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I recently installed Windows Server 2019, but I noticed it doesn't have an option for installing Containers. I assumed any Windows Server OS would have the ability to add a Containers channel, however I don't see anything online to do this.

This version is actually "Microsoft Hyper-V Server", however, its not clear that Hyper-V server is fundamentally different from regular Windows Server OS installations.

  • Is there a way to enable the 'Containers' feature on Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2019 (1809) ?
  • Is there a way to upgrade Micrsoft's Hyper-V Server to a Containers compatible 1909 server ?
  • What is the fundamental difference between Microsoft's Hyper-V Server and a regular Microsoft 2019 Windows Server OS?

Note: I installed this onto a laptop over a USB stick, and did a lot of work to upgrade drivers and so on to support laptop features like Wi-Fi, hence my reluctance to completely reinstall the operating system .

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    Wow, that's some pretty nasty hackery right there. Just how many different Windows Server editions did you have to rip things out of to get to this state? Commented Mar 13, 2021 at 0:08
  • Windows Hyper-V and Essentials both do not support the "Containers" feature, and therefore also do not support Docker. Commented Jun 18 at 16:39

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The key difference between a Windows Server and a Windows Hyper-V Server is that the latter only contains enough infrastructure to be a host to a number of Hyper-V virtual machines.

I'm afraid the upgrade path is to replace it with a full version of Windows Server 2019.

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  • is that something that can be done to a Hyper-V Windows Server OS ? Or are you usggesting, there is no upgrade path Commented Mar 13, 2021 at 11:55
  • I'm stating that there is no upgrade path. Hyper-V Server is designed to only host Hyper-V instances. If you want to do anything else with it, you're hooped. The only way to enable the Containers feature is to replace the entire OS with a full Windows Server install, or install a full Windows Server in a Hyper-V instance. Commented Mar 13, 2021 at 16:37
  • Yes, and that's why Hyper-V Server is free... Commented Mar 24, 2021 at 19:53
  • As a possible upgrade path on a 2 node Hyper-V cluster, can you Install Full Server 2019 on one, join the cluster, then install Server 2019 on the other? Commented Jun 17 at 17:56

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