Troubleshooting BcContainerHelper Docker Build Errors on Windows 10 versions 21H1 and 21H2

by Steve Endow

If you've been using Docker Desktop on Windows 10 to build Business Central Docker containers with BcContainerHelper, you have likely encountered build errors for some reason.

Freddy Kristiansen has been constantly working to improve BcContainerHelper to deal with weird Windows version issues and Docker Desktop quirks, but it seems that Windows 10 versions 21H1 and 21H2 are currently causing some build errors, despite Freddy's best efforts.

If you are unsure which Windows 10 "version" you have, you can click on the Windows Start button and type "winver".  

Windows 10 - Version 21H2

I've reviewed a few issues on the BcContainer GitHub repository while helping a few people troubleshoot BC container build issues recently, and it appears there are currently 3 techniques to try and resolve errors when using Docker Desktop and BcContainerHelper on Windows 10 versions 21H1 and 21H2.

As of November 2021, if you are using Windows 10 version 21H1 or 21H2, you should see this warning from BcContainerHelper during the build process.

Windows 10 21H1 / 21H2 Warning Message

If you do see this message during your build, do not be surprised if the Docker Container build process fails.

Here's an example of one type of error that may occur:  "Docker Build failed with exit code -1"

Docker Build failed with exit code -1

Here are the 4 workarounds that seem to help resolve errors on the newer versions of Windows 10.

1. Temporarily disable Windows Defender Real-time Protection (under "Windows Security").  It seems that Windows Defender real-time virus scanning is interfering with the Docker Container build process, and either causing some type of file lock, or a quarantine, that is interfering with the build process.  Disabling the Real-time protection stops the file scanning, which may resolve your build error.

After the container is successfully created, you can re-enable the Real-time protection.  (but you'll probably need to turn it back off again temporarily the next time you create a new container)

Windows Defender Real-time protection setting

2. Completely disable Windows Defender temporarily (under "Windows Security").  A developer shared with me that he had previously been able to disable Defender Real-time Protection to build BC Docker Containers, but recently, that stopped working.  When he completely disabled 

3. Remove the imageName parameter from the BcContainerHelper script.  I saw this mentioned in a GitHub Issue, and it seems to have worked for Matthew Perren.

I don't know if the image creation process is triggering an error directly, or if skipping the named image process avoids a potential issue with Defender that is causing the problem.  But if disabling Defender Real-time protection alone doesn't work, try removing imageName.

4. Try adding the "-isolation hyperv" parameter to the BcContainerHelper script.  This used to be the go-to solution for a version mismatch between the host OS and the container OS, but it seems that with 21H1 and 21H2 the isolation mode does not always resolve build errors.

If you do encounter container build issues with Windows 10 version 21H1 or 21H2, please let me know if one of the steps above worked for you, or if you found a different solution to your build error.

Steve Endow is a Microsoft MVP in Los Angeles.  He works with Dynamics 365 Business Central.

You can also find him on Twitter and YouTube

Business Central Chat with Stefan Maroń: Designing Complex Pages in BC

 by Steve Endow

Stefan Maroń was kind enough to have an impromptu live stream with me today to help me understand how to design complex pages in Business Central.  We discussed how I might develop replicate the functionality of the .NET interface of my "Data Generator" application in a Business Central page.

In addition to designing the UI of a data generator, Stefan shares some very valuable information about how to process background tasks in Business Central, which I was unfamiliar with.

Here is a link to the "Coding4Performance" series on his blog:

    https://stefanmaron.com/?s=Coding4Performance

Here is the recording of our discussion:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcWSwIjZSG8

Steve Endow is a Microsoft MVP in Los Angeles.  He works with Dynamics 365 Business Central, Microsoft Power Automate, Power Apps, Azure, and .NET.

