How to install Redhat Podman on Windows 10 or 11 via CMD

Containerization has become a fundamental technology in modern software development and deployment. Containers, with their ability to package applications and their dependencies into isolated units, streamline development, enhance portability, and simplify the deployment process. Red Hat Podman is a containerization tool that is a nice Docker alternative with daemonless technology, which allows us to run and manage containers with a focus on security and simplicity. Although Podman is primarily associated with Linux, it is also available for Windows, enabling Windows users to harness the power of containers.

So, you can follow this tutorial performed completely using the command line to install the Podman, a Docker alternative on Windows 11 or 10 using PowerShell or CMD.

Why Use Red Hat Podman?

Before hoping for tutorial steps, let’s look at some key points that make Podman worth using for creating virtual containers. Here are some:

Lightweight and Secure: Podman is known for its lightweight nature and strong focus on security. It operates without a daemon, reducing the attack surface and enhancing security.

Linux Compatibility: Podman aims to be compatible with the Docker CLI, making it a suitable choice for those transitioning from Docker while enjoying the added security features.

Open Source: Podman is an open-source project developed by Red Hat, making it freely available and actively maintained by a dedicated community.

Installing Red Hat Podman on Windows 11 or 10

Follow these steps to install Red Hat Podman on your Windows machine using the command prompt or Powershell:

Step 1: Check System Requirements

First, you must ensure that your Windows system is running with the latest updates so that it can meet the requirements to run the Podman. You should be on Windows 11 or Windows 10 version 1709 (build 16299) or later, and it must have Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 (WSL 2) and VM features enabled, well, if they are not activated yet then you can do it using the second step commands.

Step 2: Install WSL 2 and Virtual Machine platform

Let’s open Windows PowerShell or Command Prompt to start running the required commands.

For that right-click on the Windows 10 or 11 “Start” button and select PowerShell (Admin) or Terminal (Admin), whatever is available for you.

After that run the following command to enable the WSL feature, first:

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

Next, enable the Virtual Machine Platform feature:

dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:VirtualMachinePlatform /all /norestart

Restart your computer to apply the changes.

Enable WSL2 and virtual machine platform

Step 3: Install Podman on Windows 10 or 11

After restarting your system again open the PowerShell as Admin and use the given Winget command to download and install RedHat Podman on Windows.

winget install RedHat.Podman

command to install Podman in Windows 10 or 11

Step 4: Initialize the Podman Machine

Once the installation of Podman is completed, the next step is to initialize the Podman machine which will download the required backend for creating containers. In short, it will import a Linux operating system for setting up WSL, so that Podman can run containers natively like on any Linux machine.

podman machine init

Step 5: Start Podman Machine

As you are done with setting up Podman’s initial setup configuration on Windows, the next step is to start the initialized machine. For that, simply in your Windows command terminal type:

podman machine start

Step 6: Verify the Installation

To verify that Podman is installed correctly, you can run the following command on PowerShell or CMD.

podman --version

You should see the version of Podman displayed in the output.

Create container

The command line of Podman works exactly like Docker, however, it is daemonless which makes it different from the Docker. We can use the Podman commands to manage containers, images, and pods, just as you would on a Linux system. You can also check our another tutorial to learn the Installation of Docker Desktop on Windows 11 or 10 via PowerShell, in case you are interested in it.

So to download some Container images, let’s say of Ubuntu, here is the command:

podman pull ubuntu

To check the downloaded image:

podman images

To quickly create a container, use the:

podman run -it ubuntu /bin/bash

Command Podman commands

Here are some common Podman commands with explanations that work similarly to Docker’s:

1. Pull an Image:

Use Podman pull to download a container image from a registry (e.g., Docker Hub).

 podman pull ubuntu:latest

2. List Running Containers:

Display a list of currently running containers.

podman ps

3. List All Containers:

Show a list of all containers, including stopped ones.

podman ps -a

4. Run a Container:

Create and start a container from an image. The -it flags allocate a terminal and make the container interactive.

podman run -it --rm ubuntu:latest /bin/bash

5. Stop a Container:

Stop a running container by specifying its container ID or name.
shell

podman stop container_name_or_id

6. Remove a Container:

Remove a stopped container by specifying its container ID or name.

podman rm container_name_or_id

7. List Images:

Display a list of locally available container images.

podman images

8. Remove an Image:

Delete a container image from your local repository.

podman rmi image_name

9. Container Logs:

View the logs of a running or stopped container.

podman logs container_name_or_id

10. Execute a Command in a Running Container:

Run a command inside a running container without starting a new shell.

podman exec -it container_name_or_id /bin/bash

11. Port Mapping:

Map a container’s port to a host port. For example, this maps port 80 in the container to port 8080 on the host.

podman run -d -p 8080:80 nginx:latest

12. List Pods:

Display a list of pods (Podman’s concept for managing groups of containers).

podman pod list

13. Create a New Pod:

Create a new pod and add containers to it.

podman pod create --name mypod

14. Add a Container to a Pod:

Add an existing container to a pod.

podman pod container add mypod container_name_or_id

15. Remove a Container from a Pod:

podman pod container remove mypod container_name_or_id

16. Delete a Pod:

Delete a pod and all its containers.

podman pod rm mypod

Uninstallation

Those who also want to use the Powershell or Command prompt to remove Podman on Windows can use the given command:

Run Command terminal as admin and then use:

winget uninstall RedHat. Podman

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