Can Docker containers run in Windows IoT Core

Question

Is there a way to run a Docker container in Windows IoT Core? I have seen it can be used in Azure, Windows Server and desktop W10 but there is no evidence about Windows IoT Core and I am not sure if some of the already existing installations of docker-engine is compatible with IoT Core or it is just not possible.

Answer 1

As of IoT Core version 16299, released on 17 October, this feature is in preview.

https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/iot/docs/whatsnew

You can run Nano Server Core containers on 64-bit Windows 10 IoT core. It is likely to be amd64 only at this point.

Answer 2

Last Friday, Azure IoT Edge v2 launched in Public Preview yesterday with out-of-box support for native Windows containers ! There is even a how-to for deploying on Windows IoT Core with a compatible x64-based board*.

First party modules like Azure Functions, Azure Stream Analytics, Modbus and a cool developer experience in VS Code for authoring custom modules all work great with Windows containers on both Windows 10 and IoT Core.

*Note: Windows containers require x64-based processor support, they won't work on ARM32-based devices like Raspberry Pi.

Answer 3

The short answer is, no. This is because Windows 10 IoT Core is an OS that supports a set of features that overlap with Windows 10 desktop, but there is no version of Docker that runs on that currently. Off the top of my head, there would be a few concerns with creating such a version. First, the implementation of Docker would have to be runnable (use features that the OS supports), and second, the features utilized in the container would need to be virtualized by Docker in form that are supported in Windows 10 IoT Core. Third, the hardware running Windows 10 IoT Core (and Docker and its container) would have to support all these functions. Maybe some do and some don't. The problem might be whether or not the hardware such as a Raspberry Pi or Minnowboard supports virtualization in a way that this would be a practical scenario.