Windows 10 container feature vs installing docker

Docker Desktop for Windows
1

I just installed Docker for Windows 10 by downloading “docker” from the docker.com website. However I noticed that under the Control Panel -> Programs and Features, the “Container” option is unchecked.

Funny enough I read on MSDN here that the Containers features is actually required to run docker. So I am quite puzzled, since I’ve been running docker without the Container feature being turned on. So my question is: would I benefit from having the “Container” option turned on?

Thanks!
P.

2

What did you install exactly? The beta version of Docker for Windows will set up Windows containers: https://docs.docker.com/docker-for-windows/

For running Linux containers on Windows 10, the Windows “Container” feature is not required.

3

Hi Michael,

Thanks for the prompt reply. I went here and I selected the option to download the Windows version. I got a InstallDocker.msi which I executed. It made a Hyper-V image MobyLinux, but it did NOT enable the containers feature.

4

Unless you’re wanting to use Windows containers (in addition to Linux containers) you don’t need to enable the container feature in windows.

If you want to try out windows containers too, install the beta version from here: https://docs.docker.com/docker-for-windows/

5

Hi Michael,

I think I got it…

The version of docker that I downloaded (stable) contains the boot2docker VM (MobyLinux) which runs Linux. That is used to deploy Linux-based containers in Windows.

IF I also want to use Windows containers, then I need to install the beta version of Docker. This version is the one that requires the “container” features in Windows 10 to be enabled, and the installer is meant to enable it if it is not already enabled.

Did I get it right?

Can I have both Windows and Linux containers with the beta version? If so, how can I specify the target when deploying a container?

Regards,
P.

6

Yes, with the beta version you can do both: https://docs.docker.com/docker-for-windows/#/switch-between-windows-and-linux-containers-beta-feature

1 Like
7

Based on above, would folks agree that docker can run properly without ‘containers feature’ enabled? If so, its unfortunate that docker, at startup, can pop up this dialog, and then exit.

“Containers feature is not enabled.
Do you want to enable it for Docker to be able to work properly?
Your computer will restart automatically.”

This happened to me only just now, only once in the several months I’ve been running docker on windows: 8-12 months).

My installed Docker’s ‘About’:
Version 17.12.0-ce-win47 (15139)
Channel: stable
9c692cd

1 Like
8

Same here this morning. I’ve been running Docker on Windows with MobyLinux for months, but it failed to start this morning with that same message. No message the second time.

Same version:
Version 17.12.0-ce-win47 (15139)
Channel: stable
9c692cd

9

I’ve gotten this same error. When actually switching, it results in an error forcing me to make a hard shutdown of my device. I had to uninstall and reinstall docker and restore my system to get docker working properly.

Running the command DockerCli.exe -SwitchDaemon results in the error message again, but on the next attempt to startup Docker, everything works.The behavior I am seeing is exactly as described in this thread: 3 clicks to brick the system, to break the message prompt loop, you have to run the DockerCli.exe -SwitchDaemon command

Client:
9c692cd
Version: 17.12.0-ce-win47 (15139)
API version: 1.35
Go version: go1.9.2
Git commit: c97c6d6
Built: Wed Dec 27 20:05:22 2017
OS/Arch: windows/amd64

Server:
Engine:
Version: 17.12.0-ce
API version: 1.35 (minimum version 1.12)
Go version: go1.9.2
Git commit: c97c6d6
Built: Wed Dec 27 20:12:29 2017
OS/Arch: linux/amd64
Experimental: true