Accessing a Running Windows Server 2016 Container

Occasionally it can be useful to access a running container. On Linux it is possible to open a bash session with a new instance of the container’s shell with docker exec -it [containername] bash.

Because the Docker interface works the same way on Windows it is surprisingly easy to open a command prompt for a running container. Simply execute docker exec -it [containername] cmd. When you want to exit again, just use the exit command.

You can also open a Powershell session instead, just change the command to be docker exec -it [containername] powershell.

Happy container administration!