Installation and Getting Started

Step 1. Check Virtualization Support

Docker requires a feature from your CPU called virtualization, which allows it to run virtual machines (VMs). Make sure you have it enabled! Sometimes this is disabled. To check, on Windows 8 or higher you can open the Task Manager (press CTRL+SHIFT+ESC) and switch to the Performance tab.

Virtualization should be enabled

On Windows 7 to see if you have virtualization enabled you can use the Microsoft® Hardware-Assisted Virtualization Detection Tool instead.

If virtualization is disabled, you’ll need to enable it. The procedure unfortunately is a bit different for each computer model, so the best way to do this is to look up on a search engine “how to enable vtx for <type your computer model here>”. Often times it’s a matter of restarting the computer, immediately pressing F2 or F12 during startup, navigating the boot menu and changing the settings to enable virtualization (often called “VT-X”).

Common keys to press at computer startup to access the boot menu for various PC vendors

Step 2. Install Requirements

First, you’ll need to install:

• Git: https://git-scm.com/downloads

• Python (latest version 3): https://www.python.org/downloads/windows/

For Python 3, make sure you check Add Python 3.x to PATH during the installation.

Don’t forget to add the Python executable to your PATH (so that you can run commands with it)

Then, only if you are on Windows 10 Home, Windows 8 (any version) or Windows 7 (any version), install:

• Docker Toolbox: https://github.com/docker/toolbox/releases/download/v18.09.3/DockerToolbox-18.09.3.exe

If you are on Windows 10 Professional or a newer version, you should install instead:

• Docker for Windows: https://download.docker.com/win/stable/Docker%20for%20Windows%20Installer.exe

Please do NOT install both docker programs. They are different and will create a mess if they are both installed.

After installing docker, launch it from the Desktop icon that is created from the installation (Docker Quickstart in the case of Docker Toolbox, Docker for Windows for Docker for Windows). This is important, do not skip this step. If there are errors, follow the prompts on screen to fix them.

Step 3. Check Memory and CPU Allocation

Docker on Windows works by running a VM in the background (think of a VM as a “computer emulator”). This VM has a certain amount of memory allocated and WebODM can only use as much memory as it’s allocated.

If you installed Docker Toolbox (see below if you installed Docker for Windows instead):

1. Open the VirtualBox Manager application

2. Right click the default VM and press Close (ACPI Shutdown) to stop the machine

3. Right click the default VM and press Settings…

4. Move the Base Memory slider from the System panel and allocate 60-70% of all available memory, optionally adding 50% of the available processors from the Processor tab also

VirtualBox default VM settings

Then press OK, right click the default VM and press Start.

If you installed Docker for Windows instead:

1. Look in the system tray and right click the “white whale” icon.

2. From the menu, press Settings…

3. From the panel, click Advanced and use the sliders to allocate 60-70% of available memory and use half of all available CPUs.

4. Press Apply.

Step 1 Docker icon

Step 3 & 4 Docker settings

Step 4. Download WebODM

Open the Git Gui program that comes installed with Git. From there:

• When Git Gui opens, click ‘Clone Existing Repository’ option

• In Source Location type: https://github.com/OpenDroneMap/WebODM

• In Target Directory click browse and navigate to a folder of your choosing (create one if necessary)

• Press Clone

Git Gui

If the download succeeded, you should now see this window:

Git Gui after successful download (clone)

Go to the Repository menu, then click Create Desktop Icon. This will allow you to come back to this application easily in the future.

Step 4. Launch WebODM

From Git Gui, go to the Repository menu, then click Git Bash. From the command line terminal type:

$ ./webodm.sh start &

Several components will download to your machine at this point, including WebODM, NodeODM and ODM. After the download you should be greeted by the following screen:

Console output after starting WebODM for the first time

• If you are using Docker for Windows, open a web browser to http://localhost:8000

• If you are using Docker Toolbox, find the IP address to connect to by typing:

$ docker-machine ip

You should get a result like the following:

192.168.1.100

Then connect to http://192.168.1.100:8000 (replacing the IP address with the proper one).

Step 1. Check Virtualization Support

Open a Terminal window and type:

$ sysctl kern.hv_support

You will get a response similar to the following:

kern.hv_support: 1

If the result is kern.hv_support: 1, then your Mac is supported! Continue with Step 2.

If the result is kern.hv_support: 0, unfortunately it means your Mac is too old to run OpenDroneMap. :(

Step 2. Install Requirements

There are only two programs to install:

1. Docker: https://download.docker.com/mac/stable/Docker.dmg

2. Git: https://sourceforge.net/projects/git-osx-installer/files/

After installing docker you should find an icon that looks like a whale in the task bar.

Docker app running

You can verify that docker is running properly by opening the Terminal app and typing:

$ docker run hello-world

Which should return

Hello from Docker!

To verify that git is installed, simply type:

$ git --version

Which should return something similar to the following:

git version 2.20.1 (Apple Git-117)

If you get a “bash: git: command not found”, try to restart your Terminal app and double-check for any errors during the install process.

Step 3. Check Memory and CPU Allocation

Docker on macOS works by running a VM in the background (think of it as a “computer emulator”). This VM has a certain amount of memory allocated and WebODM can only use as much memory as it’s allocated.

1. Right click the whale icon from the task bar and click Preferences…

2. Select the Advanced tab

3. Adjust the CPUs slider to use half of all available CPUs and the memory to use 60-70% of all available memory

4. Press Apply & Restart

Docker advanced settings

Step 4. Download and Launch WebODM

From a Terminal type:

$ git clone https://github.com/OpenDroneMap/WebODM
$ cd WebODM
$ ./webodm.sh start

Then open a web browser to http://localhost:8000.

Step 1. Install Requirements

There are four programs that need to be installed:

1. Docker

2. Git

3. Python (2 or 3)

4. Pip

We cannot possibly cover the installation process for every Linux distribution out there, so we’ll limit the instructions to those that are distributions officially supported by docker. In all cases it’s just a matter of opening a terminal prompt and typing a few commands.

$ sudo apt update
$ curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com -o get-docker.sh
$ sh get-docker.sh
$ sudo apt install -y git python python-pip

$ curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com -o get-docker.sh
$ sh get-docker.sh
$ sudo yum -y install git python python-pip

$ curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com -o get-docker.sh
$ sh get-docker.sh
$ sudo dnf install git python python-pip

$ sudo pacman -Sy docker git python python-pip

Step 2. Check Additional Requirements

In addition to the three programs above, the dockercompose script is also needed. Sometimes it’s already installed with docker, but sometimes it isn’t. To verify if it’s installed try to type:

$ docker-compose --version

You should see somethings similar to the following:

docker-compose version 1.22.0, build f46880f

If instead you get something similar to the following:

docker-compose: command not found

you can install it by using pip:

$ sudo pip install docker-compose

Step 3. Download and Launch WebODM

From a terminal type:

$ git clone https://github.com/OpenDroneMap/WebODM
$ cd WebODM
$ ./webodm.sh start

Then open a web browser to http://localhost:8000.