How to connect to docker host from container on Windows 10 (Docker for Windows)

Question

At which IP address can a docker container connect to its host on Docker for Windows (on Windows 10)? How do you find this IP address?

Example: you have a service running at port 1234 on your Windows 10 machine. A program inside your container must access this service. What IP address should the program use to connect to the host?

Answer 1

Short answer: in most cases, you'll need 10.0.75.1 .

In Docker for Windows, the container communicates through a vEthernet adapter called DockerNAT. To find its details, open Command Prompt and type

ipconfig 

Look for an entry that looks like

Ethernet adapter vEthernet (DockerNAT):     Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :    Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::fd29:297:4583:3ad4%4    IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.75.1    Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0    Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 

The IP address to the right of IPv4 Address is the one you need.

Note: make sure the service allows connections from outside your host. As far as that service is concerned, your docker container is a different machine. Also make sure Windows Firewall allows communication to and from the service.