Is it possible to run the Windows operating system as a guest inside a Docker container?

Running a full Windows operating system inside a Docker container is not possible because Docker containers use the host OS kernel and do not emulate hardware.

Containers isolate processes but do not virtualize the entire OS. Therefore:

• You cannot run a Windows container with a full Windows OS on a Linux host.
• You can run Windows containers on a Windows host, but they use the Windows kernel of the host.

If a full Windows virtual machine is needed, hypervisors (such as Hyper-V, VirtualBox) are used, not containers.

Thus, Windows as a guest OS in a Docker container does not run, but Windows applications can be run in Windows containers on a Windows host.