Therefore, its useful to inspect its root folder, but it is not recommended to delete or change any files manually.

Additionally, it can be used to start applications quickly by executing a single Docker command.

Companies also are investing more and more effort into improving development in local and remote Docker containers, which comes with a lot of advantages as well.

You can get the basic information about your Docker configuration by executing: docker info.

The storage location of Docker images and containers A Docker container consists of network settings, volumes, and images.

Here is an overview for the most used operating systems: Ubuntu: varlibdocker Fedora: varlibdocker Debian: varlibdocker Windows: C:ProgramDataDockerDesktop MacOS: LibraryContainerscom.docker.dockerDatavms0 In macOS and Windows, Docker runs Linux containers in a virtual environment.

Docker for Mac Docker is not natively compatible with macOS, so Hyperkit is used to run a virtual image.

You can investigate your Docker root directory by creating a shell in the virtual environment: screen LibraryContainerscom.docker.dockerDatavms0tty You can kill this session by pressing Ctrla, followed by pressing k and y.

There are native Windows containers that work similarly to Linux containers.

Linux containers are run in a minimal Hyper-V based virtual environment.

The configuration and the virtual image to execute linux images are saved in the default Docker root folder.

C:ProgramDataDockerDesktop If you inspect regular images then you will get linux paths like: docker inspect nginx.

For example, data for containers, volumes, builds, networks, and clusters.

There, you can find different files that represent read-only layers of a Docker image and a layer on top of it that contains your changes.

Lets explore the content by using an example: docker image pull nginx.

The read-write layer that represents changes are part of the UpperDir.

The WorkDir is an internal directory for overlay2 and should be empty.

Docker Volumes It is possible to add a persistent store to containers to keep data longer than the container exists or to share the volume with the host or with other containers.

A container can be started with a volume by using the -v option: docker run --name nginxcontainer -v varlog nginx We can get information about the connected volume location by: docker inspect nginxcontainer.

Container, networks, images, and the build cache can be cleaned up by executing: docker system prune -a Additionally, you can also remove unused volumes by executing: docker volumes prune Summary Docker is an important part of many peoples environments and tooling.

Sometimes, Docker feels a bit like magic by solving issues in a very smart way without telling the user how things are done behind the scenes.

Still, Docker is a regular tool that stores its heavy parts in locations that can be opened and changed.

Docker For Mac Path