Run Docker commands on Windows

[michalbarer1]

Describe the bug
I'm new to GitHub Actions and facing a few Docker related issues. I'm using Docker SDK for Python, and my tests are failing because image pull is failing. I even added a step and tried to run docker pull command via CLI, and I discovered something strange. Some pulls are working, and others just don't.
For example:
running the following step-

- name: Test Docker on Windows
        if: startsWith(runner.os, 'Windows')
        run: |
          docker pull hello-world

works just fine, but running this step-

- name: Test Docker on Windows
        if: startsWith(runner.os, 'Windows')
        run: |
          docker pull minio/minio

will cause the following error:
image operating system "linux" cannot be used on this platform
##[error]Process completed with exit code 1.

I tried to pull the same image (minio/minio) on my own windows (10 pro, not server), and this command (docker pull minio/minio) actually did work. I checked, and my configurations are standard (no experimental mode).

Area for Triage:
Scripting and command line

Question, Bug, or Feature?:
Somewhere in between a question and a bug

Virtual environments affected

• macOS 10.15
• Ubuntu 16.04 LTS
• Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
• Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
• Windows Server 2016 R2
• Windows Server 2019

I want to understand why I'm not able to pull some images on Windows virtual environments. Is there a way to avoid it?
Thanks :)
(If any other information is needed, please ask)

[al-cheb]

Hello, @michalb-dsg
Sorry we don't support Linux container on Windows Server 2016/2019, because the main requirement is Docker Desktop Enterprise. Out of the box, Docker on Windows only run Windows container. To use Linux containers on Windows Server , you need to use the Docker Desktop Enterprise which includes a full LinuxKit system for running Docker Linux containers - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/virtualization/windowscontainers/quick-start/quick-start-windows-10-linux. Another drawback is that we can not pre-install Docker Desktop Enterprise due to license policy agreement.

[michalbarer1]

Hi @al-cheb
Thank you for your quick response! Is it possible to install Docker Desktop as one of my steps in CI? And after the installation, I didn't find any CLI commands for Docker Desktop in order to change some settings after installation- is it possible?

[al-cheb]

@michalb-dsg , Currently nope, you can't install Docker Desktop in CI due to limitations of virtual environments:

1. Microsoft-Hyper-V component is not enabled on Windows Server 2019 image and needs reboot to enable this component
2. DSv2 vm instance, we are currently using, doesn't support nested virtualization

[michalbarer1]

@al-cheb 👌
So, the same goes for MacOS, right?

[al-cheb]

@michalb-dsg, You can install docker and use minio/minio in runtime for macOS, because we already pre-installed virtualbox on macOS image. We can't pre-install docker on the macOS image due to license policy agreement.

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: 'macos-latest'

    steps:
      - name: Install docker
        run: |
         mkdir -p ~/.docker/machine/cache
         curl -Lo ~/.docker/machine/cache/boot2docker.iso https://github.com/boot2docker/boot2docker/releases/download/v19.03.12/boot2docker.iso
         brew install docker docker-machine
         docker-machine create --driver virtualbox default
         docker-machine env default
      - name: Run container
        run: |
         eval "$(docker-machine env default)" 
         docker pull minio/minio
         docker container run --rm minio/minio minio --help

Or the second variant provided by @telamonian - docker/for-mac#2359 (comment)

  brew cask install docker
  # allow the app to run without confirmation
  xattr -d -r com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Docker.app
  
  # preemptively do docker.app's setup to avoid any gui prompts
  sudo /bin/cp /Applications/Docker.app/Contents/Library/LaunchServices/com.docker.vmnetd /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools
  sudo /bin/cp /Applications/Docker.app/Contents/Resources/com.docker.vmnetd.plist /Library/LaunchDaemons/
  sudo /bin/chmod 544 /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.docker.vmnetd
  sudo /bin/chmod 644 /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.docker.vmnetd.plist
  sudo /bin/launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.docker.vmnetd.plist
  open -g -a Docker.app
  
  # Wait for the server to start up, if applicable.
  i=0
  while ! docker system info &>/dev/null; do
    (( i++ == 0 )) && printf %s '-- Waiting for Docker to finish starting up...' || printf '.'
    sleep 1
  done
  (( i )) && printf '\n'
  
  echo "-- Docker is ready."

[al-cheb]

Feel free to open the thread if you have any concerns.

[ItalyPaleAle]

@al-cheb now that Docker on Windows can use WSL to run Linux containers, is it possible to maybe reopen this?

[al-cheb]

@ItalyPaleAle, WSL2 doesn't support current - OS Version: 10.0.17763 Build 1397

[mkreidenweis]

@al-cheb Are the plans to upgrade the OS Version to support WSL2, or is this not possible for some reason?

[al-cheb]

@alepauly, Do we have any plans to update Windows Server 2019?

[thedrow]

@alepauly, Do we have any plans to update Windows Server 2019?

That would be most helpful.

[h0p3zZ]

@al-cheb is WSL2 enabled on windows-latest?

[h0p3zZ]

The ability to run docker on windows via WSL would be great, because if you need smth. like Electron (as we do) with a windows-build you could still use it.

[catthehacker]

@h0p3zZ WSL2 has been removed from Windows Server 2022 so it's not possible to run Linux containers in WSL
See microsoft/WSL#6301 (comment)

[h0p3zZ]

@h0p3zZ WSL2 has been removed from Windows Server 2022 so it's not possible to run Linux containers in WSL See microsoft/WSL#6301 (comment)

Alright... yeah thats real bad :D - still thanks though.

Still... is there a way we can achieve the usecase I mentioned earlier?

[catthehacker]

Not sure what are you trying to do, but Electron should work normally through NodeJS

[h0p3zZ]

@catthehacker I'm trying to run the spectron tests in an Action. But when I try to run this in ubuntu-latest it does not work at all. In windows all tests pass in ubuntu none do.

Therefore the request.