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I recently installed Windows Server 2019, but I noticed it doesn't have an option for installing Containers. I assumed any Windows Server OS would have the ability to add a Containers channel, however I don't see anything online to do this.

This version is actually "Microsoft Hyper-V Server", however, its not clear that Hyper-V server is fundamentally different from regular Windows Server OS installations.

  • Is there a way to enable the 'Containers' feature on Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2019 (1809) ?
  • Is there a way to upgrade Micrsoft's Hyper-V Server to a Containers compatible 1909 server ?
  • What is the fundamental difference between Microsoft's Hyper-V Server and a regular Microsoft 2019 Windows Server OS?

Note: I installed this onto a laptop over a USB stick, and did a lot of work to upgrade drivers and so on to support laptop features like Wi-Fi, hence my reluctance to completely reinstall the operating system .

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Dave M
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jayunit100
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    Wow, that's some pretty nasty hackery right there. Just how many different Windows Server editions did you have to rip things out of to get to this state? – Michael Hampton Mar 13 '21 at 00:08

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The key difference between a Windows Server and a Windows Hyper-V Server is that the latter only contains enough infrastructure to be a host to a number of Hyper-V virtual machines.

I'm afraid the upgrade path is to replace it with a full version of Windows Server 2019.

tsc_chazz
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  • is that something that can be done to a Hyper-V Windows Server OS ? Or are you usggesting, there is no upgrade path – jayunit100 Mar 13 '21 at 11:55
  • I'm stating that there is no upgrade path. Hyper-V Server is designed to only host Hyper-V instances. If you want to do anything else with it, you're hooped. The only way to enable the Containers feature is to replace the entire OS with a full Windows Server install, or install a full Windows Server in a Hyper-V instance. – tsc_chazz Mar 13 '21 at 16:37
  • Yes, and that's why Hyper-V Server is free... – Swisstone Mar 24 '21 at 19:53