Docker Cookbook

1.8 Running Boot2Docker on Windows 8.1 Desktop
Problem
You have a Windows 8.1 desktop and would like to use Boot2Docker to test Docker.
Solution
Use the Boot2Docker windows 
installer
, shown in 
Figure 1-5
.
1.8 Running Boot2Docker on Windows 8.1 Desktop | 13

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After downloading the latest version of the Windows installer (an 
.exe
binary), run it
through the command prompt or through your file explorer (see 
Figure 1-5
). It will
automatically install VirtualBox, MSysGit, and the Boot2Docker ISO. MSysGit is nec‐
essary to get the 
ssk-keygen
binary on your Windows machine. Going through the
installer wizard, you will need to accept a couple of VirtualBox licenses from Oracle.
The installer can create shortcuts on your desktop for VirtualBox and to start
Boot2Docker.
Figure 1-5. Boot2Docker Windows 8.1 installer
Once the installation is finished, double-click the shortcut for Boot2Docker. This will
launch the VM in VirtualBox, and you will get a command prompt inside it (see
Figure 1-6
). You can now use Docker on your Windows desktop.
14 | Chapter 1: Getting Started with Docker

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Figure 1-6. Boot2Docker Windows 8.1 command
Discussion
Docker Machine (see 
Recipe 1.9
) also comes with a Hyper-V driver. If you set up
Hyper-V on your desktop, you could start a Boot2Docker instance with Docker
Machine instead.
See Also
• Boot2Docker for Windows official Docker 
documentation
1.9 Starting a Docker Host in the Cloud by Using Docker
Machine
Problem
You do not want to install the Docker daemon locally using Vagrant (
Recipe 1.4
) or
Boot2Docker (
Recipe 1.7
). Instead, you would like to use a Docker host in the cloud
(e.g., AWS, DigitalOcean, Azure, or Google Compute Engine) and connect to it seam‐
lessly using the local Docker client.
Solution
Use 
Docker Machine
to start a cloud instance in your public cloud of choice. 
Docker
Machine
is client-side tool that you run on your local host and that allows you to start
a server in a remote public cloud and use it as a Docker host as if it were local.
Machine
will automatically install Docker and set up TLS for secure communication.