You can also find him on Twitter and YouTube

Docker Engine Enterprise and Mirantis Container Runtime for Business Central Developers

by Steve Endow

NOTE:  This post relates to Docker Engine Enterprise and Mirantis Container Runtime on Windows Server.  I don't believe this relates to or affects Docker Desktop.  But let me know if I missed anything regarding Docker Desktop, and let me know if I have any details wrong regarding Mirantis Container Runtime and its use with BcContainerHelper and Business Central Docker containers.

On September 27, 2021, Tobias Fenster shared a Microsoft announcement about the future of Docker Engine Enterprise, sometimes referred to as "Docker EE".  

https://twitter.com/tobiasfenster/status/1442533006812631047?s=20

This Microsoft announcement comes almost 2 years after Docker was acquired by a company named Mirantis, in November 2019.

The Microsoft announcement indicates that technical support for the Mirantis Container Runtime will be transitioned to Mirantis.

Mirantis also published a post explaining the transition, and discussing options for receiving support for Mirantis Container Runtime (aka "MCR"), and free licenses for up to 9 "nodes" for Windows Server users.

So what does this mean for Business Central developers who use Windows Server?

When I first read the Mirantis blog post, I assumed I would need to contact Mirantis to take advantage of their "special offer" to receive a free license for MCR for my Business Central development on Windows Server.

This page on the Mirantis web site explains the "beta pricing" offer is available until December 31, 2021.

I thought that I would request licenses for a few nodes, which would cost me $0.  But, that would NOT include any support.  

I'm okay with the $0 price tag, and if I did need support for some reason, I would be open to paying a reasonable price for support.  I would even be open to paying $50 per node to receive limited support, but based on the information on the web page shown above, it is not included by default with the 1-9 or 10-50 note packages by default.  But it may be possible to purchase support separately for 50 nodes or less.

I'm assuming that after December 31, 2021, Mirantis will come up with new pricing, and MCR will not be free for Windows users.

What about "Moby"?

But today I re-read the Mirantis blog post and noticed this.

Wait, what?

I'm a Business Central "developer".  I am not using my containers in "production".

Does that mean that I can use the "default Moby engine"?  Whatever that means?

I posted my initial thoughts about this to the hive mind called Twitter:

https://twitter.com/steveendow/status/1445494238955720713

I tagged our resident Business Central Docker expert, Tobias Fenster to see if I was missing anything.

I'm glad I tagged him, because he shared some important information about how Docker works and additional considerations about the Mirantis announcement that I believe are pretty important to Business Central developers.

Tobias replied, and mentioned that the free Moby engine has "No client component".

I didn't know what this meant, so he generously explained further.

So while we could run BC containers using Moby, technically we would not have a docker.exe "client" to manage or create the containers on Windows Server.

It seems we will need MCR

You can read the rest of the Twitter thread if you would like, but after a few more questions from me, and answers from Tobias, these are the points I think are important for BC developers who use Docker Engine Enterprise on Windows Server.

1. If you do NOT get a license for the Mirantis Container Runtime (MCR), and choose to use the "Moby engine", that is ONLY the "server" (daemon) portion of the solution.  Moby will allow you to host containers, but technically, that does not include the docker.exe "client" or any tools or utilities to help you manage your containers.  You could try to find other Docker tools, but Tobias suspects that limited interest in Docker on Windows means limited options for Docker tools on Windows.

2. As a Business Central developer, I regularly use the docker.exe "client" command in PowerShell to manage containers and images.  So I believe I will still need that, and therefore will need MCR.

3. The BcContainerHelper PowerShell module that BC developers use to create Business Central containers relies on the docker.exe "client" tool to create and maintain and interact with containers, so I assume that the full MCR solution will be required in order to continue using BcContainerHelper.  (there may be other ways to download a docker.exe client or equivalent, but I have no yet researched that)

Given this, I will want to request the MCR licenses from Mirantis so that I can have access to the full MCR product suite on my Windows Servers and continue to reliably use BcContainerHelper.

If you are aware of other solutions that provide a Docker client and related tools on Windows Server and work well with BcContainerHelper, please let me know.

Steve Endow is a Microsoft MVP in Los Angeles.  He works with Dynamics 365 Business Central, Microsoft Power Automate, Power Apps, Azure, and .NET.

