Add User To Docker Group In Ubuntu Linux

By default, the docker command should run with root privileges. To run Docker as a non-root user in Ubuntu, you have to add the user to the docker group. Otherwise, you will receive an error.

Got permission denied while trying to connect to the Docker daemon socket at unix:///var/run/docker.sock: Get http://%2Fvar%2Frun%2Fdocker.sock/v1.40/containers/json: dial unix /var/run/docker.sock: connect: permission denied

First check if the docker group already exists on your Ubuntu system:

grep docker /etc/group

If the group already in there, add the user to the docker group using the usermod command.

usermod -aG docker user_name

Make sure you replace the user_name with your own. To add yourself (the current logged in user), run:

usermod -aG docker $USER

The user needs to Log out and log back into the Ubuntu server so that group membership is re-evaluated. After that the user will be able to run Docker commands without using root or sudo.

If the group does not exist, Create the docker group:

sudo groupadd docker

And restart the docker service:

sudo systemctl restart docker