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< h1 align = "center" > Local Windows on Docker< br / >
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< div align = "center" >
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< a href = "https://github.com/dockur/windows" > < img src = "./.github/logo.png" title = "Logo" style = "max-width:100%;" width = "128" / > < / a >
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< / div >
< div align = "center" >
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< / div > < / h1 >
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Local Windows inside a Docker container.
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## Usage 🐳
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### Via Docker Compose:
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> See [compose.yml](compose.yml) for the complete configuration.
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To prepare a golden image from a custom ISO:
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```bash
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STORAGE=/path/to/storage ISO=/path/to/custom.iso \
docker compose --profile prepare-golden-image up
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```
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Start the container:
```bash
STORAGE=/path/to/storage docker compose up
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```
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### Via Docker CLI:
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```bash
docker run -it --rm \
-p 8006:8006 \
--device=/dev/kvm \
--cap-add NET_ADMIN \
--mount type=bind,source=./custom.iso,target=/custom.iso \
--stop-timeout 120 \
windows-local:latest
```
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## Compatibility ⚙️
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| **Product** | **Platform** | |
|---|---|---|
| Docker Engine | Linux| ✅ |
| Docker Desktop | Linux | ❌ |
| Docker Desktop | macOS | ❌ |
| Docker Desktop | Windows 11 | ✅ |
| Docker Desktop | Windows 10 | ❌ |
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## FAQ 💬
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### How do I use it?
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**Download Windows 11 Enterprise ISO:**
1. Visit [Microsoft Evaluation Center ](https://info.microsoft.com/ww-landing-windows-11-enterprise.html )
2. Accept the Terms of Service
3. Download **Windows 11 Enterprise Evaluation (90-day trial, English, United States)** ISO file [~6GB]
**Then follow these steps:**
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- Start the container and connect to [port 8006 ](http://localhost:8006 ) using your web browser.
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- Sit back and relax while the magic happens, the whole installation will be performed fully automatic.
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- 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!
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### How do I select the Windows language?
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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:
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```yaml
environment:
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LANGUAGE: "French"
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```
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You can choose between: 🇦🇪 Arabic, 🇧🇬 Bulgarian, 🇨🇳 Chinese, 🇭🇷 Croatian, 🇨🇿 Czech, 🇩🇰 Danish, 🇳🇱 Dutch, 🇬🇧 English, 🇪🇪 Estionian, 🇫🇮 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.
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### How do I select the keyboard layout?
If you want to use a keyboard layout or locale that is not the default for your selected language, you can add the `KEYBOARD` and `REGION` variables with a culture code, like this:
```yaml
environment:
REGION: "en-US"
KEYBOARD: "en-US"
```
> [!NOTE]
> Changing these values will have no effect after the installation has been performed already. Use the control panel inside Windows in that case.
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### How do I change the storage location?
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To change the storage location, include the following bind mount in your compose file:
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```yaml
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volumes:
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- /var/win:/storage
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```
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Replace the example path `/var/win` with the desired storage folder.
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### How do I change the size of the disk?
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To expand the default size of 64 GB, add the `DISK_SIZE` setting to your compose file and set it to your preferred capacity:
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```yaml
environment:
DISK_SIZE: "256G"
```
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> [!TIP]
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> This can also be used to resize the existing disk to a larger capacity without any data loss.
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### How do I share files with the host?
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Open 'File Explorer' and click on the 'Network' section, you will see a computer called `host.lan` . Double-click it and it will show a folder called `Data` , which can be bound to any folder on your host via the compose file:
```yaml
volumes:
- /home/user/example:/data
```
The example folder `/home/user/example` will be available as ` \\host.lan\Data` .
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> [!TIP]
> You can map this path to a drive letter in Windows, for easier access.
### 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:
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```yaml
volumes:
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- /home/user/example:/oem
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```
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The example folder `/home/user/example` will be copied to `C:\OEM` during installation and the containing `install.bat` will be executed during the last step.
