Microsoft Releases New Containerized Windows Server Image
Earlier this year, on Build 2018, Microsoft announced that it would build a third container base image for applications where current Nano Server or Windows Server Core cannot meet its API dependency. Recently, the new version of Windows Server named “Windows” released as a container image, and the Windows Insiders channel can use first.
Image: Microsoft
As to why a new container image is needed, Lars Lwer, Microsoft’s Hyper-V project manager, explained that when talking to developers, they found that they wanted more than the current Nano Server or Windows Server Core can provide. Many customers want to be their legacy applications to migrate to the container, to benefit from the arrangement and container management techniques such as Kubernetes in. However, not all requests can easily containerise, and in some cases, they are often impossible to achieve because of lack of components that didn’t include in Windows Server Core. Still, others would like to use containers to run automated UI tests in their CI/CD processes, or to use other graphics features that were not available in the previous two container images.
The new Windows container image provides a third option that can be selected based on the requirements of the workload. The mirror design is headless (no remote desktop) but uses the Windows API Sets build, so you can use GDI APIs to provide greater compatibility.
Currently, this image can be docker pull mcr.microsoft.com/windows-insider:10.0.17704.1000 quickly obtained in Windows Insiders via commands.
