Windows inside a Docker container.
- Multi-language
- ISO downloader
- KVM acceleration
- Web-based viewer
Via Docker Compose:
services:
windows:
image: dockurr/windows
container_name: windows
environment:
VERSION: "win11"
devices:
- /dev/kvm
cap_add:
- NET_ADMIN
ports:
- 8006:8006
- 3389:3389/tcp
- 3389:3389/udp
stop_grace_period: 2m
Via Docker CLI:
docker run -it --rm -p 8006:8006 --device=/dev/kvm --cap-add NET_ADMIN --stop-timeout 120 dockurr/windows
Via Kubernetes:
kubectl apply -f kubernetes.yml
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Very simple! These are the steps:
-
Start the container and connect to port 8006 using your web browser.
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Sit back and relax while the magic happens, the whole installation will be performed fully automatic.
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Once you see the desktop, your Windows installation is ready for use.
Enjoy your brand new machine, and don't forget to star this repo!
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By default, Windows 11 will be installed. But you can add the
VERSION
environment variable to your compose file, in order to specify an alternative Windows version to be downloaded:environment: VERSION: "win11"
Select from the values below:
Value Version Size win11
Windows 11 Pro 6.4 GB win11e
Windows 11 Enterprise 5.8 GB win10
Windows 10 Pro 5.7 GB ltsc10
Windows 10 LTSC 4.6 GB win10e
Windows 10 Enterprise 5.2 GB win8
Windows 8.1 Pro 4.0 GB win8e
Windows 8.1 Enterprise 3.7 GB win7
Windows 7 Enterprise 3.0 GB vista
Windows Vista Enterprise 3.0 GB winxp
Windows XP Professional 0.6 GB 2022
Windows Server 2022 4.7 GB 2019
Windows Server 2019 5.3 GB 2016
Windows Server 2016 6.5 GB 2012
Windows Server 2012 4.3 GB 2008
Windows Server 2008 3.0 GB core11
Tiny 11 Core 2.1 GB tiny11
Tiny 11 3.8 GB tiny10
Tiny 10 3.6 GB To install ARM64 versions of Windows use dockur/windows-arm.
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By default, the English version of Windows will be downloaded. But you can add the
LANGUAGE
environment variable to your compose file, in order to specify an alternative language:environment: LANGUAGE: "Chinese"
You can choose between
Arabic
,Bulgarian
,Chinese
,Croatian
,Czech
,Danish
,Dutch
,Estonian
,Finnish
,French
,German
,Greek
,Hebrew
,Hungarian
,Italian
,Japanese
,Korean
,Latvian
,Lithuanian
,Norwegian
,Polish
,Portuguese
,Romanian
,Russian
,Serbian
,Slovak
,Slovenian
,Spanish
,Swedish
,Turkish
,Thai
andUkrainian
.If you want to use a keyboard layout or locale that is not the default for the selected language, you can add the
KEYBOARD
andREGION
variables with a culture code, like this:environment: REGION: "en-US" KEYBOARD: "en-US"
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To change the storage location, include the following bind mount in your compose file:
volumes: - /var/win:/storage
Replace the example path
/var/win
with the desired storage folder. -
To expand the default size of 64 GB, add the
DISK_SIZE
setting to your compose file and set it to your preferred capacity:environment: DISK_SIZE: "256G"
This can also be used to resize the existing disk to a larger capacity without any data loss.
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Open 'File Explorer' and click on the 'Network' section, you will see a computer called
host.lan
. Double-click it and it will show a folder calledData
, which can be binded to any folder on your host via the compose file:volumes: - /home/user/example:/shared
The example folder
/home/user/example
will be available as\\host.lan\Data
. You can optionally map this path to a drive letter in Windows, for easier access. -
In order to download an unsupported ISO image that is not selectable from the list above, specify the URL of that ISO in the
VERSION
environment variable, for example:environment: VERSION: "https://example.com/win.iso"
Alternatively, you can also skip the download and use a local file instead, by binding it in your compose file in this way:
volumes: - /home/user/example.iso:/custom.iso
Replace the example path
/home/user/example.iso
with the filename of your desired ISO file, the value ofVERSION
will be ignored in this case. -
To run your own script after installation, you can create a file called
install.bat
and place it in a folder together with any additional files it needs (software to be installed for example). Then bind that folder in your compose file like this:volumes: - /home/user/example:/oem
The example folder
/home/user/example
will be copied toC:\OEM
during installation and the containinginstall.bat
will be executed during the last step. -
It's best to stick to the automatic installation, as it adjusts various settings to prevent common issues when running Windows inside a virtual environment.
