Nano Server 2016 and 1709 no longer Supported by .NET Core

[MichaelSimons]

Nano Server 2016 and 1709 no longer Supported by .NET Core

Nano Server 2016 and Nano Server, version 1709 are no longer supported. As a result, these versions of Windows are no longer supported by the .NET Team and we will no longer produce .NET Core container images for those Windows versions.

Support statements:

• Currently supported .NET Core Docker images
• .NET Core Support Policy
• Products Reaching End of Support for 2018
• Products Reaching End of Support for 2019

We previously announced Nano Server 2016 going out of support in .NET Core Container Images now Published to Microsoft Container Registry. That post is still accurate.

Details

Docker tags that contain nanoserver-sac2016 and nanoserver-1709 are no longer be produced. We will not delete existing images or those tags, however, they contain unsupported builds of Nano Server and .NET Core.

Pulling manifest tags

These changes also affect manifest tags (AKA “multi-arch tags“), such as 2.1, 2.1-sdk, 2.2.1-runtime. These are tags that are supported on multiple operating systems, and do not contain the operating system in them. As a result of no longer producing new images for Nano Server 2016 and Nano Server, version 1709, manifest tags no longer include entries for Nano Server 2016, Windows Server 2016, Windows 10, version 1607, Windows 10, version 1709, and Windows Server, version 1709. That means that .NET Core manifest tags are no longer usable on those Windows versions.

If you pull a manifest tag on one of the Windows versions described, you may get one of the following error messages:

• a Windows version 10.0.16299-based image is incompatible with a 10.0.14393 host
• no matching manifest for windows/amd64 in the manifest list entries
• no matching manifest for unknown in the manifest list entries

If you need to still use Nano Server 2016 or Nano Server, version 1709 images (even though they are no longer supported), you will need to use tags that include the Nano Server version (these are non-manifest tags), for example mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/core/runtime:2.1-nanoserver-sac2016 or mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/core/runtime:2.1-nanoserver-1709.

Nano Server Support

.NET Core is supported on Nano Server, version 1803 and later.

.NET Core 2.x and 3.0 images are available for all supported versions of Nano Server, version 1803 and later. This means that 2.x and 3.0 manifest tags can be used on Windows 10, version 1803+, and Windows Server, version 1803+. You can also use non-manifest tags for those versions, too, such as 2.2-nanoserver-1809.

.NET Core 1.x images are available for Nano Server, version 1809 and later. This means that 1.x manifest tags can be used on Windows 10, version 1809+, Windows Server, version 1809+ and Windows Server 2019. You can also use non-manifest tags for those versions, too, such as 1.1-nanoserver-1809 tag.

[MichaelSimons]

In regards to the following statement:

.NET Core 2.x and 3.0 images are available for all supported versions of Nano Server, version 1803 and later. This means that 2.x and 3.0 manifest tags can be used on Windows 10, version 1803+, and Windows Server, version 1803+.

The reason for needing an updated host is due to compatibility limitations with Windows containers. See the Windows Container Version Compatibility documentation for details.