Get-ChecksumFromUrl : Cannot bind argument to parameter 'Path' because it is null.

[alpapone1]

Description

Hi everybody,

I'm having issue by building the windows images after refactoring signature (7eede67) :

==> azure-arm.image: Provisioning with powershell script: scripts/build/Install-PowershellCore.ps1
2025/07/16 14:08:46 packer-provisioner-powershell plugin: Opening scripts/build/Install-PowershellCore.ps1 for reading
2025/07/16 14:08:46 packer-provisioner-powershell plugin: Uploading env vars to c:/Windows/Temp/packer-ps-env-vars-6877b26e-94a8-9968-2090-81fa9a896294.ps1
2025/07/16 14:08:46 packer-provisioner-powershell plugin: [INFO] 100 bytes written for 'uploadData'
2025/07/16 14:08:46 [INFO] 100 bytes written for 'uploadData'
2025/07/16 14:08:47 packer-provisioner-powershell plugin: [INFO] 2132 bytes written for 'uploadData'
2025/07/16 14:08:47 [INFO] 2132 bytes written for 'uploadData'
==> azure-arm.image: Get-ChecksumFromUrl : Cannot bind argument to parameter 'Path' because it is null.
==> azure-arm.image: At C:\Windows\Temp\script-6877b26e-fb0a-913b-cadc-d22b1c6f9e10.ps1:27 char:21
==> azure-arm.image: + $externalHash = Get-ChecksumFromUrl -Type "SHA256" `
==> azure-arm.image: + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
==> azure-arm.image: + CategoryInfo : InvalidData: (:) [Get-ChecksumFromUrl], ParameterBindingValidationException
==> azure-arm.image: + FullyQualifiedErrorId : ParameterArgumentValidationErrorNullNotAllowed,Get-ChecksumFromUrl

Could you please advise what should be done to fix it ?

Thank you

Paolo Pisani

Platforms affected

• Azure DevOps
• GitHub Actions - Standard Runners
• GitHub Actions - Larger Runners

Runner images affected

• Ubuntu 22.04
• Ubuntu 24.04
• macOS 13
• macOS 13 Arm64
• macOS 14
• macOS 14 Arm64
• macOS 15
• macOS 15 Arm64
• Windows Server 2019
• Windows Server 2022
• Windows Server 2025

Image version and build link

Starting: Initialize job
Agent name: 'xxx-iac-ado-agent-mwjsk-hfbkb'
Agent machine name: 'xxx-iac-ado-agent-mwjsk-hfbkb'
Current agent version: '4.258.1'
Agent running as: 'ado'
Prepare build directory.
Set build variables.
Download all required tasks.
Downloading task: Bash (3.259.0)
Downloading task: AzureKeyVault (2.259.1)
Downloading task: AzureCLI (2.259.1)
Checking job knob settings.

Knob: ContinueAfterCancelProcessTreeKillAttempt = true Source: $(VSTSAGENT_CONTINUE_AFTER_CANCEL_PROCESSTREEKILL_ATTEMPT)
Knob: ProcessHandlerSecureArguments = false Source: $(AZP_75787_ENABLE_NEW_LOGIC)
Knob: ProcessHandlerSecureArguments = false Source: $(AZP_75787_ENABLE_NEW_LOGIC_LOG)
Knob: ProcessHandlerTelemetry = true Source: $(AZP_75787_ENABLE_COLLECT)
Knob: UseNewNodeHandlerTelemetry = True Source: $(DistributedTask.Agent.USENEWNODEHANDLERTELEMETRY)
Knob: ProcessHandlerEnableNewLogic = true Source: $(AZP_75787_ENABLE_NEW_PH_LOGIC)
Knob: EnableResourceMonitorDebugOutput = true Source: $(AZP_ENABLE_RESOURCE_MONITOR_DEBUG_OUTPUT)
Knob: EnableResourceUtilizationWarnings = true Source: $(AZP_ENABLE_RESOURCE_UTILIZATION_WARNINGS)
Knob: IgnoreVSTSTaskLib = true Source: $(AZP_AGENT_IGNORE_VSTSTASKLIB)
Knob: FailJobWhenAgentDies = true Source: $(FAIL_JOB_WHEN_AGENT_DIES)
Knob: CheckForTaskDeprecation = true Source: $(AZP_AGENT_CHECK_FOR_TASK_DEPRECATION)
Knob: CheckIfTaskNodeRunnerIsDeprecated246 = False Source: $(DistributedTask.Agent.CheckIfTaskNodeRunnerIsDeprecated246)
Knob: UseNode20ToStartContainer = True Source: $(DistributedTask.Agent.UseNode20ToStartContainer)
Knob: LogTaskNameInUserAgent = true Source: $(AZP_AGENT_LOG_TASKNAME_IN_USERAGENT)
Knob: UseFetchFilterInCheckoutTask = true Source: $(AGENT_USE_FETCH_FILTER_IN_CHECKOUT_TASK)
Knob: Rosetta2Warning = true Source: $(ROSETTA2_WARNING)
Knob: AddForceCredentialsToGitCheckout = True Source: $(DistributedTask.Agent.AddForceCredentialsToGitCheckout)
Knob: UseSparseCheckoutInCheckoutTask = true Source: $(AGENT_USE_SPARSE_CHECKOUT_IN_CHECKOUT_TASK)