You can also find him on Twitter and YouTube

Restoring data from a broken Business Central Docker Container

 By Steve Endow 

(This blog post is inspired by a forum question. Credit to Arvydas for the question and sharing the solution.)

What if I made the mistake of storing some "worthwhile" data in a Business Central Docker container over the course of several months?  Perhaps it was test data or data imports that I didn't think I would ever need--but then 3 months later I realized that the accumulated data was valuable.

In theory, no big deal.  If you realize that you want to keep the data from a working container, Stefan Maroń has a blog post with instructions on converting that Container into an Image using "docker commit".  Just create an image and you can make new containers from that image.  You could also backup the SQL databases from the Docker Container to the local file system.  

But, what if the Business Central Docker Container with your valuable data stops working due to a Windows Update?  And you only realize you need that data after the container stops working.  If the Container can't be started at all, how can you extract the Business Central data?

This solution appears to allow me to copy the SQL mdf and ldf files from the broken container to my local file system, then copy the mdf and ldf files to a new working container to effectively "restore" them.

This may not work for all situations where a BC container has issues, but should work if the container is intact, but just won't start up due to a Docker or Windows issue or error.  

Let me know if there are any issues or caveats with using this method to restore the data from a container.

Creating a simple text file using AL in Business Central - Sample Code

 By Steve Endow

On January 23, 2021, I recorded a video showing how to create a simple text file using AL in Business Central.

Here is the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GUzlFKJFQk

Below is the sample code from that video.

PowerShell script to remove old Docker Images without deleting the base OS image

 By Steve Endow

If you are creating Business Central Docker Containers and regularly updating the artifacts and images for your containers, you may be familiar with this problem.

When you type "docker images" in PowerShell, you are greeted with a pile of old unused images consuming tons of disk space.

A digital junk drawer

I want to delete the old, unused Docker images.  But I do not want to delete the 10.4 GB "base OS" image that is listed at the very bottom.  As long as my OS version remains the same, that image can be used repeatedly, and if I deleted it, I would have to download it again.

Disable Browser Autofill with Business Central

 By Steve Endow

While using Business Central with Google Chrome, I started to notice strange words appearing in Business Central fields while I entered data in the browser.

Why are you doing this?

In this example, the word "test" was appearing when I clicked on the drop down list for bank accounts in Business Central.  The suggested value was in a text box displayed over the standard Business Central list box.

Page Inspection Keyboard Shortcut CTRL+ALT+F1 Doesn't Work on Laptop

By Steve Endow

Update: I originally wrote this post referencing my Lenovo ThinkPad P1 laptop, but it appears that similar Intel Graphics software is used on several different laptop brands and models, causing the same issue.  The name or appearance of the specific Intel Graphics software may vary, but the concept still applies.

If you use Dynamics 365 Business Central, you should be aware of the Page Inspection feature.

Inspect my page

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/business-central/across-inspect-page

One of the ways to open the Page Inspection pane while viewing a Business Central page in a browser is to press the keyboard shortcut CTRL + ALT + F1.

Handy Keyboard Shorcut

While doing some BC development and testing on my new Lenovo ThinkPad P1 laptop, I pressed CTRL + ALT + F1 to open Page Inspection.

But nothing happened.

Why Business Central is Amazing #5: Community

 By Steve Endow

The Business Central Community is amazing.

Want proof?  

Here's a great example from my Twitter timeline this afternoon:

https://twitter.com/steveendow/status/1306667765369991168?s=20

This is Community

"Business Central Twitter" is in constant conversation.  Business Central community members from around the globe, quite literally, are asking questions, answering questions, posting updates, blogs, videos, and MS Docs articles.  

Why Business Central is Amazing #4: Native Web Interface

By Steve Endow

Do you know how I access Business Central?

I pull up my web browser, and I click a shortcut on the browser shortcut bar.

Single click

And you probably know what I see next.

