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I want to have some isolated Windows containers preferably using built-in Hyper-V, on my Windows 10 Pro 21H2 machine. First I looked at the Windows Sandboxes. However, it appears as if Microsoft is intentionally ignoring the requests to have persistent sandboxes or the ability to take snapshots! (more discussion here)

Secondly, I looked into the Hyper-V virtual machines. After spending hours fixing issues I had, I am being asked to provide a Windows license to install a Windows OS on the virtual machine. This, in my humble opinion, is absurd, given that I already have a Windows 10 Pro installed on my host computer. And I don't really need virtualization, but isolation.

Thirdly, it seems like one can have Windows containers using Docker Desktop (instructions here and here). However, I don't know how to install a vanilla windows container (in contrast to Windows Server the aforementioned instructions appear to be installed) without any Microsoft bloatware.

I would appreciate it if you could help me know how I can have some low-calorie isolated containers on my Windows Pro machine, without needing extra licenses.

P.S.1. I am being told that the Docker is most probably a dead end. I am trying the Hyper-V virtual machine again and also reading pages like this one, hoping there is a workaround to take "snapshots" of Windows sandboxes.

P.S.2. I created an official feature request through Feedback Hub here. Please do upvote it, if you agree there is a need for persistent containers with snapshot functionality. More discussions here on GitHub, and here on Twitter.

P.S.3. I am also looking into Sandboxie, a Free and Open Source Software.

Service Desk Bunny
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Foad
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    What part of the process exactly are you stuck on? – Ramhound May 03 '22 at 11:54
  • @Ramhound at this moment I want to try Docker, but I am not sure if it is what I need and how it can be done. Maybe Sandboxes or Hyper-V virtual machines are a better option, I am not sure either. – Foad May 03 '22 at 11:58
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    A license isn't needed to install Windows 10/11 and both can be run without a license. I haven't installed Windows 11 yet, but if the Setup GUI isn't offering a way around providing a license, use an `unattend.xml` answer file and skip the license step _(IIRC, it's under the `windowsPE` configuration pass)_. AFAIK, the only bloatware that comes with Windows are the pre-installed Apps, which can be removed with Powershell. I haven't tried Docker integration yet since I use Hyper-V, but the bug linked to should have been resolved since it's 2yrs old - does restarting the VMMS resolve the issue? – JW0914 May 03 '22 at 12:03
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    Docker is a dead-end for your use case, RDP has been closed https://stackoverflow.com/questions/66153861/enable-remote-desktop-on-windows-10-container unless you really only need to run console/services/IIS apps, in which case the Windows Server images https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/virtualization/windowscontainers/manage-containers/container-base-images are actually as optimized as possible. – Martheen May 03 '22 at 12:04
  • @JW0914 I am downloading a new `.iso` file. Maybe the image I already have is corrupt. – Foad May 03 '22 at 12:16

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