Use Windows container images

A Windows container image is not the same thing as a Windows-looking application image. Windows containers require a Windows container host and a compatible Windows base image; a Linux image such as ubuntu or nginx:alpine cannot run in Windows container mode.

Docker Desktop can switch between Linux and Windows container modes on supported Windows editions. Check the mode before troubleshooting an image pull or startup failure, and read the image publisher's supported tags. Windows Server images also have host-version compatibility rules that should be checked against Microsoft's documentation.

For most cross-platform web development, Linux containers are the simpler default. Use Windows containers when the application requires Windows APIs or a Windows base. Do not assume that changing the Dockerfile's FROM line is enough: the build host, runtime mode, image family, and process model all need to match.

Sources

• Windows containers documentation

• Docker documentation