Comment by NikolaNovak
5 months ago
I thought docker only supports windows as a host if you enable wsl, in which case you're running on hyper v and Linux kernel as part of wsl2, so absolutely Linux tech on a Linux vm on Windows... Am I wrong?
5 months ago
I thought docker only supports windows as a host if you enable wsl, in which case you're running on hyper v and Linux kernel as part of wsl2, so absolutely Linux tech on a Linux vm on Windows... Am I wrong?
You are. You can run Docker for Windows, and run Windows binaries in reasonably isolated containers, without involving Linux at all [1]. Much like you run Linux containers on Linux without involving Windows.
It's Docker Desktop what assumes WSL; Docker engine does not. Also, you seem to need Windows Server; IDK if it can be made to work on a Pro version.
[1]: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/virtualization/windowscont...
Windows containers work* on Windows 11 Pro.
That said, work is a strong word; Windows containers in general are pretty jank.
Docker Desktop defaults to WSL2 but it has no assumptions whatsoever. You can run it with HyperV
Docker supports either hyper-v, or wsl2 as a host for the Linux kernel - they generally push people towards wsl2. I vaguely recall wsl2 uses a subset of hyper-v the name of which escapes me atm.
You are. Docker Desktop supports two different container platforms: usual Linux ones and Windows Containers.
With the former a Linux kernel is required. You have two options: using WSL2 and benefiting from all the optimizations and integrations that Microsoft made, or running a full Hyper-V VM that gives absolute control and isolation from rest of the system.
For the latter, you need a Pro license and need to enable Containers feature (deployment requires more expensive Server licenses). Then you can run slimmed down Windows images like "nano server" which doesn't have GUI APIs.