Make WSL use Rancher Desktop kubeconfig

 

✅ 1. First: Check the kubeconfig Rancher Desktop injects into Windows

Rancher Desktop ALWAYS writes a kubeconfig to this standard location:

👉 C:\Users\<your-user>\.kube\config

Check it:

PowerShell:

dir $HOME\.kube

If you see a file named config, then that is the correct kubeconfig.

eg: 

Directory: C:\Users\admin\.kube

Mode                 LastWriteTime         Length Name

----                 -------------         ------ ----

d-----        22/11/2024  10:12 AM                cache
-a----        06/12/2025   8:58 AM           6054 config

Inside WSL run:

mkdir -p ~/.kube
ln -s /mnt/c/Users/admin/.kube/config ~/.kube/config

Now WSL and PowerShell use the same Kubernetes context.

Create aliases for convenience

Inside WSL, so you don’t have to type .exe:

echo "alias kubectl='kubectl.exe'" >> ~/.bashrc
echo "alias helm='helm.exe'" >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

Now in WSL you can run:

kubectl get nodes
helm list -A

Exactly like in PowerShell.

Push containe to GHCR

Command for push to GHCR

1. Log in to GHCR

Use Docker CLI to authenticate to GitHub Container Registry:

echo YOUR_GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN | docker login ghcr.io -u YOUR_GITHUB_USERNAME --password-stdin

 

Make sure your PAT (Personal Access Token) has the write:packages and read:packages scopes.

2. Tag your Docker image

Assuming your image is named my-app:latest, tag it for GHCR:

docker tag my-app:latest ghcr.io/YOUR_GITHUB_USERNAME/my-app:latest

Replace YOUR_GITHUB_USERNAME with your actual GitHub username (or org name).

You can also add versions/tags as needed.

3. Push the image

Push the tagged image to GHCR:

docker push ghcr.io/YOUR_GITHUB_USERNAME/my-app:latest

4. Verify on GitHub

Go to your GitHub profile or organization, then:

• Navigate to Packages.

• You should see your pushed Docker image there.

Docker error : The network name cannot be found.

 If u get this error

deploying WSL2 distributions ensuring main distro is deployed: checking if main distro is up to date: checking main distro bootstrap version: getting main distro bootstrap version: open \\wsl$\docker-desktop\etc\wsl_bootstrap_version: The network name cannot be found. checking if isocache exists: CreateFile \\wsl$\docker-desktop-data\isocache\: The network name cannot be found.

 

Try the following to troubleshoot:

1. Stop Docker Desktop
2. Run the following command in your terminal wsl --unregister docker-desktop
3. Run Docker Desktop again (Will recreate the distro)

Note: I also start my Docker Desktop as Administrator each time, so you probably need to run your terminal/Powershell as Administrator like I did.