Docker is not a VM, absolutely! Have you looked at Windows Subsystem for Linux if you want to stay on Windows? It’s still a VM as such, but lightweight etc. You can read more about it here: Announcing WSL 2 - Windows Command Line
WSL2 would be the version you would want to aim for and there’s a blog about it’s use combined with Docker here: https://www.docker.com/blog/developing-docker-windows-app-wsl2/
