Ability to choose Windows containers during install?

[tianon]

I would love to have the ability to choose Windows containers directly during install so that on first start, Docker fires up a Windows-native Docker daemon immediately.

Currently, Docker fires up a Linux VM initially, and I don't see an obvious way via the UI to remove the Linux VM either before or after switching to Windows containers (although it does show up via PowerShell, so I can remove it that way, but I don't know if that has negative side effects).

❤️

[friism]

@tianon you can script this by running DockerCli.exe -SwitchDaemon. (it's in the /resources/bin folder).

Do you have more details on the use case? If you just want a raw daemon, you can script the install: https://github.com/docker/labs/blob/master/windows/windows-containers/Setup-Server2016.md

[tianon]

The use case is for Windows 10 (not Server), so https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/virtualization/windowscontainers/quick_start/quick_start_windows_10 is a bit more complex than "install Docker for Windows and it'll take care of you", so I guess the use case would be folks who want/need Windows containers for development, but won't be using Linux containers at all (so creating/starting that VM, even just once, is a bit of a waste). For my own use case, this was a one-off install on a personal install, so the VM was a minor irritation more than anything else and I don't need to really do it again. 😇

It's definitely not an urgent feature request, but I figured it'd be a good idea to get it filed and on the radar for consideration down the road. 😄 👍

(Definitely a fan of Docker for Windows -- makes the whole experience of using Docker on Windows way better regardless of the underlying containers. ❤️)

[dgageot]

@tianon thanks a lot for the feedback! After 1.13 is GA, we plan to improve the user experience for users who don't need the linux engine.

[rn]

I created an internal tracking issue for this. Thanks for the request

[artiomchi]

Finally live and working in 18.03!

[walliski]

Is there any documentation for scripting install with this?

Another related feature would be to not only have DockerCli.exe -SwitchDaemon, but also allow for DockerCli.exe -UseWindows for example. This would make scripting docker usage a lot simpler :o

[abergs]

@walliski Yeah, I added an issue here: docker/cli#1042

[rn]

@abergs confusingly, DockerCli.exe has nothing to do with the docker/cli repository. The latter is what implements the docker command. DockerCli.exe is specific to Docker for Windows.

[abergs]

I see @rn... Where do I find the repo for DockerCli.exe? Did a lot of searches for "SwitchDaemon" but couldn't find any code on github.

[rn]

the source code for DockerCLI.exe is not open sourced. It's part of the closed source Docker for Windows (and Mac) code base.

[abergs]

Oh, that’s too bad :( /Anders (from phone) On Tue, May 8, 2018 at 11:53 PM +0200, "Rolf Neugebauer" <notifications@github.com> wrote: the source code for DockerCLI.exe is not open sourced. It's part of the closed source Docker for Windows (and Mac) code base. — You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or mute the thread.

[jasonbivins]

this feature has been added and is live in the stable channel - closing this issue