This Vagrant environment creates a Docker Machine to work on your MacBook with Windows containers. You can easily switch between Docker for Mac Linux containers and the Windows containers.

There are three flavors or versions of Windows Server 2016. This is where you decide which Vagrant VM should be started.

• 2016 - Windows Server 2016 (10.0.14393) LTS channel
• 2019 - Windows Server 2019 (10.0.17639) LTS channel (insider preview)
• 1709 - Windows Server, version 1709 (10.0.16299) Semi annual channel
• 1803 - Windows Server, version 1803 (10.0.17134) Semi annual channel
• insider - Windows Server Insider builds
• lcow - Windows Server, version 1709 with LCOW enabled
• lcow-1803 - Windows Server, version 1803 with LCOW enabled

So with a vagrant up 2016 you spin up the LTS version, with vagrant up 1709 the 1709 version and with vagrant up insider the Insider build.

If you don't want to run the packer step, you can run vagrant up 2016-box and get your box downloaded directly from Vagrant Cloud.

Tested environments

• macOS with Vagrant 2.0.3
  • VMware Fusion Pro 10.1.0
  • VirtualBox 5.2.8
• Windows with Vagrant 2.0.3
  • VMware Workstation Pro 14.1.0
  • (VirtualBox see issue #2)
  • (Hyper-V see issue #1)

First you need the Windows Server 2016 VM for your hypervisor. I prefer "Infrastructure as Code", so every build step is available on GitHub.

1. packer build to build a Vagrant base box, it's like a Docker image, but for Vagrant VM's
2. vagrant up to create a running VM instance of Windows Server 2016
3. docker run to run Windows containers in that Windows VM

Step 1 (building the headless Vagrant box) can be done with these steps:

$ git clone https://github.com/StefanScherer/packer-windows
$ cd packer-windows

$ packer build --only=vmware-iso windows_2016_docker.json
$ vagrant box add windows_2016_docker windows_2016_docker_vmware.box

- or -

$ packer build --only=vmware-iso --var iso_url=~/path-to-1709.iso windows_server_1709_docker.json
$ vagrant box add windows_server_1709_docker windows_server_1709_docker_vmware.box

- or -

$ packer build --only=vmware-iso --var iso_url=~/path-to-1803.iso windows_server_1803_docker.json
$ vagrant box add windows_server_1803_docker windows_server_1803_docker_vmware.box

- or -

$ packer build --only=vmware-iso --var iso_url=~/path-to-insider.iso windows_server_insider_docker.json
$ vagrant box add windows_server_insider_docker windows_server_insider_vmware_docker.box

- or -

$ packer build --only=vmware-iso --var iso_url=~/path-to-2019.iso windows_2019_docker.json
$ vagrant box add windows_2019_docker windows_2019_docker_vmware.box

Of course you can build only the box version you need. If you are using VirtualBox instead of VMware, swap vmware for virtualbox in the vagrant commands above.

Spin up the headless Vagrant box you created earlier with Windows Server 2016 and Docker EE installed. It will create the TLS certs and create a 2016 Docker machine for your docker-machine binary on your Mac.

$ git clone https://github.com/StefanScherer/windows-docker-machine
$ cd windows-docker-machine
$ vagrant up --provider vmware_fusion 2016

- or -

$ vagrant up --provider virtualbox 2016

$ docker-machine ls
NAME      ACTIVE   DRIVER         STATE     URL                          SWARM   DOCKER    ERRORS
dev       -        virtualbox     Running   tcp://192.168.99.100:2376            v1.13.0
linux     -        vmwarefusion   Running                                        Unknown
2016      *        generic        Running   tcp://192.168.254.135:2376           Unknown
1709      -        generic        Running   tcp://192.168.254.136:2376           Unknown
insider   -        generic        Running   tcp://192.168.254.137:2376           Unknown

Currently there is an issue that the client API version of docker-machine is too old. But switch Docker environments works as shown below.

$ eval $(docker-machine env 2016)

Now your Mac Docker client talks to the Windows Docker engine:

$ docker version
Client:
 Version:      17.03.0-ce
 API version:  1.26
 Go version:   go1.7.5
 Git commit:   60ccb22
 Built:        Thu Feb 23 10:40:59 2017
 OS/Arch:      darwin/amd64

Server:
 Version:      17.03.0-ee-1
 API version:  1.26 (minimum version 1.24)
 Go version:   go1.7.5
 Git commit:   9094a76
 Built:        Wed Mar  1 00:49:51 2017
 OS/Arch:      windows/amd64
 Experimental: true

$ eval $(docker-machine env -unset)

This removes all DOCKER environment variables and you can use your Docker for Mac installation.

$ docker version
Client:
 Version:      17.03.0-ce
 API version:  1.26
 Go version:   go1.7.5
 Git commit:   60ccb22
 Built:        Thu Feb 23 10:40:59 2017
 OS/Arch:      darwin/amd64

Server:
 Version:      17.03.0-ce
 API version:  1.26 (minimum version 1.12)
 Go version:   go1.7.5
 Git commit:   3a232c8
 Built:        Tue Feb 28 07:52:04 2017
 OS/Arch:      linux/amd64
 Experimental: true

Just use C:$(pwd) to prepend a drive letter.

