Alternatives to Windows (dockur)
A Docker container that downloads, installs and runs Windows inside a KVM-accelerated virtual machine. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.
The original
Windows (dockur)
A Docker container that downloads, installs and runs Windows inside a KVM-accelerated virtual machine.
Replacements
Listings that take over the same core job as Windows (dockur).
Virtual Machine Manager
The standard desktop front end for KVM on Linux, plus the command line tools that go with it.
Virtual Machine Manager runs Windows as a KVM guest through a Linux desktop app and libvirt, with manual installation instead of automatic download and Docker Compose configuration.
Quickemu
Downloads an operating system and builds a properly configured QEMU virtual machine from one short config file.
Quickemu downloads Windows and builds a QEMU virtual machine from a short config file on Linux or macOS, run from the command line rather than through Docker.
GNOME Boxes
A simple GNOME desktop app for creating and running virtual machines on Linux.
GNOME Boxes is a graphical Linux desktop app that downloads and installs common systems automatically, with USB redirection and shared folders, but no container-based management.
VirtualBox
The free desktop hypervisor most people start with: run Windows, Linux or BSD in a window on the machine you already have.
VirtualBox runs Windows guests in a desktop app on Windows, macOS and Linux hosts without Docker or KVM, though its Extension Pack is not open source.
Proxmox VE
A bare-metal server platform that runs KVM virtual machines and LXC containers from one web interface.
Proxmox VE runs Windows as a KVM virtual machine on dedicated server hardware through a web interface, replacing the host operating system rather than running as a container.
VMware Workstation Pro
Type-2 hypervisor for running virtual machines on Windows and Linux desktops.
VMware Workstation Pro is a closed-source desktop hypervisor for Windows and Linux, free for personal use but needing a paid licence commercially and a Broadcom account.
WinBoat
A Linux desktop app that runs Windows programs from a containerized Windows virtual machine.
WinBoat also runs a containerized Windows guest on Linux, but through a graphical desktop app that shows individual Windows programs integrated with the Linux desktop.
Similar software
Related functionality, not a direct replacement.
macOS (dockur)
A Docker container that runs a macOS virtual machine through QEMU with KVM acceleration.
WinApps
Runs Windows applications from a background virtual machine as if they were native Linux apps.
Docker-OSX
Runs a macOS virtual machine inside a Docker container using KVM on Linux.
KVM
The Linux kernel's built-in hypervisor for hardware-accelerated virtual machines.
QEMU
The machine emulator and virtualiser that most of the Linux virtualisation stack is built on.
Looking Glass
A low-latency viewer that shows a GPU-passthrough Windows virtual machine inside a Linux window.