I've arrived

A glorious, modern, rich, interactive, attractive, customizable user interface.  Take a moment to appreciate this significant feature of Business Central.

A "native" web interface.  A native web application.  Pretty amazing.

I didn't have to install an application on my computer.  I didn't have to configure anything on my computer.  I didn't have to setup a web server or install a web client.  In fact, I can access Business Central from any computer.  I just need a web browser.  Or I can install the Business Central mobile application.

Why Business Central Is Amazing #3 - No Access to SQL Server

 By Steve Endow

"What? Are you crazy, Steve? Not having access to SQL is a limitation! It's a weakness! That's not amazing!"

I am not trying to change anyone else's mind--I'm just sharing a few thoughts why I think that NOT having access to SQL Server is amazing.

I've been working with on-prem ERP systems since 1996, when I implemented Solomon IV for Windows, then MAS 90, then Peoplesoft, then Dynamics GP.  I'm aware of all the arguments for wanting or needing access to SQL. I get it.

But that direct access comes at significant cost.  And responsibility.  And risk.  And those things are not amazing.  Mid-market companies want to sell their product or service, to provide customer satisfaction, and to make revenue.  

They don't want to be in the ERP database administration business.  Or the ERP database backup business.  Or the ERP disaster recovery business.  Or the ransomware defense business.

Do you really want to be in the database administration and maintenance business?

Why Business Central Is Amazing #2 - No More VPNs!

By Steve Endow

I have an ERP joke for you...

Find a consultant who supports an on premises ERP application for dozens or hundreds of customers.

Ask them which of the 7 different VPN clients on their laptop is their favorite.

(rim shot)  

Just say no

Why Business Central Is Amazing #1 - Automatic Upgrades

 By Steve Endow

After seeing a few very cool Business Central features the other day, I was so impressed and in such a good mood that I might have posted a slightly overly enthusiastic tweet.

Can't a guy be in a really good mood?

Does Business Central do my dishes?  My laundry?  Paint my house?

Sadly, it does not.  Yet.  😉

But it does do lots of awesome things and it has some amazing features and benefits.  And after posting my happy tweet, I think a few people are wondering why I think Business Central is so amazing.

So now I feel obligated to explain why I think it's amazing, and in the process, share my enthusiasm for the new ERP platform that I'm learning about.

Updating from NavContainerHelper to the new BcContainerHelper

 By Steve Endow

UPDATE: If you're interested in a convenient way to run the BcContainerHelper PowerShell commands, check out Krzysztof's Azure Data Studio Notebook with sample BcContainerHelper commands.  Jupyter Notebooks are a great way to include documentation and commands in a single convenient format.

On August 11, 2020, Freddy Kristiansen announced that he had released BcContainerHelper.

You can read his blog post here:

          https://freddysblog.com/2020/08/11/bccontainerhelper/

You will definitely want to read the entire blog post carefully, and perhaps read it a few times, as he shares quite a few important details about the new BcContainerHelper.

Same Great Container Helper, But Updated and Upgraded!

I made a video showing how I updated from NavContainerHelper to BcContainerHelper.  The process went flawlessly.

Here are the PowerShell Docker commands that I used to perform my update.

Learning Business Central Development from Scratch Video Series

By Steve Endow

If you are new to Dynamics 365 Business Central development, join me on a journey to learn how to develop Business Central Extensions using VS Code and the AL language.

I have been developing business software for many, many years, but I am completely new to Business Central, AL, and VS Code.  And I am also new to Docker and PowerShell.  

Basically, I'm having to learn everything from scratch.  

I'm writing blog posts and making videos to share the learning resources I'm using and share my learning journey.

Business Central Download Symbols Error: No such host is known

By Steve Endow

UPDATE:  After researching this type of Windows hosts file name resolution issue, it seems there are dozens of possible reasons why the problem can occur.  I suspect my case was one of the simpler versions, and fortunately flushdns worked for me.  Here is a forum thread with examples of several rather odd causes and solutions.