$ docker run -it -v C:$(pwd):C:$(pwd) microsoft/windowsservercore powershell

Yes, this mounts the current directory through the Windows 2016 VM into the Windows Container.

When you run Windows containers with publish ports then you can use the IP address of the Windows Docker host to access it. The docker-machine binary can give your the IP address with a command.

Example: Run the whoami Windows container and open it in the default macOS browser.

$ docker run -d -p 8080:8080 stefanscherer/whoami
$ open http://$(docker-machine ip 2016):8080

Spin up the headless Vagrant box you created earlier with Windows Server 2016 and Docker EE installed. It will create the TLS certs and create a 2016 Docker machine for your docker-machine binary on your Windows host.

If you haven't worked with docker-machine yet, create the .docker directory in your user profile manually.

PS C:\> mkdir $env:USERPROFILE\.docker

Choose your hypervisor and start the VM

PS C:\> git clone https://github.com/StefanScherer/windows-docker-machine
PS C:\> cd windows-docker-machine
PS C:\> vagrant up --provider vmware_workstation 2016

- or -

PS C:\> vagrant up --provider virtualbox 2016

- or -

PS C:\> vagrant up --provider hyperv 2016

Notice: The provider hyperv does mount the volumes with SMB into the Win2016 VM. It seems that there is a problem mounting that further into a Windows container. The provisioning (creating the TLS certs and copying them back to the Windows host) will fail.

PS C:\> docker-machine ls
NAME      ACTIVE   DRIVER         STATE     URL                          SWARM   DOCKER    ERRORS
dev       -        virtualbox     Running   tcp://192.168.99.100:2376            v1.13.0
2016      *        generic        Running   tcp://192.168.254.135:2376           Unknown

PS C:\> docker-machine env windows | iex

Now your Windows Docker client talks to the Windows Docker engine:

PS C:\> docker version
Client:
 Version:      17.03.0-ce
 API version:  1.26
 Go version:   go1.7.5
 Git commit:   60ccb22
 Built:        Thu Feb 23 10:40:59 2017
 OS/Arch:      windows/amd64

Server:
 Version:      17.03.0-ee-1
 API version:  1.26 (minimum version 1.24)
 Go version:   go1.7.5
 Git commit:   9094a76
 Built:        Wed Mar  1 00:49:51 2017
 OS/Arch:      windows/amd64
 Experimental: true

PS C:\> docker-machine env -unset | iex

This removes all DOCKER environment variables and you can use your Docker for Windows installation.

PS C:\> docker version
Client:
 Version:      17.03.0-ce
 API version:  1.26
 Go version:   go1.7.5
 Git commit:   60ccb22
 Built:        Thu Feb 23 10:40:59 2017
 OS/Arch:      windows/amd64

Server:
 Version:      17.03.0-ce
 API version:  1.26 (minimum version 1.12)
 Go version:   go1.7.5
 Git commit:   3a232c8
 Built:        Tue Feb 28 07:52:04 2017
 OS/Arch:      linux/amd64
 Experimental: true

Just use $(pwd) in PowerShell.

PS C:\> docker run -it -v "$(pwd):$(pwd)" microsoft/windowsservercore powershell

Yes, this mounts the current directory through the Windows 2016 VM into the Windows Container.

When you run Windows containers with publish ports then you can use the IP address of the Windows Docker host to access it. The docker-machine binary can give your the IP address with a command.

Example: Run the whoami Windows container and open it in the default browser.

PS C:\> docker run -d -p 8080:8080 stefanscherer/whoami
PS C:\> start http://$(docker-machine ip 2016):8080

Here is a list of docker-machine commands and the equivalent Vagrant command. I use a bash function dm in my dotfiles repo to simplify all the tasks without switching to the Vagrant folder each time.

If you want to follow the Windows Server Insider builds then this is for you. It is tested on a Mac with the following steps.

1. Register at Windows Insider program https://insider.windows.com

2. Download the Windows Server ISO from https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windowsinsiderpreviewserver?wa=wsignin1.0

3. Build the Vagrant basebox with Packer

git clone https://github.com/StefanScherer/packer-windows
cd packer-windows
packer build --only=vmware-iso --var iso_url=~/Downloads/Windows_InsiderPreview_Server_2_17035.iso windows_server_insider_docker.json
vagrant box add windows_server_insider_docker windows_server_insider_docker_vmware.box

Then spin up your Insider machine with

vagrant up insider

This Vagrant box has Docker 17.10.0-ee-preview3 installed and the following base images are already pulled from Docker Hub:

• microsoft/windowsservercore-insider
• microsoft/nanoserver-insider

There is also some languages and runtimes available as insider images:

• stefanscherer/node-windows

You can try the Linux Container on Windows feature in a separate machine lcow. It is preconfigured to use the Windows Server, version 1709. But you can also use Windows Insider Server Preview as base box.

vagrant up lcow
eval $(docker-machine env lcow)
docker pull --platform linux alpine
docker run alpine uname -a