---
title: "Remote Build and Deploy Docker Containers on Windows Docker Desktop with PowerShell"
description: "How to remotely operate another Windows Docker Desktop machine via PowerShell — no Jenkins or Registry needed — building and starting containers directly on the remote machine."
canonical_url: "https://blog.markkulab.net/en/post/remote-build-docker-image-with-powershell"
author: "Mark Ku"
author_url: "https://blog.markkulab.net/en/author/mark-ku"
site: "Mark Ku's Tech Notes"
date_published: "2023-06-01 01:01:01 +0800"
category: "PowerShell"
tags: ["powershell", "docker", "remote build", "deployment", "windows", "automation"]
language: "en"
license: "CC BY 4.0"
license_url: "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
attribution: "when reusing or quoting, credit the author and link back to the original"
---

# Remote Build and Deploy Docker Containers on Windows Docker Desktop with PowerShell

## Remote Build and Deploy Docker Containers on Windows Docker Desktop with PowerShell

## Background

Due to limited infrastructure resources at the company — no dedicated network admin, no desire to maintain a Jenkins instance, and no appetite for the overhead of setting up a Docker registry — I spent some time figuring out how to remotely build and manage Docker containers on a Windows Docker Desktop machine.

## Architecture

Both machines have Docker Desktop installed. Developers trigger remote Docker commands via PowerShell on their own Windows machine, which manages the Docker Engine on the remote build machine.

## Enable Docker Desktop Remote API

Open Docker Desktop > Settings > Check "Expose daemon on tcp://localhost:2375 without TLS remote build"

![Docker Desktop General settings with Expose daemon on tcp://localhost:2375 enabl](https://blog.markkulab.net/content/markku/posts/remote-build-docker-image-with-powershell/images/5pkjVit.png)

## Map Port 2375 to 2376 for Security

To avoid exposing port 2375 directly, use `netsh` to proxy it to port 2376:

```
netsh interface portproxy show all
netsh interface portproxy delete v4tov4 listenport=2375 listenaddress=0.0.0.0
netsh interface portproxy delete v4tov4 listenport=2376 listenaddress=0.0.0.0
netsh interface portproxy add v4tov4 listenport=2376 listenaddress=0.0.0.0 connectaddress=127.0.0.1 connectport=2375

```

## Open Firewall Port 2376

```
New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "Allow Port 2376" -Direction Inbound -Protocol TCP -LocalPort 2376 -Action Allow
```

## Test the Connection

```
docker -H 192.168.0.88:2376 version
```

![PowerShell window showing Docker client version and connection error](https://blog.markkulab.net/content/markku/posts/remote-build-docker-image-with-powershell/images/2kT4EHq.png)

## Remote Deployment Script

```
$tag=":latest"
$imageShortName="de-next-ap"
$imageName = $imageShortName + $tag
$containerName = $imageShortName + "-1"
$containerUrl = "192.168.0.88:2376"
$dockerfile = "./Dockerfile"
$port="30000:80"

# 遠端停用容器
docker  -H="$containerUrl" ps -a -f ancestor=$containerName --no-trunc -q | foreach-object { docker  -H="$containerUrl" stop $_ }
docker  -H="$containerUrl" ps -a -f name=$containerName --no-trunc -q | foreach-object { docker  -H="$containerUrl" stop $_ }

# 遠端移除容器
docker -H="$containerUrl" ps -a -f ancestor=$containerName* --no-trunc -q | foreach-object { docker  -H="$containerUrl" rm -f $_ }
docker -H="$containerUrl" ps -a -f name=$containerName* --no-trunc -q | foreach-object { docker  -H="$containerUrl" rm -f $_ }

# 遠端移除映像檔

 $existingImages = docker  -H="$containerUrl" images $imageName
 If ($existingImages.count -gt 1) {
 write-host "[Removing image]Removing the existing image.."
 docker  -H="$containerUrl" rmi -f $imageName
 } else {
 write-host "[Removing image]The image does not exist"
 }

# # # 遠端建置映像檔 (nas 比本機電腦慢，這個就不建議了)
docker  -H="$containerUrl" build -t $imageName . -f $dockerfile

# # 建立及啟動容器應用
docker  -H="$containerUrl" run -d --name $containerName --restart=always -p $port $imageShortName

pause
```

Note: If you can't push, remember to add the following to `daemon.json` on both Docker Engine instances:

```
 "insecure-registries": [
    "192.168.0.88:2376"
  ]
```

## Reference

[Build Docker Image on Remote Windows Host](https://yfxie.com/build-docker-image-on-remote-windows-host/)

---

## About this article and its author

Originally published on [Mark Ku's Tech Notes](https://blog.markkulab.net/en/post/remote-build-docker-image-with-powershell)

License: [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) — when reusing or quoting, credit the author and link back to the original

### About the author

**[Mark Ku](https://blog.markkulab.net/en/author/mark-ku)** — Software Solution Provider

- 10+ years senior software engineer, now an AI Builder
- Focused on large-platform architecture — North-American e-commerce, AI SaaS subscription billing
- Combining AI Agents and automation to build evolvable product foundations

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- [Free PDF Sign Tool](https://blog.markkulab.net/en/tools/pdf-sign): Online PDF sign tool — draw, type, or upload a signature, then drag, resize, and download. Everything runs in your browser; nothing is uploaded.
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- [React Super Mermaid](https://blog.markkulab.net/en/tools/react-super-mermaid): react-super-mermaid is an open-source React component library: render beautiful Mermaid diagrams with a single <MermaidViewer>, with built-in colorful / sketch themes, pan & zoom, in-diagram search, and high-res SVG / PNG export. Lightweight, SSR-safe, fully typed. Free and open source (MIT).
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- [React Intl Phone Number](https://blog.markkulab.net/en/tools/react-intl-phone-number): react-intl-phone-number is an open-source React component: framework-agnostic and antd-free, with E.164 in/out, a searchable flag / country-code dropdown, configurable validation levels (strict / mobile-strict / loose), themeable CSS, and i18n — phone logic powered by google-libphonenumber. Lightweight and fully typed. Free and open source (MIT).
- [Uptime Kuma Cluster](https://blog.markkulab.net/en/tools/uptime-kuma-cluster): Turn single-node Uptime Kuma into a highly available cluster: OpenResty + Lua smart load balancing, shared MariaDB state, health checks and automatic failover, plus cluster-management REST APIs. One Docker Compose command to start. Free and open source (MIT).
- [Special Education](https://blog.markkulab.net/en/education): Learning materials crafted for special education students

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