This morning I tried to create a new Business Central AL project in VS Code.  I used AL Go! to create the project, set the server name in the launch.json file, and then tried to Download Symbols.

Very simple, very easy, right?

Nope.

No soup for you!

What? I performed these exact same steps 2 days ago on this same machine, and I was able to download symbols without any issues.

Here is the full video of the troubleshooting process:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLb0tjwuThY

I closed VS Code, relaunched it, created a new project, and tried again.  Same error.

Looking at the error log in VS Code, I saw "Error: No such host is known".  Say what?

Automatically Update BcContainerHelper - Improved Script

By Steve Endow

UPDATE: I have updated the script to work with the newer BcContainerHelper rather than the older NavContainerHelper

UPDATE: If you're interested in a convenient way to run the BcContainerHelper PowerShell commands, check out Krzysztof's Azure Data Studio Notebook with sample BcContainerHelper commands.  Jupyter Notebooks are a great way to include documentation and commands in a single convenient format.

I previously wrote about creating a simple scheduled task to automatically update NavContainerHelper.

While that simple script does work, it didn't have any logging or notification. I never knew when NavContainerHelper / BcContainerHelper was updated.

I recently created a fancier PowerShell script to automatically build my Business Central Docker Containers every day, and while working on that script, I learned how to record elapsed time, log all activity, and send an email notification.

Based on that new learning, I wanted to upgrade the script that updates BcContainerHelper.

I wanted logging, elapsed time, and email notification if BcContainerHelper was updated to a new version.

Email notification when an update occurs

Here's what I came up with.  You'll need to adjust the file paths and email address, and generate your own email password file.

If you think of any other features the update could have, let me know!

 #v1.0 - March 27, 2021
#
$server = $env:COMPUTERNAME
#Define date values
$simpleDate = Get-Date -Format "M/d/yy"
$dateTime = Get-Date -Format "M/d/yy HH:mm"
$fileDateTime = Get-Date -Format "yyyy-MM-dd HHmm"

#Define the module name
$moduleName = 'BcContainerHelper'

$body = ""
$message = ""
$updated = $false

#Specify file location for activity transcript log file
$transcriptFile = "D:\BCPowerShell\Logs\" + $fileDateTime + " " + $server + " " + $moduleName + " Update Log.txt"

#Start recording transcript
Start-Transcript -Path $transcriptFile

#Record the start time
$StartTime = $(get-date)


#Define email configuration
$emailFrom = "myemail@gmail.com"
$emailTo = "myemail@gmail.com"
$smtpServer = "smtp.gmail.com"
$port = "587"
#Email password file created using:  Read-Host -AsSecureString | ConvertFrom-SecureString | Out-File -FilePath D:\BCPowerShell\Gmail_password.securestring
$passwordFile = "D:\BCPowerShell\Gmail_password.securestring"
$securePassword = ConvertTo-SecureString (Get-Content -Path $passwordFile)
$smtpCred = New-Object -TypeName PSCredential ($emailFrom, $securePassword)

$subject = $server + ": " + $simpleDate + " " + $moduleName + " Update Log";

$started = "Start time: " + $StartTime
$body += $started + "`n`n"

Try
{
    #Get currently installed version
    $currentVersion = (Get-InstalledModule $moduleName -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue).Version.ToString()
}
Catch 
{
    $currentVersion = "(not installed)"
}

#Get the latest version available
$latestVersion = (Find-Module $moduleName).Version.ToString()



#If we don't have the latest version installed
If ($currentVersion -ne $latestVersion)
{

    $message = "Current version: " + $currentVersion + "`nLatest version: " + $latestVersion;
    $message += "`n`nUpdating to version " + $latestVersion;
    #Remove existing version(s)
    Uninstall-Module $moduleName -Force -AllVersions -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

    #Install latest version
    Install-Module $moduleName -Force

    $updated = $true;

    #Verify version number
    $currentVersion = (Get-InstalledModule $moduleName).Version.ToString()
    $message += "`nUpdate complete";
    $message += "`nCurrent version is now " + $currentVersion;
        
