WSL 1 with Docker on VirtualBox

Introduction

This script is a way to manage in a single command line the Docker on VirtualBox.

This is the most effective way I have found to use docker with Windows Subsystem for Linux 1 without losing performance and without using Hyper-V (docker for Windows).

The advantage of this is to use the docker in a native linux file system and the ability to work with docker compose.

Step-to-step

Basically:

1. Windows Subsystem for Linux 1 installed and correctly configured;
2. Permission to create symlink as non-admin user;
3. Any linux distro installed on VirtualBox with following details:
   • Create a shared folder between your project folder from host to /mnt/dev (or another dir) in guest;
   • NAT configured with SSH port forwarding and other services you will use (nginx, mysql, etc);
   • Booting in multi-user mode (X11 is not required);
   • SSH server with public key authentication;
   • GRUB configured with GRUB_TIMEOUT to 0 seconds (immediately boot);
   • fstab configured with uid=1000 and gid=1000 (do not use automount option from shared folder);
   • Docker installed and correctly configured.

Symlink

Press Windows + R and type: secpol.msc

In "Local Security Policy" navigate to:

• Security Settings
  • Local Policies
    • User Rights Assignment
      • Create symbolic links

In "Properties of Creating Symbolic Links":

• Local Security Configuration
  • Add user or group...

Enter your Windows Username on "Enter the object names to select" textbox, and click in Ok button.

Close all windows and log out.

Shared Folder

On VirtualBox:

• Configure
  • Shared Folders
    • Add a new shared folder

Example:

• Folder Path: C:\Users\Username\projects
• Folder Name: Projects
• Read-only and Auto-mount: uncheck all
• Mount point: /mnt/projects

Open WSL terminal and navigate to /mnt/c/Program\ Files/Oracle/VirtualBox.

Execute:

./VBoxManage.exe setextradata VM_NAME VBoxInternal2/SharedFoldersEnableSymlinksCreate/FOLDER_NAME

Where VM_NAME is your linux vm name and FOLDER_NAME is your folder name configured in shared folders.

NAT

On VirtualBox:

• Configure
  • Network
    • Advanced
      • Port Forwarding
        • Add a new port forwarding rule

Setup a SSH forward port connection:

Name	Protocol	Host IP	Host Port	Guest IP	Guest Port
SSH	TCP	127.0.0.1	22	10.0.2.15	22

If port 22 is in use on host, setup another port like 2201, 2202, etc.

Multi-User

If you installed linux without X then you can skip this part.

Why disable the X? Because we won't use it unless you want to use it for other things.

To disable GDM/SDDM/LightDM, boot your linux vm and type:

systemctl set-default multi-user.target

Public Key Authentication

In your WSL terminal, type:

ssh-keygen

Press enter for all questions, and copy your public key from ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub:

cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

Open VirtualBox and boot your linux vm. Run the same command above (ssh-keygen).

Paste your id_rsa.pub content with nano or vim on ~/.ssh/authorized_keys and save.

Enable SSH service:

systemctl start ssh

Test SSH connection from WSL terminal:

ssh user_of_linux_vm@127.0.0.1 -p 22

Port 22 is the host port configured on the NAT. Change here if you put another port.

If it works, you can log out of the ssh session.

To finish, enable SSH autostart service on linux vm:

systemctl enable ssh

GRUB

Edit /etc/default/grub on linux vm and set GRUB_TIMEOUT to 0:

GRUB_TIMEOUT=0

Save and exit. Run:

update-grub

FSTAB

Edit /etc/fstab on linux vm and paste this at the end of the file:

Folder_Name	Mount_point	vboxsf	rw,uid=1000,gid=1000	0	0

Where Folder_Name and Mount_point are your configurations in shared folders.

Don't forget to add your user of linux vm to vboxsf group.

DOCKER

After install docker on linux vm, add your user to docker group:

gpasswd -a user_of_linux_vm docker

Box

Put box script on WSL bin path (example: /usr/local/bin) and change the script execution permission to 755:

sudo chmod 755 /usr/local/bin/box

Create a ~/.box_list file and configure with your linux vm data. For example:

# vm to use with docker
LINUXBOX_USER=dev
LINUXBOX_HOST=127.0.0.1   
LINUXBOX_PORT=2200

LINUXBOX is your vm name.

Save and exit. To use:

box LinuxBox docker run hello-world

box_list

Configuration file with some settings.

This file accept options with suffix;

Variable	Description	Required	Default value
_USER	linux vm user	Yes
_HOST	host/ip vm	Yes
_PORT	ssh vm port	No	22
_X11	enable X11 from ssh	No	false

For example, assuming two linux vms: Debian and Kali.

# ~/.box_list
DEBIAN_USER=dev
DEBIAN_HOST=127.0.0.1
DEBIAN_PORT=2200
DEBIAN_X11=true

KALI_USER=root
KALI_HOST=192.168.25.111