Windows Server 2016 was announced a few weeks ago. Download Windows 2016 Server Evaluation version. This blog is the first part of a multi-part series. The first part will show how to set up Windows Server 2016 as a VirtualBox VM. This is an update to Windows Server 2016 using VirtualBox for Docker Containers.
- Download Windows 2016 Server Evaluation version. Its ~5GB download so try on a reliable and fast Internet connection.
- Create a new VM using Virtual Box:
- Set up a dynamically allocated HDD, make sure to choose 30GB (as shown):
The installed operating system is ~17GB. The basewindowsservercoreimage is 3.8GB. So if you chose the default 20GB HDD, then no Docker containers can run on it. - Point to the downloaded ISO:
- Start the VM, take default settings:
- Click on
Next:
Click on Install now. - Select the
Desktop Experienceversion otherwise the standard Windows desktop will not be available after Windows is booted:
Click on Next. - Accept the license terms:
- Select
Custom Installas we are installing as a VM:
- Take the default for the allocated space:
- Click on
Nextto start the installation:
Wait for a few minutes for the installation to complete:
It will take a few minutes for the install to complete. - Enter the administrator’s password:
Seems like it requires alphabets, numbers and special characters. The dialog expects to meet the password criteria without showing the criteria, this is weird! - Entering the credentials shows the Windows login screen:
- In a classical Windows, you do a three-finger salute of
Ctrl+Alt+Delto view Desktop. This key combination needs to be sent to Windows VM using Virtual Box menu:
- Server Manager Dashboard shows up:
- Latest updates need to be installed. Click on the Start icon, and search for
update:
Selec
t Check for Updates. - Update window looks like:
Select Check for updatesagain. - Latest updates are downloaded and installed:
- Once the updates are downloaded and installed, then the VM needs to be restarted:
Click on Restart nowto restart the VM. - Restarted VM looks like as shown:
This shows that Windows Server 2016 VM is now ready. Subsequent parts of this multi-part blog will show how to configure Docker containers and run a multi-container application using Docker Compose.
| Reference: | Windows Server 2016 Using VirtualBox – Getting Ready for Docker from our JCG partner Arun Gupta at the Miles to go 3.0 … blog. |
