Microsoft Brings Linux-based Docker Containers To Windows 10

In my previous post on Windows 10, I told you about a major change brought by Microsoft to its Windows 10 operating system. As a part of the new Windows 10 Build 14361, Redmond improved its Linux subsystem that runs Ubuntu on Windows 10 by bringing the Tmux support.

The same Windows 10 Build 14361 brought another big change in the form of support for Hyper-V containers. These new builds are first made available to the Fast Ring of Microsoft’s Windows Insider programme.

As a result of the newly rolled out Hyper-V support, users can now use Linux-based Docker containers natively on the latest iteration of Windows OS.

This functionality has been added with the help of Windows Server 2016 Technical Preview 5 Nano Server. Redmond has also geared up and improved the DockerFile syntax with a fresh Docker engine for Windows.

For those who don’t know, Windows Containers allow a user to take the advantage of OS-level virtualization, allowing the installation and running of multiple isolated programs on a single system.

The working of Hyper-V containers could be understood by considering a small virtual machine encapsulating a container.

If you want to get started with Docker container on Windows 10, you need to enable the preloaded Hyper-V feature on Windows 10. This could be done by running few simple commands in PowerShell with elevated permissions.

The further steps involve installing Docker, installing the base container images, and deploying your first container. These steps have been discussed by Microsoft in detail on its developer page.