    $body += "`n" + $message;

    Write-Output $message
}
Else
{
    #If we are on the latest version, log that info
    $message = "You are on the latest version of " + $moduleName + ": " + $currentVersion;
    Write-Output $message
}



#Record end time
$EndTime = $(get-date)
$output = "`nEnd time: " + $EndTime
$body += "`n" + $output 
Write-Output $output 

#Calculate elapsed time
$elapsedTime = $EndTime - $StartTime
$totalTime = "{0:HH:mm:ss}" -f ([datetime]$elapsedTime.Ticks)
$output = "Elapsed time: " + $totalTime
$body += "`n" + $output 
Write-Output $output

$body += "`n`nFull log file is attached" 

#Finish the transcript recording
#The Transcript must be stopped before trying to send the email,
#otherwise the log file will be locked, causing the email to fail
Stop-Transcript
        
if ($updated)
{
#Send the email
Send-MailMessage -From $emailFrom -To $emailTo `
    -Subject $subject `
    -Body $body `
    -Attachments $transcriptFile `
    -SmtpServer $smtpServer `
    -Credential $smtpCred `
    -Port $port `
    -UseSsl
}  

Steve Endow is a Microsoft MVP in Los Angeles.  He works with Dynamics 365 Business Central, Microsoft Power Automate, Power Apps, Azure, .NET, Dynamics GP, and SQL Server.

You can also find him on Twitter and YouTube

https://www.precipioservices.com

Fully automate the Business Central Container build process

By Steve Endow

I don't like maintenance tasks.  I don't like having to remember to do something on a regular basis.  I don't like having to do low value tasks constantly.

While it has been valuable for me to manually run NavContainerHelper the last several months, I think I am finally at a point where I sufficiently understand how it works and what it does.  I'm now ready to automate my Business Central Container build process so that I don't have to do it manually.

Just tell me how it went...

This isn't anything new--I'm just finally getting around to doing it for me with the features that I want.  If there are other ways or better ways to do this, let me know.

I share the background, my thinking, and my journey creating the script in this video.

In short, I've just wrapped the call to New-BcContainer in some additional PowerShell script to enable full logging, some basic error handling, and email notification.

Recording Business Central NavContainerHelper benchmarks

By Steve Endow

As I've been using NavContainerHelper, it's become clear that there can be a lot of waiting as it downloads gigabytes of data for the images and hundreds of megabytes for the artifacts.  It then has to mash all of that together to build a Business Central Container.  It can take a while.

Sometimes it seems the process is pretty quick.  But sometimes the process seems to take forever.  When it's in the middle of doing its thing, I can't tell whether it's taking longer than normal, or if it just feels like it's taking a long time.

So I'm now measuring how long it takes for NavContainerHelper to create containers.

Ya gotta measure things

If the container setup process takes longer than normal, I'll want to know why.  Was it a performance issue downloading images or artifacts?  Or is there a performance issue with the VM?  Or did some error cause the script to fail prematurely?


Here's the PowerShell script I've setup to record the start time, end time, and elapsed time of the New-BcContainer process.  This is a sample that uses the values for building a BC container in my environment--you'll want to adjust the New-BcContainer parameter values to your preferred values.

 $StartTime = $(get-date)   
  Try {   
   $output = "Started: " + $StartTime   
   Write-Output $output    
   $containerName = 'bc1'   
   $password = 'P@ssw0rd'   
   $securePassword = ConvertTo-SecureString -String $password -AsPlainText -Force   
   $credential = New-Object pscredential 'admin', $securePassword   
   $auth = 'UserPassword'   
   $artifactUrl = Get-BcArtifactUrl -type 'Sandbox' -version '' -country 'us' -select 'Latest'   
   New-BcContainer `   
    -accept_eula `   
    -containerName $containerName `   
    -credential $credential `   
    -auth $auth `   
    -artifactUrl $artifactUrl `   
    -imageName 'myimage1' `   
    -dns '8.8.8.8' `   
    -updateHosts   
   }   
   Catch {   
    Write-Error "Um, something didn't go well:"   
    Write-Error $_   
   }   
   Finally {   
    $EndTime = $(get-date)   
    $output = "End time: " + $EndTime   
    Write-Output $output    
    $elapsedTime = $(get-date) - $StartTime   
    $totalTime = "{0:HH:mm:ss}" -f ([datetime]$elapsedTime.Ticks)   
    $output = "Elapsed time: " + $totalTime   
    Write-Output $output   
   }   

At the top of the script, I record the start time, then output that time in the log so that I can see when the script started.

