I'm still looking for the page I remember (which is not the one I linked above), but I have used Docker on Windows without Docker Desktop from day 1.
DockerMsftProvider which is officialy used to install "Docker EE" on Windows Server but gives you the same ZIP that runs on Windows workstation was published to the PowerShell Gallery on 2016-10-13 (https://www.powershellgallery.com/packages/DockerMsftProvide...).
I believe you either recall incorrectly or were misinformed or unaware at the time, but you did not have to use Docker Desktop to get Docker on Windows.
josephcsible|3 years ago
conioh|3 years ago
"Docker Engine wasn't otherwise available on Windows or macOS" - when was this?
The first version of Docker Desktop for Windows that included support for Windows containers was released on 2017-01-19. See here: https://docs.docker.com/desktop/previous-versions/archive-wi...
Previous versions of Docker Desktop for Windows were just a lame wrapper around the so-called "MobyVM" Hyper-V VM they created for Linux containers.
There have been _instructions_ on how to install "Docker Engine" on Docker Inc.'s website as early as March 2017 and probably earlier. See here: https://github.com/docker/docker.github.io/blob/f9d6b41fcf26...
I'm still looking for the page I remember (which is not the one I linked above), but I have used Docker on Windows without Docker Desktop from day 1.
DockerMsftProvider which is officialy used to install "Docker EE" on Windows Server but gives you the same ZIP that runs on Windows workstation was published to the PowerShell Gallery on 2016-10-13 (https://www.powershellgallery.com/packages/DockerMsftProvide...).
I believe you either recall incorrectly or were misinformed or unaware at the time, but you did not have to use Docker Desktop to get Docker on Windows.