How to Install Docker on Ubuntu: A Complete Beginner's Guide

Every self-hosted application in 2026 runs in Docker. It is the universal packaging format for server software. Installing it is the first step to running your own cloud. This guide walks you through it step by step.

Step 1: Update Your System

Connect to your Ubuntu server via SSH. If you do not know how, your hosting provider will have instructions. Once connected, type:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

This updates your package list and installs any pending security updates. It takes about two minutes.

Step 2: Install Docker

Docker provides an official installation script that handles everything:

curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com | sudo sh

This downloads and installs Docker Engine, the Docker CLI, and containerd. It takes about three minutes.

Step 3: Add Your User to the Docker Group

By default, Docker commands require sudo. To run Docker without typing sudo every time:

sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

Log out and log back in for this to take effect. After that, you can run docker commands directly.

Step 4: Verify the Installation

Run the hello-world container to confirm Docker is working:

docker run hello-world

If you see a Hello from Docker message, you are done. Docker is installed and working.

Step 5: Install Docker Compose

Docker Compose lets you define and run multi-container applications with a single configuration file. Modern Docker installations include Compose as a plugin:

docker compose version

If this shows a version number, Compose is ready. Most self-hosted applications provide a docker-compose.yml file that you can run with a single command.

What Now?

With Docker installed, you can deploy any of 172 open-source applications that VPS1 supports. Each has a docker-compose.yml file. You download the file, run docker compose up -d, and the application starts. That is it. No manual dependency installation, no configuration hell, no broken packages.

If the terminal makes you nervous, VPS1 handles this for you. We install, configure, and maintain everything so you never have to type a single command.