I added a try/catch block so that even if the script fails, my script outputs the end time and elapsed time.

In the finally block, I record the time again, then calculate elapsed time.  The elapsed time is then output to the log.

Building a new named image vs. using an existing named image

In this example, I see that when the script had to build a new named image, it took 13 minutes to create the named image and then create the container.  But when it was able to use an existing named image, it only took 1 minute.

Good to know!

Now I can use this script to see how my dedicated physical server compares to my VMs.  I assume that the VMs will be slower, but I'm curious to see how much slower.


Steve Endow is a Microsoft MVP in Los Angeles.  He works with Dynamics 365 Business Central, Microsoft Power Automate, Power Apps, Azure, .NET, Dynamics GP, and SQL Server.

You can also find him on Twitter and YouTube

http://www.precipioservices.com

Automatically Updating NavContainerHelper

By Steve Endow

One of the challenges I've had using the Business Central NavContainerHelper module has been managing the versions and updates.  Freddy Kristiansen is constantly updating NavContainerHelper to add features or fix issues, so a new version might be released within 24 hours of the prior release.

It seems like there is at least one update per week.  As a result, I always forget to update NavContainerHelper and often end up using an older version, which can sometimes result in errors.

I wanted to automate the update process so that I always know that I have the latest version of NavContainerHelper installed.  And ONLY the latest version--making sure that I don't have any older versions installed side-by-side.

I don't know if this is the best method, but I think it should work.  If you know of a better way, let me know!

Here's the script I'd like to run automatically every day:

 $MyModuleName = 'NavContainerHelper'  
 Uninstall-Module $MyModuleName -Force -AllVersions  
 Install-Module $MyModuleName -Force  

The Script

I want to install the latest version, but I want to make sure that I don't have an older version still installed.  There are a few ways to do this, but I figure with this script, it removes all existing versions, and then installs the latest version.

I normally don't recommend Install-Module -Force if you are running the script manually, but in this case, I believe I need -Force in order to bypass the verification dialog that appears during installation.  Also, since I know that I've just uninstalled all versions before installing the latest version, I think using -Force should be okay in this particular case.

I saved the above 3 line script to a .ps1 file.

I then opened Windows Task Scheduler using Run As Administrator.

Windows Task Scheduler

I created a new folder called Steve to make it easier to find my tasks.

I then created a new task (not a Basic task).

Task - General Info

I gave the task a name.  Then I set the task to use the Local Administrator user.  This is on one of my dev VMs, and I know the PowerShell script will need Admin rights, so I chose Administrator just to avoid any hassles.  If you are on a company network / domain, you'll need to figure out which domain user / rights you need to allow the script to run as a task.

Nightly update

On the Triggers tab, I setup a schedule to run Daily at 8pm.

On the Actions tab, I created an action to call powershell with the -File argument, based on this blog post.

The argument I used looks like:

     -File C:\BCPowerShell\UpdateNavContainerHelper_v1.ps1


I then saved the task and tested it. 

It seems to work, so I'll keep an eye on it for a week or so to verify that NavContainerHelper is always on the latest version and that I don't have any old versions installed side-by-side.


Steve Endow is a Microsoft MVP in Los Angeles.  He works with Dynamics 365 Business Central, Microsoft Power Automate, Power Apps, Azure, .NET, Dynamics GP, and SQL Server.

You can also find him on Twitter and YouTube

http://www.precipioservices.com