Switching from Docker Desktop to Rancher Desktop on WSL2: Solving the Missing docker-credential-desktop.exe Error

Switching from Docker Desktop to Rancher Desktop on WSL2: Solving the Missing docker-credential-desktop.exe Error

I’ve been happily running Kamal inside WSL2 on my home Windows desktop for a while. My original setup included an older Docker Desktop installation. Recently, I wanted to replicate this environment on a different machine, but I discovered that Docker Desktop had changed their licensing terms. Technically, I’m still covered by the new licensing terms, but I decided to try Rancher Desktop instead.

Installing Rancher Desktop on WSL2

Installation was straightforward. I installed Rancher Desktop, configured it to integrate with WSL2, and disabled Kubernetes (since I don’t currently need it). My plan was to continue using the Docker CLI inside WSL2 alongside Rancher Desktop for container management.

The Authentication Error

However, when I was in WSL and tried to authenticate (for example, with Docker Hub via docker login), I ran into this error:

```

failed to store tokens: error storing credentials - err: exec: "docker-credential-desktop.exe": executable file not found in $PATH, out: ``

error storing credentials - err: exec: "docker-credential-desktop.exe": executable file not found in $PATH, out: ``

```

I checked whether docker-credential-desktop.exe was available by running:

```

which docker-credential-desktop.exe

```

The Underlying Issue

The Docker CLI uses a credential helper to securely store (and retrieve) credentials. Under Docker Desktop on Windows, that helper is usually docker-credential-desktop.exe. But since I don't use Docker Desktop, that file no longer existed on my system, causing the docker login command to fail when it tried to store tokens.

The Quick Fix: Downloading the Missing Credential Helper

Fortunately, I discovered that you can download the Docker credential helper (docker-credential-wincred) directly from GitHub and place it in your WSL2 environment so that the CLI can use it. Here’s what I did:


1. Find the latest release version:

```

wincred_version=$(curl -fsSL -o /dev/null -w "%{url_effective}" https://github.com/docker/docker-credential-helpers/releases/latest | xargs basename)

```

2. Download and rename it to docker-credential-desktop.exe:

```

sudo curl -fL -o /usr/local/bin/docker-credential-desktop.exe \

       "https://github.com/docker/docker-credential-helpers/releases/download/${wincred_version}/docker-credential-wincred-${wincred_version}.windows-$(dpkg --print-architecture).exe"

```

3. Make it executable:

```

sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker-credential-desktop.exe

```

With these steps, docker-credential-desktop.exe was now available in my WSL2 environment, and Docker can call it to store tokens.

Testing It Out

After placing docker-credential-desktop.exe in /usr/local/bin and making it executable, both docker login and Kamal commands like kamal setup and kamal deploy worked without issues. The Docker CLI can once again properly store credentials, and I can use Rancher Desktop as my container runtime on Windows with WSL2.

Final Thoughts

If you’re transitioning from Docker Desktop to Rancher Desktop on Windows + WSL2, you might encounter the same missing credential helper error. By manually downloading the docker-credential-desktop.exe file, you can keep using the familiar Docker CLI login mechanism. It’s a quick solution that avoids any manual reconfiguration of Docker’s credential storage.


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