A Windows Server Core image provides nearly all of Windows Server without the graphical shell. Its broad feature set supports many Windows applications, including older applications, but increases image size: the Windows Server 2025 version is 5.1 GB. section 13.1
Use Server Core when packaging Windows applications that need its broader operating-system features:
- Install MSI-packaged applications by scripting msiexec with PowerShell because containers have no GUI. section 13.2
- Use a multi-stage build to install the application in Server Core, then copy the result into a smaller Nano Server image. section 13.2
- Match the image's Windows version with the host; incompatible combinations can produce a no matching manifest error. section 13.1 section 13.2
Installing an MSI in a Windows image
Set a Windows version with ARG, use a Server Core installer stage, copy hello-world.msi, run Start-Process msiexec.exe with quiet and wait options, and copy the installed output into a Nano Server final image. section 13.2
Table 13.1 Matching Windows versions between Docker images and OSs
|
Image OS Version
|
Server Version
|
Client Version
|
|---|---|---|
|
10.0.14393
|
Windows Server 2016
|
Windows 10 (version 1609)
|
|
10.0.17763
|
Windows Server 2019
|
Windows 10 (update 1809)
|
|
10.0.20348
|
Windows Server 2022
|
Windows 11 (version 23H2)
|
|
10.0.26100
|
Windows Server 2025
|
Windows 11 (update 24H2)
|
Compare Windows image, Server, and client versions before selecting a compatible Server Core tag. section 13.1
