Running Windows in a Docker container - anyone (or Kubernetes)

Hi folks

Added -- Kubernetes seems a possibly way of doing this -- also seems to be able to "isolate" Windows apps too.


I like the idea of using Docker containers - this seems to be a way forward and can be very efficient

Anybody managed to get Windows running inside a docker container -- @pparks1 you are usually good with this stuff.

It should also work on Windows itself if you use the WSL subsystem - anybody had a go at that method too.

(added -- Kubernetes stuff - probably the way to go for this)

Cheers
jimbo

This kind of defeats the purpose of containers. The point is to run the minimum components to run an application. Also fairly certain only dotNET core based apps really work in a container.

Better use Hyper-V virtualisation.

We don't run any windows containers in docker. Couple of reasons.

1. Host machine would have to be running Windows in order to utilize the operating systems resources and drivers.
2. The containers would be huge, and would take a very long time to pull the image, extract, install, etc.. Somewhat defeats purpose of a container.

Using latest VirtualBox, I can run Windows 11 23H2 on Ubuntu 24.04, with crisp performance.. (Xeon 14 core V4, 64gb ram, dedicated VM SSD).

I need Windows for remote access to Work, so I use bare metal instead, to ensure no issues with sound/Citrix.

Not to sound too noobish on docker and containers. Can I get a really simple explnaton of what docker is, what a container is, and why they are different or better than just a VM running under Hyper-V? I have already decided to stay with Hypoer-V, even though VMWare is now free.