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### How do I change the amount of CPU or RAM?
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By default, the container will be allowed to use a maximum of 2 CPU cores and 4 GB of RAM.
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If you want to adjust this, you can specify the desired amount using the following environment variables:
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```yaml
environment:
RAM_SIZE: "8G"
CPU_CORES: "4"
```
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### How do I configure the username and password?
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By default, a user called `Docker` is created during the installation, with an empty password.
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If you want to use different credentials, you can change them in your compose file:
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```yaml
environment:
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USERNAME: "bill"
PASSWORD: "gates"
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```
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### How do I select the Windows language?
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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:
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```yaml
environment:
LANGUAGE: "French"
```
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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.
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### How do I select the keyboard layout?
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If you want to use a keyboard layout or locale that is not the default for your selected language, you can add the `KEYBOARD` and `REGION` variables with a culture code, like this:
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```yaml
environment:
REGION: "en-US"
KEYBOARD: "en-US"
```
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> [!NOTE]
> Changing these values will have no effect after the installation has been performed already. Use the control panel inside Windows in that case.
>
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### How do I connect using RDP?
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The web-viewer is mainly meant to be used during installation, as its picture quality is low, and it has no audio or clipboard for example.
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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 by leaving the password empty.
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### How do I assign an individual IP address to the container?
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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:
```bash
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:
```yaml
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.
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> [!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](https://blog.oddbit.com/post/2018-03-12-using-docker-macvlan-networks/#host-access) as a workaround.
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### How can Windows acquire an IP address from my router?
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After configuring the container for [macvlan ](#how-do-i-assign-an-individual-ip-address-to-the-container ), it is possible for Windows to become part of your home network by requesting an IP from your router, just like a real PC.
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To enable this mode, add the following lines to your compose file:
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```yaml
environment:
DHCP: "Y"
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devices:
- /dev/vhost-net
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device_cgroup_rules:
- 'c *:* rwm'
```
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> [!NOTE]
> In this mode, the container and Windows will each have their own separate IPs.
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### How do I add multiple disks?
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To create additional disks, modify your compose file like this:
```yaml
environment:
DISK2_SIZE: "32G"
DISK3_SIZE: "64G"
volumes:
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- /home/example:/storage2
- /mnt/data/example:/storage3
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```
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### How do I pass-through a disk?
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It is possible to pass-through disk devices directly by adding them to your compose file in this way:
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```yaml
devices:
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- /dev/sdb:/disk1
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- /dev/sdc:/disk2
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```
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Use `/disk1` if you want it to become your main drive (which will be formatted during installation), and use `/disk2` and higher to add them as secondary drives (which will stay untouched).
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### How do I pass-through a USB device?
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To pass-through a USB device, first lookup its vendor and product id via the `lsusb` command, then add them to your compose file like this:
```yaml
environment:
ARGUMENTS: "-device usb-host,vendorid=0x1234,productid=0x1234"
devices:
- /dev/bus/usb
```
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> [!IMPORTANT]
> If the device is a USB disk drive, please wait until after the installation is completed before connecting it. Otherwise the installation may fail, as the order of the disks can get rearranged.
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### How do I verify if my system supports KVM?
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Only Linux and Windows 11 support KVM virtualization, macOS and Windows 10 do not unfortunately.
You can run the following commands in Linux to check your system:
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```bash
sudo apt install cpu-checker
sudo kvm-ok
```
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If you receive an error from `kvm-ok` indicating that KVM cannot be used, please check whether:
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- the virtualization extensions (`Intel VT-x` or `AMD SVM` ) are enabled in your BIOS.
- you enabled "nested virtualization" if you are running the container inside a virtual machine.
- you are not using a cloud provider, as most of them do not allow nested virtualization for their VPS's.
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If you didn't receive any error from `kvm-ok` at all, but the container still complains that `/dev/kvm` is missing, it might help to add `privileged: true` to your compose file (or `--privileged` to your `run` command), to rule out any permission issue.