Linux containers need a Linux kernel (Hypervisors), so on Windows and macOS Docker Desktop 514 's core is a small Linux virtual machine running the ordinary dockerd and containerd 234,762 . On Windows the VM is a WSL2 6 distribution named docker-desktop; on macOS it runs on Apple's Virtualization framework; on Linux, Desktop also uses a VM, which is why its containers do not appear in the host's docker ps. Around the VM, Desktop adds:
a GUI with a dashboard, settings, extensions and a one-click Kubernetes 5,150 cluster;
a socket proxy, so the host's docker CLI reaches the daemon in the VM as if it were local;
file sharing for bind mounts, port forwarding to localhost, and host.docker.internal for reaching the host;
bundled Compose 514 , Buildx 4,514 , Docker Scout 514 and credential helpers, updated with each release.
Desktop ships about weekly: 4.92.0 came out on 21 September 2026, and 4.91.0 bundled Engine 29.8.0.
The price is an extra layer: bind-mounted files cross a VM boundary, and the daemon's settings are reached through the GUI rather than the files of Installing Docker Engine.