Using docker on Windows using Hyper-V instead of Virtualbox

I've been looking into Docker the last couple of days and am amazed of the power it can wield you. As a dev-op or developer, or as an architect setting up Fitness Functions.

But I should admit I'm fairly new to the Docker game. I have known about the technology for a long time now, but never had the time or the necessity to research it further.

First thing I had to do to start working with Docker, was installing the Docker Toolbox.
Then I could run the following command which would create my first Docker machine. And I was thinking to myself, 'how cool is this!', remembering all my experience with virtual machines in the past. 1 command line..

docker-machine create --driver virtualbox default

And off-course it gave me an error almost immediately. I didn't have VirtualBox installed.

I did a little digging and came to the conclusion that you can use Docker with Hyper-V straight out of the box. First enable Hyper-V on your windows computer (duh) and then create a Virtual Switch.

I can now simply exchange the virtualbox driver with hyperv like so:

docker-machine create --driver hyperv default

And that did the trick!

If you are running a version of Windows that has Hyper-V, you can safely uninstall VirtualBox. You don't really need another program cluttering up your workspace if you already have all you need on Windows..

Happy coding!