How to CMD Powershell script in Dockerfile

Question

I need to run several processes in one container and I follow "Run multiple services in a container" from Docker documentation.

I created Powershell script with Start-Process commands and now I need to run it with CMD, but I can not do this.

FROM mcr.microsoft.com/windows/nanoserver:1890

# some other commands

WORKDIR C:\\my-work-directory
ADD Start.ps1 .
CMD ["powershell.exe", "-File", "Start.ps1"]

I'm always getting error that file not found:

container XXX encountered an error during CreateProcess: failure in a Windows system call: The system cannot find the file specified. (0x2) extra info: {"CommandLine":"powershell.exe -File Start.ps1","User":"Administrator","WorkingDirectory":"C:\\my-work-directory","CreateStdOutPipe":"true","CreateStdErrPipe":"true","ConsoleSize":"[0,0]"}

Host OS: Windows 2019

Answer 1

See this discussion:

Microsoft removed powershell and other pieces from base nanoserver image, You need to use image with built in poweshell.

And, also, I found the offical doc:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/get-started/nano-in-semi-annual-channel

PowerShell Core, .NET Core, and WMI are no longer included by default, but you can include PowerShell Core and .NET Core container packages when building your container.

And this is the Dockerfile which could guide you on how to install powershell in nanoserver:

# escape=`
# Args used by from statements must be defined here:
ARG fromTag=1709
ARG InstallerVersion=nanoserver
ARG InstallerRepo=mcr.microsoft.com/powershell
ARG NanoServerRepo=mcr.microsoft.com/windows/nanoserver

# Use server core as an installer container to extract PowerShell,
# As this is a multi-stage build, this stage will eventually be thrown away
FROM ${InstallerRepo}:$InstallerVersion  AS installer-env

# Arguments for installing PowerShell, must be defined in the container they are used
ARG PS_VERSION=6.2.0-rc.1

ARG PS_PACKAGE_URL=https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell/releases/download/v$PS_VERSION/PowerShell-$PS_VERSION-win-x64.zip

SHELL ["pwsh", "-Command", "$ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop'; $ProgressPreference = 'SilentlyContinue';"]

ARG PS_PACKAGE_URL_BASE64

RUN Write-host "Verifying valid Version..."; `
    if (!($env:PS_VERSION -match '^\d+\.\d+\.\d+(-\w+(\.\d+)?)?$' )) { `
        throw ('PS_Version ({0}) must match the regex "^\d+\.\d+\.\d+(-\w+(\.\d+)?)?$"' -f $env:PS_VERSION) `
    } `
    $ProgressPreference = 'SilentlyContinue'; `
    if($env:PS_PACKAGE_URL_BASE64){ `
        Write-host "decoding: $env:PS_PACKAGE_URL_BASE64" ;`
        $url = [System.Text.Encoding]::Unicode.GetString([System.Convert]::FromBase64String($env:PS_PACKAGE_URL_BASE64)) `
    } else { `
        Write-host "using url: $env:PS_PACKAGE_URL" ;`
        $url = $env:PS_PACKAGE_URL `
    } `
    Write-host "downloading: $url"; `
    [Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol -bor [Net.SecurityProtocolType]::Tls12; `
    New-Item -ItemType Directory /installer > $null ; `
    Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $url -outfile /installer/powershell.zip -verbose; `
    Expand-Archive /installer/powershell.zip -DestinationPath \PowerShell

# Install PowerShell into NanoServer
FROM ${NanoServerRepo}:${fromTag}

ARG VCS_REF="none"
ARG PS_VERSION=6.2.0-rc.1
ARG IMAGE_NAME=mcr.microsoft.com/powershell

LABEL maintainer="PowerShell Team <[email protected]>" `
      readme.md="https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell/blob/master/docker/README.md" `
      description="This Dockerfile will install the latest release of PowerShell." `
      org.label-schema.usage="https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell/tree/master/docker#run-the-docker-image-you-built" `
      org.label-schema.url="https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell/blob/master/docker/README.md" `
      org.label-schema.vcs-url="https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell-Docker" `
      org.label-schema.name="powershell" `
      org.label-schema.vcs-ref=${VCS_REF} `
      org.label-schema.vendor="PowerShell" `
      org.label-schema.version=${PS_VERSION} `
      org.label-schema.schema-version="1.0" `
      org.label-schema.docker.cmd="docker run ${IMAGE_NAME} pwsh -c '$psversiontable'" `
      org.label-schema.docker.cmd.devel="docker run ${IMAGE_NAME}" `
      org.label-schema.docker.cmd.test="docker run ${IMAGE_NAME} pwsh -c Invoke-Pester" `
      org.label-schema.docker.cmd.help="docker run ${IMAGE_NAME} pwsh -c Get-Help"

# Copy PowerShell Core from the installer container
ENV ProgramFiles="C:\Program Files" `
    # set a fixed location for the Module analysis cache
    LOCALAPPDATA="C:\Users\ContainerAdministrator\AppData\Local" `
    PSModuleAnalysisCachePath="$LOCALAPPDATA\Microsoft\Windows\PowerShell\docker\ModuleAnalysisCache" `
    # Persist %PSCORE% ENV variable for user convenience
    PSCORE="$ProgramFiles\PowerShell\pwsh.exe" `
    # Set the default windows path so we can use it
    WindowsPATH="C:\Windows\system32;C:\Windows"

    # Set the path
ENV PATH="$WindowsPATH;${ProgramFiles}\PowerShell;"

COPY --from=installer-env ["\\PowerShell\\", "$ProgramFiles\\PowerShell"]

# intialize powershell module cache
RUN pwsh `
        -NoLogo `
        -NoProfile `
        -Command " `
          $stopTime = (get-date).AddMinutes(15); `
          $ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop' ; `
          $ProgressPreference = 'SilentlyContinue' ; `
          while(!(Test-Path -Path $env:PSModuleAnalysisCachePath)) {  `
            Write-Host "'Waiting for $env:PSModuleAnalysisCachePath'" ; `
            if((get-date) -gt $stopTime) { throw 'timout expired'} `
            Start-Sleep -Seconds 6 ; `
          }"

CMD ["pwsh.exe"]