page_title: Installation on Windows page_description: Docker installation on Microsoft Windows page_keywords: Docker, Docker documentation, Windows, requirements, virtualbox, boot2docker # Windows > **Note:** > Docker has been tested on Windows 7.1 and 8; it may also run on older versions. > Your processor needs to support hardware virtualization. The Docker Engine uses Linux-specific kernel features, so to run it on Windows we need to use a lightweight virtual machine (vm). You use the Windows Docker client to control the virtualized Docker Engine to build, run, and manage Docker containers. To make this process easier, we've designed a helper application called [Boot2Docker](https://github.com/boot2docker/boot2docker) that installs the virtual machine and runs the Docker daemon. ## Demonstration ## Installation 1. Download the latest release of the [Docker for Windows Installer](https://github.com/boot2docker/windows-installer/releases) 2. Run the installer, which will install VirtualBox, MSYS-git, the boot2docker Linux ISO, and the Boot2Docker management tool. ![](/installation/images/windows-installer.png) 3. Run the `Boot2Docker Start` shell script from your Desktop or Program Files > Boot2Docker for Windows. The Start script will ask you to enter an ssh key passphrase - the simplest (but least secure) is to just hit [Enter]. ![](/installation/images/windows-boot2docker-start.png) The `Boot2Docker Start` script will connect you to a shell session in the virtual machine. If needed, it will initialize a new VM and start it. ## Upgrading 1. Download the latest release of the [Docker for Windows Installer]( https://github.com/boot2docker/windows-installer/releases) 2. Run the installer, which will update the Boot2Docker management tool. 3. To upgrade your existing virtual machine, open a terminal and run: boot2docker stop boot2docker download boot2docker start ## Running Docker Boot2Docker will log you in automatically so you can start using Docker right away. Let's try the `hello-world` example image. Run $ docker run hello-world This should download the very small `hello-world` image and print a `Hello from Docker.` message. # Further Details The Boot2Docker management tool provides several commands: $ ./boot2docker Usage: ./boot2docker [] {help|init|up|ssh|save|down|poweroff|reset|restart|config|status|info|ip|delete|download|version} [] ## Container port redirection If you are curious, the username for the boot2docker default user is `docker` and the password is `tcuser`. The latest version of `boot2docker` sets up a host only network adaptor which provides access to the container's ports. If you run a container with an exposed port: docker run --rm -i -t -p 80:80 nginx Then you should be able to access that nginx server using the IP address reported to you using: boot2docker ip Typically, it is 192.168.59.103, but it could get changed by Virtualbox's DHCP implementation. For further information or to report issues, please see the [Boot2Docker site](http://boot2docker.io)