However, if you insist on performing the installation manually, add the following environment variable to your compose file:
environment: MANUAL: "Y"
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To verify if your system supports KVM, run the following commands:
sudo apt install cpu-checker sudo kvm-ok
If you receive an error from
kvm-ok
indicating that KVM acceleration can't be used, check the virtualization settings in the BIOS. -
By default, the container will be allowed to use a maximum of 2 CPU cores and 4 GB of RAM.
If you want to adjust this, you can specify the desired amount using the following environment variables:
environment: RAM_SIZE: "8G" CPU_CORES: "4"
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By default, a user called
Docker
is created during the installation, with an empty password.If you want to use different credentials, you can change them in your compose file:
environment: USERNAME: "bill" PASSWORD: "gates"
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The web-viewer is mainly meant to be used during installation, as its picture quality is low, and it has no audio or clipboard for example.
So for a better experience you can connect using any Microsoft Remote Desktop client to the IP of the container, using the username
Docker
and by leaving the password empty.There is a RDP client for Android available from the Play Store and one for iOS in the Apple Store. For Linux you can use FreeRDP and on Windows just type
mstsc
in the search box. -
By default, the container uses bridge networking, which shares the IP address with the host.
If you want to assign an individual IP address to the container, you can create a macvlan network as follows:
docker network create -d macvlan \ --subnet=192.168.0.0/24 \ --gateway=192.168.0.1 \ --ip-range=192.168.0.100/28 \ -o parent=eth0 vlan
Be sure to modify these values to match your local subnet.
Once you have created the network, change your compose file to look as follows:
services: windows: container_name: windows ..<snip>.. networks: vlan: ipv4_address: 192.168.0.100 networks: vlan: external: true
An added benefit of this approach is that you won't have to perform any port mapping anymore, since all ports will be exposed by default.
Please note that this IP address won't be accessible from the Docker host due to the design of macvlan, which doesn't permit communication between the two. If this is a concern, you need to create a second macvlan as a workaround.
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After configuring the container for macvlan (see above), it is possible for Windows to become part of your home network by requesting an IP from your router, just like a real PC.
To enable this mode, add the following lines to your compose file:
environment: DHCP: "Y" devices: - /dev/vhost-net device_cgroup_rules: - 'c *:* rwm'
Please note that in this mode, the container and Windows will each have their own separate IPs. The container will keep the macvlan IP, and Windows will use the DHCP IP.
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To create additional disks, modify your compose file like this:
environment: DISK2_SIZE: "32G" DISK3_SIZE: "64G" volumes: - /home/example:/storage2 - /mnt/data/example:/storage3
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It is possible to pass-through disk devices directly by adding them to your compose file in this way:
devices: - /dev/sdb:/disk1 - /dev/sdc:/disk2
Use
/disk1
if you want it to become your main drive, and use/disk2
and higher to add them as secondary drives. -
To pass-through a USB device, first lookup its vendor and product id via the
lsusb
command, then add them to your compose file like this:environment: ARGUMENTS: "-device usb-host,vendorid=0x1234,productid=0x1234" devices: - /dev/bus/usb
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Yes, this project contains only open-source code and does not distribute any copyrighted material. Any product keys found in the code are just generic placeholders provided by Microsoft for trial purposes. So under all applicable laws, this project would be considered legal.
The product names, logos, brands, and other trademarks referred to within this project are the property of their respective trademark holders. This project is not affiliated, sponsored, or endorsed by Microsoft Corporation.