windows

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Windows inside a Docker container.

Features ✨

• Runs Windows inside a Docker container
• Automatic download and hands-free installation
• Supports modern and legacy Windows releases
• Near-native performance with KVM acceleration
• Customizable CPU, memory, and storage allocation
• Dynamic memory allocation with memory ballooning
• USB passthrough and host folder sharing
• Supports NAT, user-mode, macvlan, and macvtap networking

Video 📺

Usage 🐳

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
    volumes:
      - ./windows:/storage
    restart: always
    stop_grace_period: 2m

Docker CLI:

docker run -it --rm --name windows -e "VERSION=11" -p 8006:8006 --device=/dev/kvm --device=/dev/net/tun --cap-add NET_ADMIN -v "${PWD:-.}/windows:/storage" --stop-timeout 120 docker.io/dockurr/windows

Kubernetes:

kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dockur/windows/refs/heads/master/kubernetes.yml

GitHub Codespaces:

Graphical installer:

Requirements ⚙️

• Docker or Podman on a Linux host with KVM support.
• Docker Desktop or Podman (Desktop) on Windows 11 with nested virtualization enabled.
• At least 4 GB of available RAM.
• At least 64 GB of free disk space.

[!NOTE] Docker Desktop on Linux, macOS, and Windows 10 does not currently provide KVM access to containers and is therefore not supported.

FAQ 💬

How do I use it?

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 automatically.

• 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!

How do I select the Windows version?

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: "10"

Select from the values below:

Value	Version	Size
11	Windows 11 Pro	7.9 GB
11l	Windows 11 LTSC	4.7 GB
11e	Windows 11 Enterprise	6.6 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
7u	Windows 7 Ultimate	3.1 GB
vu	Windows Vista Ultimate	3.0 GB
xp	Windows XP Professional	0.6 GB
2k	Windows 2000 Professional	0.4 GB
2025	Windows Server 2025	7.6 GB
2022	Windows Server 2022	6.0 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.

How do I change the storage location?

To change the storage location, include the following bind mount in your compose file:

volumes:
  - ./windows:/storage

Replace the example path ./windows with the desired storage folder or named volume.

How do I change the size of the disk?

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 an existing disk to a larger capacity without any data loss. However, you will need to manually extend the disk partition afterwards, since the added disk space will appear as unallocated.

How do I share files with the host?

After installation there will be a folder called Shared on your desktop, which can be used to exchange files with the host machine.

To select a folder on the host for this purpose, include the following bind mount in your compose file:

volumes:
  -  ./example:/shared

Replace the example path ./example with your desired shared folder, which then will become visible as Shared.

How do I change the amount of CPU or RAM?

By default, Windows will be allowed to use 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"

How do I enable audio?

Audio is disabled by default unless you are using RDP. To stream it to the browser, add the following environment variable:

environment:
  AUDIO: "Y"

Then enable Audio under Settings → Advanced in the web viewer. The stream is only active while this option is enabled, so it uses no extra bandwidth otherwise.

How do I connect using RDP?

The web viewer is mainly intended for use during installation, since it is less responsive than RDP and does not support features such as clipboard sharing.

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 password admin.

There is an 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.

How do I configure the username and password?

By default, a user called Docker is created and its password is admin.

If you want to set up different credentials during installation, you can configure them in your compose file:

environment:
  USERNAME: "bill"
  PASSWORD: "gates"

How do I select the Windows language?

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 to be downloaded:

environment:
  LANGUAGE: "French"

You can choose between: 🇦🇪 Arabic, 🇧🇬 Bulgarian, 🇨🇳 Chinese, 🇭🇷 Croatian, 🇨🇿 Czech, 🇩🇰 Danish, 🇳🇱 Dutch, 🇬🇧 English, 🇪🇪 Estonian, 🇫🇮 Finnish, 🇫🇷 French, 🇩🇪 German, 🇬🇷 Greek, 🇮🇱 Hebrew, 🇭🇺 Hungarian, 🇮🇹 Italian, 🇯🇵 Japanese, 🇰🇷 Korean, 🇱🇻 Latvian, 🇱🇹 Lithuanian, 🇳🇴 Norwegian, 🇵🇱 Polish, 🇵🇹 Portuguese, 🇷🇴 Romanian, 🇷🇺 Russian, 🇷🇸 Serbian, 🇸🇰 Slovak, 🇸🇮 Slovenian, 🇪🇸 Spanish, 🇸🇪 Swedish, 🇹🇭 Thai, 🇹🇷 Turkish and 🇺🇦 Ukrainian.

How do I select the keyboard layout?

If you want to set up a keyboard layout or locale that is not the default for your selected language, you can add KEYBOARD and REGION variables like this:

environment:
  REGION: "en-US"
  KEYBOARD: "en-US"

How do I install a custom image?

In order to download an unsupported ISO image, specify its URL in the VERSION environment variable:

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:
  - ./example.iso:/custom.iso

Replace the example path ./example.iso with the filename of your desired ISO file. The value of VERSION will be ignored in this case.

How do I run a script after installation?

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:
  -  ./example:/oem

The example folder ./example will be copied to C:\OEM and the install.bat file inside that folder will be executed during the last step of the automatic installation.

How do I perform a manual installation?

It's recommended 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 (at your own risk), add the following environment variable to your compose file:

environment:
  MANUAL: "Y"

How do I assign an individual IP address to the container?

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.

How can Windows acquire an IP address from my router?

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, in which the container and Windows will have separate IP addresses, add the following lines to your compose file:

environment:
  DHCP: "Y"
devices:
  - /dev/vhost-net
device_cgroup_rules:
  - 'c *:* rwm'

How do I add multiple disks?

To create additional disks, modify your compose file like this:

environment:
  DISK2_SIZE: "32G"
  DISK3_SIZE: "64G"
volumes:
  - ./example2:/storage2
  - ./example3:/storage3

How do I pass through a disk?

You can pass through disk devices or partitions directly b