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I cannot find a definitive answer anywhere (lots of contradicting information and very general). With the new version of MS Windows Server 2016 it's going to be possible to run containers in two modes:

  • Windows Container
  • Hyper-V Container

First one (windows container) is a classic container which shares the same MS Windows Server kernel and not very secure. However second (hyper-v container) uses hypervisor to provide isolation and security.

Sine release of Windows 10 Anniversary Update few months back Microsoft has included “Windows Subsystem for Linux”.

Is it going to be possible to run Linux (Ubuntu, Debian, CoreOS, etc. ?) containers using the Hyper-V Container technology ?

I have searched everywhere but cannot find an container image with Linux for Hyper-V Containers. Only two available which I'm able to find are Nano Server and Windows Server 2016 which are provided by Microsoft.

Using Technical Preview 5 (TP5) of Windows Server 2016 now, the general availability (GA) is going to be any day soon as announced at Ignite conference few days back.

Anybody got any news ? able to verify ?

TimB
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2 Answers2

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Linux Containers on Windows (lcow) now is available on Windows Server, version 1709. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/virtualization/windowscontainers/deploy-containers/linux-containers.

I have created a blog post regarding to this topic here: https://chunliu.me/2018/02/12/running-linux-containers-on-windows-server-2016/. Hope it helps.

Chun Liu
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This is the best resource I could find on the issue.

You can use the latest beta of Docker for Windows to use the experimental feature that allows you to switch between Linux and Windows containers on Windows 10 Anniversary systems (and Win Server 2k16 servers, I'm assuming but haven't tested).

Basically, you will need to use use the proxy that the Docker for Windows app provides to switch between Linux and Windows.

& 'C:\Program Files\Docker\Docker\DockerCli.exe' -SwitchDaemon

I don't believe there is another, native way to switch between Linux and Windows containers currently.

jmreicha
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  • the page states "The current com.docker.proxy.exe (above dockerd.exe in the list) that talked to the MobyLinuxVM exits as the dark green bar highlights that.", therefore to me it means that linux containers are created on a VM running linux and the SwitchDaemon option just switches where the docker calls are proxied to. I was hoping to be able to run Linux in Hyper-V Containers. – TimB Oct 07 '16 at 08:08
  • Yeah, there isn't a way to do it currently. I am just offering a workaround in the meantime. – jmreicha Oct 07 '16 at 17:03
  • @jimreicha thank you. I'm aware about other options just was wondering if it's possible to run Linux within Hyper-V Containers. – TimB Oct 07 '16 at 17:21