Windows inside a Docker container.
- ISO downloader
- KVM acceleration
- Web-based viewer
Via Docker Compose:
services:
windows:
image: dockurr/windows
container_name: windows
environment:
VERSION: "11"
devices:
- /dev/kvm
- /dev/net/tun
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 --device=/dev/net/tun --cap-add NET_ADMIN --stop-timeout 120 dockurr/windows
Via Kubernetes:
kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dockur/windows/refs/heads/master/kubernetes.yml
Product | Platform | |
---|---|---|
Docker Engine | Linux | โ |
Docker Desktop | Linux | โ |
Docker Desktop | macOS | โ |
Docker Desktop | Windows 11 | โ |
Docker Desktop | Windows 10 | โ |
Very simple! These are the steps:
-
Start the container and connect to port 8006 using your web browser.
-
Sit back and relax while the magic happens, the whole installation will be performed fully automatic.
-
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!
By default, Windows 11 Pro 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: "11"
Select from the values below:
Value | Version | Size |
---|---|---|
11 |
Windows 11 Pro | 5.4 GB |
11l |
Windows 11 LTSC | 4.2 GB |
11e |
Windows 11 Enterprise | 5.8 GB |
10 |
Windows 10 Pro | 5.7 GB |
10l |
Windows 10 LTSC | 4.6 GB |
10e |
Windows 10 Enterprise | 5.2 GB |
8e |
Windows 8.1 Enterprise | 3.7 GB |
7e |
Windows 7 Enterprise | 3.0 GB |
ve |
Windows Vista Enterprise | 3.0 GB |
xp |
Windows XP Professional | 0.6 GB |
2025 |
Windows Server 2025 | 5.0 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 |
2003 |
Windows Server 2003 | 0.6 GB |
Tip
To install ARM64 versions of Windows use dockur/windows-arm.
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"
Tip
This can also be used to resize the existing disk to a larger capacity without any data loss.
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 called Data
, which can be bound to any folder on your host via the compose file:
volumes:
- /home/user/example:/data
The example folder /home/user/example
will be available as \\host.lan\Data
.
Tip
You can 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 of VERSION
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 to C:\OEM
during installation and the containing install.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"
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"
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"
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: "French"
You can choose between: ๐ฆ๐ช Arabic, ๐ง๐ฌ Bulgarian, ๐จ๐ณ Chinese, ๐ญ๐ท Croatian, ๐จ๐ฟ Czech, ๐ฉ๐ฐ Danish, ๐ณ๐ฑ Dutch, ๐ฌ๐ง English, ๐ช๐ช Estonian, ๐ซ๐ฎ Finnish, ๐ซ๐ท French, ๐ฉ๐ช German, ๐ฌ๐ท Greek, ๐ฎ๐ฑ Hebrew, ๐ญ๐บ Hungarian, ๐ฎ๐น Italian, ๐ฏ๐ต Japanese, ๐ฐ๐ท Korean, ๐ฑ๐ป Latvian, ๐ฑ๐น Lithuanian, ๐ณ๐ด Norwegian, ๐ต๐ฑ Polish, ๐ต๐น Portuguese, ๐ท๐ด Romanian, ๐ท๐บ Russian, ๐ท๐ธ Serbian, ๐ธ๐ฐ Slovak, ๐ธ๐ฎ Slovenian, ๐ช๐ธ Spanish, ๐ธ๐ช Swedish, ๐น๐ญ Thai, ๐น๐ท Turkish and ๐บ๐ฆ Ukrainian.
If you want to use a keyboard layout or locale that is not the default for your selected language, you can add the KEYBOARD
and REGION
variables with a culture code, like this:
environment:
REGION: "en-US"
KEYBOARD: "en-US"
Note
Changing these values will have no effect after the installation has been performed already. Use the control panel inside Windows in that case.
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.
Important
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.
After configuring the container for macvlan, 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'
Note
In this mode, the container and Windows will each have their own separate IPs.
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
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 (which will be formatted during installation), and use /disk2
and higher to add them as secondary drives (which will stay untouched).
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
Important
If the device is a USB disk drive, please wait until after the installation is completed before connecting it. Otherwise the installation may fail, as the order of the disks can get rearranged.
Only Linux and Windows 11 support KVM virtualization, macOS and Windows 10 do not unfortunately.
You can run the following commands in Linux to check your system:
sudo apt install cpu-checker
sudo kvm-ok
If you receive an error from kvm-ok
indicating that KVM cannot be used, please check whether:
-
the virtualization extensions (
Intel VT-x
orAMD SVM
) are enabled in your BIOS. -
you enabled "nested virtualization" if you are running the container inside a virtual machine.
-
you are not using a cloud provider, as most of them do not allow nested virtualization for their VPS's.
If you do not receive any error from kvm-ok
but the container still complains about KVM, please check whether:
-
you are not using "Docker Desktop for Linux" as it does not support KVM, instead make use of Docker Engine directly.
-
it could help to add
privileged: true
to your compose file (orsudo
to yourdocker run
command), to rule out any permission issue.
You can use dockur/macos for that. It shares many of the same features, except for the automatic installation.
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 will 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.