How do I download Docker images without using the pull command?

Question

Is there a way I can download a Docker image/container using, for example, Firefox and not using the built-in docker-pull.

I am blocked by the company f

Answer 1

I adapted a python script for having an OS independant solution: docker-drag

Use it like that, and it will create a TAR archive that you will be able to import using docker load :

python docker_pull.py hello-world
python docker_pull.py alpine:3.9
python docker_pull.py kalilinux/kali-linux-docker

Answer 2

First, check if your Docker daemon is configured for using the proxy. With boot2docker and docker-machine, for instance, this is done on docker-machine create, with the --engine-env option.

If this is just a certificate issue (i.e., Firefox does access Docker Hub), try and install that certificate:

openssl s_client -connect index.docker.io:443 -showcerts /dev/null | openssl x509 -outform PEM > docker.pem
sudo cp docker.pem /etc/pki/ca-trust/source/anchors/
sudo update-ca-trust
sudo systemctl restart docker
sudo docker run hello-world

The other workaround (not a recommended solution) would be to access Docker Hub without relying on certificate with --insecure-registry:

If the firewall is actively blocking any Docker pull, to the point you can't even access Docker Hub from Firefox, then you would need to docker save/docker load an image archive. Save it from a machine where you did access Docker Hub (and where the docker pull succeeded). Load it on your corporate machine (after approval of your IT system administrators, of course).

Note: you cannot easily "just" download an image, because it is often based on top of other images which you would need to download too. That is what docker pull does for you. And that is what docker save does too (create one archive composed of all the necessary images).

The OP Ephreal adds in the comments:

[I] didn't get my corp image to work either. But I found that I could download the Docker file and recreate the image my self from scratch. This is essentially the same as downloading the image.