(s) on the system drive (C:/Program Files/BOINC/), and the data on the data drive (D:/BOINC/). When I d/l'ed the product from the Podman web site, all I got was an .exe file, which is currently sitting in D:/My Documents/Downloads/BOINC/, while expecting an installation package to install it into the correct directory (library/folder). My question is, if this is the case, should I just move the .exe to the Boinc directory on the system drive (C"), or did I do some wrong. The install instructions for Windows were unclear on this point.

I had no issues installing it on my Win11 Pro laptop.
It was just a case of doing everything step by step in the order laid out on the instructions page (although i have everything on the one drive- and i didn't move any of the downloaded files from the Download folder- i opened each of them there).

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Grant
Darwin NT.

In reply to shartel00's message of 16 Jul 2025:

Then, I downloaded the image from https://github.com/BOINC/boinc-buda-runner-wsl.
Next, I opened a command window and typed "wsl -d boinc-buda-runner". I never got the message "Podman setup complete".

As Vitali mentioned, you missed a step.

BOINC provides a WSL 'image' that contains Docker. Download it from https://github.com/BOINC/boinc-buda-runner-wsl and open it.

After downloading it, then you need to Open it.

Once that is done, then you open the command window & execute the command

wsl -d boinc-buda-runner

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Grant
Darwin NT.