Connect to docker container as user other than root

Question

BY default when you run

docker run -it [myimage]

OR

docker attach [mycontainer]

you connect to the terminal as root user, but I would like to connect as a different user. Is this possible?

Answer 1

For docker run:

Simply add the option --user <user> to change to another user when you start the docker container.

docker run -it --user nobody busybox 

For docker attach or docker exec:

Since the command is used to attach/execute into the existing process, therefore it uses the current user there directly.

docker run -it busybox  # CTRL-P/Q to quit docker attach <container id>  # then you have root user / # id uid=0(root) gid=0(root) groups=10(wheel)  docker run -it --user nobody busybox # CTRL-P/Q to quit docker attach <container id>   / $ id uid=99(nobody) gid=99(nogroup) 

If you really want to attach to the user you want to have, then

1. start with that user run --user <user> or mention it in your Dockerfile using USER
2. change the user using `su

Answer 2

You can run a shell in a running docker container using a command like:

docker exec -it --user root <container id> /bin/bash