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Install in an air-gapped environment

Red Hat build of Podman Desktop 1.0

Explore how you can install Red Hat build of Podman Desktop in an air-gapped environment.

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Abstract

Use the dedicated installer in air-gapped environments to install Red Hat build of Podman Desktop. In an air-gapped environment, machines are isolated from the public internet and external networks to prevent unauthorized data transfer.

Preface
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To install Red Hat build of Podman Desktop in air-gapped environments, use the dedicated installers for Windows, macOS, or Linux. These installers include all necessary artifacts to eliminate the need for internet-based downloads during setup. However, Linux users must install the Podman CLI separately. Windows users can enable User Mode Networking during setup to maintain VPN connectivity.

Chapter 1. Install on macOS
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The macOS installer includes all core files for Red Hat build of Podman Desktop and Podman to perform offline installation. However, it excludes optional utilities, such as Compose and Kind.

After installation, the Get started with Red Hat build of Podman Desktop screen helps you to start the onboarding process. You can skip this setup and complete it later using one of the following ways:

  • Use the Set up button in the notification on the Dashboard page.
  • Use the Setup Podman button on the Podman tile, located on the Settings > Resources page.

Procedure

  1. Download the macOS installer to the target host machine and open it.
  2. Drag the Red Hat build of Podman Desktop application and drop it to the Applications folder.
  3. Open Red Hat build of Podman Desktop from the Launchpad or Mac’s Applications directory.

  4. Acknowledge the OS security prompt to proceed to run the application. The Get started with Red Hat build of Podman Desktop screen opens.

    Important

    The onboarding setup opens automatically when you first launch the application. However, you can skip this setup manually, or your administrator can disable it.

  5. Click Start Onboarding.
  6. Follow the instructions on the screen to install Podman and create a Podman machine.

Verification

  • Go to the Settings > Resources page, and view the running Podman machine on the Podman tile.

You are ready to use the application.

Chapter 2. Install on Windows
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The Windows installer includes all core files for Red Hat build of Podman Desktop and Podman to perform offline installation. However, it excludes optional utilities, such as Compose and Kind.

After installation, the Get started with Red Hat build of Podman Desktop screen helps you to start the onboarding process. You can skip this setup and complete it later using one of the following ways:

  • Use the Set up button in the notification on the Dashboard page.
  • Use the Setup Podman button on the Podman tile, located on the Settings > Resources page.

Prerequisites

Before using Windows Subsystem for Linux version 2 (WSL 2) as the machine provider, ensure that your environment meets the following requirements:

  • 6 GB of RAM for the Podman machine.

  • Required WSL 2 prerequisites:

    • Administrator privileges for the Windows user.
    • A Windows 11 (64-bit) machine.
    • Enable nested virtualization on a virtual machine.

Procedure

  1. Run the following command to enable WSL 2, without installing the default Ubuntu distribution of Linux: 

    > wsl --install --no-distribution
  2. Restart your machine.
  3. Download the Windows installer to the target host machine and open it.
  4. Follow the instructions on the Red Hat build of Podman Desktop Setup screen to complete installation.

  5. Open the Red Hat build of Podman Desktop application. The Get started with Red Hat build of Podman Desktop screen opens.

    Important

    The onboarding setup opens automatically when you first launch the application. However, you can skip this setup manually, or your administrator can disable it.

  6. Click Start Onboarding.

  7. Follow the instructions on the screen to install Podman and create a Podman machine.

    Note

    To access Podman machine resources while using a VPN, enable the User mode networking (traffic relayed by a user process) option during setup to bypass connection blocks.

Verification

  • Go to the Settings > Resources page, and view the running Podman machine on the Podman tile.

You are ready to use the application.

Chapter 3. Install on Linux
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The Linux AMD64 binary (tar.gz) includes all core files for Red Hat build of Podman Desktop to perform offline installation. However, it excludes optional utilities, such as the Podman CLI, Compose, and Kind.

Note

Procedure

  1. Download the binary file to the target host machine and extract the archive content.
  2. In the extracted directory, open the Red Hat build of Podman Desktop executable file.

Verification

  • Go to the Settings > Resources page, and view the running Podman machine on the Podman tile.

You are ready to use the application.

Legal Notice
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Except as otherwise noted below, the text of and illustrations in this documentation are licensed by Red Hat under the Creative Commons Attribution–Share Alike 3.0 Unported license . If you distribute this document or an adaptation of it, you must provide the URL for the original version.
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