Retrieving Images

Container images can be retrieved from a registry server.

Important

Podman enforces HTTPS. If your registry server does not use HTTPS, you will have to add an exception to /etc/containers/registries.conf.

[[registry]]
location = 'my.registry.server.without.https'
insecure = true

Authenticating with Registry Server

Important

It is recommended to authenticate with the registry server that will be used to avoid problems due API limit.

Podman Desktop is agnostic regarding the registry server and the authentication can be done from Settings > Registries.

Screenshot of Podman Desktop with the Settings > Registries tab selected.

Authentication can also be done from the command line.

podman login registry

Example

podman login docker.io

outputs

Username: jane.doe
Password:
Login Succeeded!

Pulling Images

Podman Desktop is agnostic regarding the registry server from where the container image will be pulled from. Pull an image can be done from Images > Pull an Image.

Screenshot of Podman Desktop with the Images > Pull an Image tab selected.

Pull an image can also be done from the command line.

podman pull registry/namespace/repository:tag

Note

registry: it is the location of the container image registry. For example docker.io for Docker Hub and quay.io for Red Had’s Quay.
namespace: it is usually represents a user or organization.
repository: it is the mandatory identifier for the container image.
tag: it is the optional identifier for variant of the container image.
context: it is the directory where the Dockerfile is located.

Example

podman pull docker.io/debian:12.10-slim

outputs

Trying to pull docker.io/library/debian:12.10-slim...
Getting image source signatures
Copying blob 6e909acdb790 done   |
Copying config 8077017cbb done   |
Writing manifest to image destination
8077017cbbd13f5681ee6b4d5463ab5a436a70d63cd99340a15f6c3a65564960