Error installing cygwin in docker container: The system cannot find the path specified. (0x3) error=hcsshim::ImportLayer - failed failed in Win32

Question

I have a simple Dockerfile:

FROM mcr.microsoft.com/windows:1809

# Install chocolatey
RUN powershell.exe Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force; [S         


        

Answer 1

It seems that it is hardlinks which Cygwin uses a lot are not handled correctly by Docker. And in particular when Docker tries to commit an image it fails with "hcsshim::ImportLayer - cannot find the path" error.

I run in the same problem recently and after I got rid of the hardlinks in Cygwin installation I was able to commit the image without problems.

To get rid of the hardlinks I have zipped and unzipped Cygwin folder.