docker 20: change docker image location - docker

Question

i want to change the pull location for the docker image, i already follow the instruction from this link https://quick-adviser.com/how-do-i-change-docker-location/.
i already try adding file daemon.json to C:\ProgramData\Docker\config and fill it with following code:
{
"data-root": "D:\\docker-image"
}
then restarting docker desktop. After that, i trying pull a small size docker image like adminer docker pull adminer and check to D:\docker-image. After the execution is completed, the folder still empty
here's my docker info output:
$ docker info
Client:
Context: default
Debug Mode: false
Plugins:
buildx: Docker Buildx (Docker Inc., v0.7.1)
compose: Docker Compose (Docker Inc., v2.2.3)
scan: Docker Scan (Docker Inc., v0.16.0)
Server:
Containers: 0
Running: 0
Paused: 0
Stopped: 0
Images: 0
Server Version: 20.10.12
Storage Driver: overlay2
Backing Filesystem: extfs
Supports d_type: true
Native Overlay Diff: true
userxattr: false
Logging Driver: json-file
Cgroup Driver: cgroupfs
Cgroup Version: 1
Plugins:
Volume: local
Network: bridge host ipvlan macvlan null overlay
Log: awslogs fluentd gcplogs gelf journald json-file local logentries splunk syslog
Swarm: inactive
Runtimes: io.containerd.runc.v2 io.containerd.runtime.v1.linux runc
Default Runtime: runc
Init Binary: docker-init
containerd version: 7b11cfaabd73bb80907dd23182b9347b4245eb5d
runc version: v1.0.2-0-g52b36a2
init version: de40ad0
Security Options:
seccomp
Profile: default
Kernel Version: 5.10.16.3-microsoft-standard-WSL2
Operating System: Docker Desktop
OSType: linux
Architecture: x86_64
CPUs: 8
Total Memory: 6.04GiB
Name: docker-desktop
ID: V6FY:3JES:DVIP:5ZLG:6J26:IXE7:RKCB:T3MK:RR4B:X2XC:JR7B:LEIH
Docker Root Dir: /var/lib/docker
Debug Mode: false
Registry: https://index.docker.io/v1/
Labels:
Experimental: false
Insecure Registries:
127.0.0.0/8
Live Restore Enabled: false
WARNING: No blkio throttle.read_bps_device support
WARNING: No blkio throttle.write_bps_device support
WARNING: No blkio throttle.read_iops_device support
WARNING: No blkio throttle.write_iops_device support

Answer 1

Basically you're running Docker Desktop with WSL2. So files are no longer located in Windows directly. Docker creates an Linux-Virtual-Machine (WSL2) where all files are located inside in a Linux folder structure.
# Image-Layers are somewhere here:
\\wsl$\docker-desktop-data\version-pack-data\community\docker\image\overlay2
\\wsl$\docker-desktop-data\version-pack-data\community\docker\overlay2
If you want to change the folder on Windows side (e.g. to use disk space on another drive) then you have to move the image file. This is described in the question I posted. How can I change the location of docker images when using Docker Desktop on WSL2 with Windows 10 Home?
Two different possibilities given: Moving the WSL2 in total or Move the file and generate a Symlink (mklink) to keep WSL2 like it is and just redirect to the file in another location.
By default docker locates the WSL-Image-File for the Data here: %homepath%\AppData\Local\Docker\wsl\data as ext4.vhdx
With this Docker Desktop and WSL2 setup you can't just change the path where the images are located by just using a windows path because under the hood docker works in Linux. So images are stored in Linux.
If you just want to get the image data to move them to another system check docker save and docker load https://docs.docker.com/engine/reference/commandline/save/
Does this fit your use case?