page_title: Installation on Windows
page_description: Docker installation on Microsoft Windows
page_keywords: Docker, Docker documentation, Windows, requirements, virtualbox, boot2docker

# Windows
> **Note:**
> Docker has been tested on Windows 7.1 and 8; it may also run on older versions.
> Your processor needs to support hardware virtualization.

The Docker Engine uses Linux-specific kernel features, so to run it on Windows
we need to use a lightweight virtual machine (vm).  You use the Windows Docker client to
control the virtualized Docker Engine to build, run, and manage Docker containers.

To make this process easier, we've designed a helper application called
[Boot2Docker](https://github.com/boot2docker/boot2docker) that installs the
virtual machine and runs the Docker daemon.

## Demonstration

<iframe width="640" height="480" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/oSHN8_uiZd4?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

## Installation

1. Download the latest release of the [Docker for Windows Installer](https://github.com/boot2docker/windows-installer/releases/latest)
2. Run the installer, which will install VirtualBox, MSYS-git, the boot2docker Linux ISO,
and the Boot2Docker management tool.
   ![](/installation/images/windows-installer.png)
3. Run the `Boot2Docker Start` shell script from your Desktop or Program Files > Boot2Docker for Windows.
   The Start script will ask you to enter an ssh key passphrase - the simplest
   (but least secure) is to just hit [Enter].

   ![](/installation/images/windows-boot2docker-start.png)

   The `Boot2Docker Start` script will connect you to a shell session in the virtual
   machine. If needed, it will initialize a new VM and start it.

## Upgrading

1. Download the latest release of the [Docker for Windows Installer](
   https://github.com/boot2docker/windows-installer/releases/latest)

2. Run the installer, which will update the Boot2Docker management tool.

3. To upgrade your existing virtual machine, open a terminal and run:

        boot2docker stop
        boot2docker download
        boot2docker start

## Running Docker

Boot2Docker will log you in automatically so you can start using Docker right away.

Let's try the `hello-world` example image. Run

    $ docker run hello-world

This should download the very small `hello-world` image and print a `Hello from Docker.` message.

## Login with PUTTY instead of using the CMD

Boot2Docker generates and uses the public/private key pair in your `%HOMEPATH%\.ssh`
directory so to log in you need to use the private key from this same directory.

The private key needs to be converted into the format PuTTY uses.

You can do this with
[puttygen](http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html):

- Open `puttygen.exe` and load ("File"->"Load" menu) the private key from
  `%HOMEPATH%\.ssh\id_boot2docker`
- then click: "Save Private Key".
- Then use the saved file to login with PuTTY using `docker@127.0.0.1:2022`.

# Further Details

The Boot2Docker management tool provides several commands:

    $ ./boot2docker
    Usage: ./boot2docker [<options>] {help|init|up|ssh|save|down|poweroff|reset|restart|config|status|info|ip|delete|download|version} [<args>]


## Container port redirection

If you are curious, the username for the boot2docker default user is `docker` and the password is `tcuser`.

The latest version of `boot2docker` sets up a host only network adaptor which provides access to the container's ports.

If you run a container with an exposed port:

    docker run --rm -i -t -p 80:80 nginx

Then you should be able to access that nginx server using the IP address reported
to you using:

    boot2docker ip

Typically, it is 192.168.59.103, but it could get changed by Virtualbox's DHCP
implementation.

For further information or to report issues, please see the [Boot2Docker site](http://boot2docker.io)
