How to Install Mirantis Container Runtime (Docker) on Windows Server 2019

If you need to install Mirantis Container Runtime (formerly known as Docker) to Windows Server 2019, there are few steps to follow. This post takes you through the steps to download the software and install it onto Windows Server 2019.

Mirantis Container Runtime License

First up, note that you don’t need a Mirantis license to install Mirantis Container Runtime. You’re welcome to experiment at no cost, but a license is required from Mirantis for production usage.

Get the Download Link from Mirantis

Get the Installation Script from Mirantis by completing the form at this link: https://www.mirantis.com/docker-engine-enterprise-support/. The form will look like this. Just fill it in and you’ll get the script to install Docker.

If you need to purchase a license for MCR, you can obtain one there for $US900 per server. Otherwise, you submit the form and then and you will be provided with a script that you will use to download and install MCR onto Windows Server 2019. Note, this the downloaded version is specifically built for Windows Server 2019. It will not work on any other version of Windows, including Windows Server 2016 (and I tried and failed!).

Run the Mirantis Container Runtime Script in PowerShell

The code will look something like this (I’ve changed the numbers and letters so this is not a valid code!). Run this in an elevated PowerShell Window:

Invoke-WebRequest -Uri https://info.mirantis.com/l/999999/install-ps1/99z99zz -o install.ps1

Then run the following script in the same elevated PowerShell Window to actually do the installation:

.install.ps1

Docker, or Mirantis Container Runtime, will be installed and afterwards you should get a message like this informing you that you need to restart the machine.

Restart the machine.

After the server has restarted all should be good in your world. At that point, reopen PowerShell as an Administrator and run the hello-world container using this command:

docker run hello-world:nanoserver

This should then give you the following, indicating that Docker is running correctly:

Air Gapped Installation of Mirantis Container Runtime (Docker)

If you need to install MCR (Docker) onto Windows Server 2019 in an air gapped environment, i.e. on a server that does not have internet access, then you need to do the following:

Run the following command on an internet connected computer to download the install.ps1 file:

.install.ps1 -DownloadOnly

Then, manually copy the downloaded install.ps1 file to your air-gapped (ie non-internet connected) Windows 2019 Server and on the air gapped server, run the installer using:

..install.ps1 -Offline

Change Location of Docker Images

Often you will want to change the location of where Docker stores its images away from your C drive. You might like, for example, to store these on a drive that will not interfere with your operating system. Please see this link for instructions how to change the behaviour of Mirantis Container Runtime so that it stores these images at another location.