Windows  Server 2016 was announced a few weeks ago.  Download Windows 2016 Server Evaluation version. This blog is the first part of a multi-part series. The first part will show how to set up Windows Server 2016 as a VirtualBox VM. This is an update to Windows Server 2016 using VirtualBox for Docker Containers.

1. Download Windows 2016 Server Evaluation version.  Its ~5GB download so try on a reliable and fast Internet connection.
2. Create a new VM using Virtual Box:
   👁 docker-windows-2016-1-1024x753
   
3. Set up a dynamically allocated HDD, make sure to choose 30GB (as shown):
   👁 docker-windows-2016-2-1024x584
   
   The installed operating system is ~17GB. The base windowsservercore image is 3.8GB. So if you chose the default 20GB HDD, then no Docker containers can run on it.
4. Point to the downloaded ISO:
   👁 docker-windows-2016-3-1024x575
   
5. Start the VM, take default settings:
   👁 docker-windows-2016-4-1024x821
   
6. Click on Next:
   👁 docker-windows-2016-5-1024x834
   Click on Install now.
7. Select the Desktop Experience version otherwise the standard Windows desktop will not be available after Windows is booted:
   👁 docker-windows-2016-6-1024x755
   Click on Next.
8. Accept the license terms:
   👁 docker-windows-2016-7-1024x757
   
9. Select Custom Install as we are installing as a VM:
   👁 docker-windows-2016-8-1024x733
   
10. Take the default for the allocated space:
    👁 docker-windows-2016-9-1024x764
    
11. Click on Next to start the installation:
    👁 docker-windows-2016-10-1024x782
    Wait for a few minutes for the installation to complete:👁 docker-windows-2016-11-1024x787
    It will take a few minutes for the install to complete.
12. Enter the administrator’s password:
    👁 docker-windows-2016-13-1024x391
    Seems like it requires alphabets, numbers and special characters. The dialog expects to meet the password criteria without showing the criteria, this is weird!
13. Entering the credentials shows the Windows login screen:
    👁 docker-windows-2016-14-1024x768
    
14. In a classical Windows, you do a three-finger salute of Ctrl+Alt+Del to view Desktop. This key combination needs to be sent to Windows VM using  Virtual Box menu:
    👁 docker-windows-2016-15
    
15. Server Manager Dashboard shows up:
    👁 docker-windows-2016-16-1024x769
    
16. Latest updates need to be installed. Click on the Start icon, and search for update:
    Selec👁 docker-windows-2016-17-586x1024
    t Check for Updates.
17. Update window looks like:
    👁 docker-windows-2016-18-1024x642
    Select Check for updates again.
18. Latest updates are downloaded and installed:
    👁 docker-windows-2016-19
    
19. Once the updates are downloaded and installed, then the VM needs to be restarted:
    👁 docker-windows-2016-20
    Click on Restart now to restart the VM.
20. Restarted VM looks like as shown:
    👁 docker-windows-2016-21-1024x769
    

This shows that Windows Server 2016 VM is now ready. Subsequent parts of this multi-part blog will show how to configure Docker containers and run a multi-container application using Docker Compose.