Mount current directory as a volume in Docker on W

Question

Description

I am using Docker version 1.12.5 on Windows 10 via Hyper-V and want to use container executables as commands in the current path. I built a Docker image that is running fine, but I have a problem to mount the current path. The idea is to create an alias and do a docker run --rm [...] command so that it could be used system-wide in the current directory.

Setup

I have a drive E with a folder "test" and in there a folder called "folder on windows host" to show that the command is working. The Dockerfile create the directory /data, defines it as VOLUME and WORKDIR.

Having E:\test as the current directory in PowerShell and executing the Docker command with an absolute path, I can see the content of E:\test:

PS E:\test> docker run --rm -it -v E:\test:/data mirkohaaser/docker-clitools ls -la
total 0
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 0 Jan  4 11:45 .
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 0 Jan  5 12:17 folder on windows host

Problem

I want to use the current directory and not an absolute notation. I could not use pwd in the volume because of different error messages:

Trying with ($pwd)

PS E:\test> docker run --rm -it -v ($pwd):/data mirkohaaser/docker-clitools ls -la
C:\Program Files\Docker\Docker\Resources\bin\docker.exe: Error parsing reference: ":/data" is not a valid repository/tag.
See 'C:\Program Files\Docker\Docker\Resources\bin\docker.exe run --help'.

Trying with /($pwd)

PS E:\test> docker run --rm -it -v /($pwd):/data mirkohaaser/docker-clitools ls -la
C:\Program Files\Docker\Docker\Resources\bin\docker.exe: Error parsing reference: "E:\\test" is not a valid repository/tag.
See 'C:\Program Files\Docker\Docker\Resources\bin\docker.exe run --help'.

Trying with \´pwd\´

PS E:\test> docker run --rm -it -v ´$pwd´:/data mirkohaaser/docker-clitools ls -la
C:\Program Files\Docker\Docker\Resources\bin\docker.exe: Error response from daemon: Invalid bind mount spec "´E:\\test´:/data": invalid mode: /data.
See 'C:\Program Files\Docker\Docker\Resources\bin\docker.exe run --help'.

Trying with `pwd`

PS E:\test> docker run --rm -it -v `$pwd`:/data mirkohaaser/docker-clitools ls -la
C:\Program Files\Docker\Docker\Resources\bin\docker.exe: Error response from daemon: create $pwd: "$pwd" includes invalid characters for a local volume name, only "[a-zA-Z0-9][a-zA-Z0-9_.-]" are allowed.
See 'C:\Program Files\Docker\Docker\Resources\bin\docker.exe run --help'.

What is the correct syntax of mounting the current directory as a volume in Docker on Windows 10?

Answer 1

This works for me in PowerShell:

docker run --rm -v ${PWD}:/data alpine ls /data

Answer 2

In Windows Command Line (cmd), you can mount the current directory like so:

docker run --rm -it -v %cd%:/usr/src/project gcc:4.9

In PowerShell, you use ${PWD}, which gives you the current directory:

docker run --rm -it -v ${PWD}:/usr/src/project gcc:4.9

Cross Platform

The following two options will work on both PowerShell and Linux:

docker run --rm -it -v ${PWD}:/usr/src/project gcc:4.9

docker run --rm -it -v $(pwd):/usr/src/project gcc:4.9

Answer 3

For Git Bash for Windows (in ConEmu), the following works for me (for Docker Windows containers):

docker run --rm -it -v `pwd -W`:c:/api microsoft/dotnet:2-runtime

Note the backticks/backquotes around pwd -W!

With all other variations of PWD I've tried I've received: "Error response from daemon: invalid volume specification: ..."

Update: The above was for Docker Windows containers, for Linux containers use:

docker run --rm -it -v `pwd -W`:/api -p 8080:80 microsoft/aspnetcore:2

Answer 4

This command should fix it.

docker run --rm -it -v ${PWD}:c:\data mirkohaaser/docker-clitools

{PWD} is the host current folder. after the : is the container folder. If the mounting is correct then files will be listed in the director c:\data in the container.

Answer 5

You need to swap all the back slashes to forward slashes so change

docker -v C:\my\folder:/mountlocation ...

to

docker -v C:/my/folder:/mountlocation ...

I normally call docker from a cmd script where I want the folder to mount to be relative to the script i'm calling so in that script I do this...

SETLOCAL

REM capture the path to this file so we can call on relative scrips
REM without having to be in this dir to do it.

REM capture the path to $0 ie this script
set mypath=%~dp0

REM strip last char
set PREFIXPATH=%mypath:~0,-1%

echo "PREFIXPATH=%PREFIXPATH%"
mkdir -p %PREFIXPATH%\my\folder\to\mount

REM swap \ for / in the path
REM because docker likes it that way in volume mounting
set PPATH=%PREFIXPATH:\=/%
echo "PPATH=%PPATH%"

REM pass all args to this script to the docker command line with %*
docker run --name mycontainername --rm -v %PPATH%/my/folder/to/mount:/some/mountpoint  myimage %*

ENDLOCAL