Installation on Windows (Engine)

Windows

You have two options for installing Docker on Windows:

• Docker for Windows
• Docker Toolbox

Docker for Windows

Docker for Windows is our newest offering for PCs. It runs as a native Windows application and uses Hyper-V to virtualize the Docker Engine environment and Linux kernel-specific features for the Docker daemon.

Go to Getting Started with Docker for Windows for download and install instructions, and to learn all about Docker for Windows.

Requirements

• 64bit Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise and Education (1511 November update, Build 10586 or later). In the future we will support more versions of Windows 10.

• The Hyper-V package must be enabled. The Docker for Windows installer will enable it for you, if needed. (This requires a reboot).

Docker Toolbox

If you have an earlier Windows system that doesn’t meet the Docker for Windows requirements, get Docker Toolbox.

See Docker Toolbox Overview for help on installing Docker with Toolbox.

The Docker Toolbox setup does not run Docker natively on Windows. Instead, it uses docker-machine to create and attach to a virtual machine (VM). This machine is a Linux VM that hosts Docker for you on your Windows system.

Requirements

To run Docker, your machine must have a 64-bit operating system running Windows 7 or higher. Additionally, you must make sure that virtualization is enabled on your machine. For details, see the Toolbox install instructions for Windows.

Learning more

• If you are new to Docker, try out the Getting Started tutorial for a hands-on tour, including using Docker commands, running containers, building images, and working with Docker Hub.

• You can find more extensive examples in Learn by example and in the Docker Engine User Guide.

• If you are interested in using the Kitematic GUI, see the Kitematic user guide.

Note: The Boot2Docker command line was deprecated several releases > back in favor of Docker Machine, and now Docker for Windows.