Is it regression?

No

Expected behavior

The script scripts/build/Install-PowershellCore.ps1 should continue without error

Actual behavior

The script scripts/build/Install-PowershellCore.ps1 should not exit with such error

Repro steps

Create a Windows 2022 image by packer hcl file

[akilesh-amaran]

Hi @alpapone1 ,
Thank you for bringing this issue to our attention. We will look into this issue and will update you after investigating.

[vidyasagarnimmagaddi]

Hi @alpapone1 ,

• We are not facing issue in our builds , it appears successful. Kindly try to synch your main and build the image once again.
• If error, revert with the steps followed to build the image and logs to analyze. thanks.

[alpapone1]

Hi @vidyasagarnimmagaddi ,

thanks for your message, we have fixed the issue by adding the TEMP_DIR variable in the variable file and in the HCL task where the PowershellCore.ps1 file was called.

Now we are having issue with the download of the file for the PowershellCore.ps1 script :

==> azure-arm.image: Provisioning with powershell script: scripts/build/Install-PowershellCore.ps1
azure-arm.image: Downloading package from https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell/releases/download/v7.4.11/hashes.sha256 to D:\temp\w5k3vhwz.zyq...
azure-arm.image: WARNING: Package download failed in 0.46 seconds
azure-arm.image: WARNING: Could not find a part of the path 'D:\temp\w5k3vhwz.zyq'.

==> azure-arm.image: Get-Item : Cannot find path 'D:\temp\w5k3vhwz.zyq' because it does not exist.
2025/07/18 09:44:40 packer-provisioner-powershell plugin: [INFO] 3760 bytes written for 'stdout'
2025/07/18 09:44:40 packer-provisioner-powershell plugin: [INFO] 523 bytes written for 'stderr'
2025/07/18 09:44:40 packer-provisioner-powershell plugin: [INFO] RPC client: Communicator ended with: 1
==> azure-arm.image: At C:\Program Files\WindowsPowerShell\Modules\ImageHelpers\InstallHelpers.ps1:878 char:72
==> azure-arm.image: + ... Invoke-DownloadWithRetry -Url $Url -Path $tempFile | Get-Item | Get-C ...
==> azure-arm.image: + ~~~~~~~~
==> azure-arm.image: + CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (D:\temp\w5k3vhwz.zyq:String) [Get-Item], ItemNotFoundException
==> azure-arm.image: + FullyQualifiedErrorId : PathNotFound,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetItemCommand

Did you face this issue in your run ?

Paolo Pisani

[vidyasagarnimmagaddi]

Hi @alpapone1 , We have analyzed our builds , didnt found an error while installation.
Below are the builds that passed . This error might due to network issue. kindly re-run the build. thanks

Further , kindly use your VM size, which does have a temporary disk. Fsv2 sizes series do have such drive

==> windows-2022.azure-arm.image: Provisioning with powershell script: /home/runner/work/runner-images-ci/runner-images-ci/images/windows/templates/../scripts/build/Install-PowershellCore.ps1
    windows-2022.azure-arm.image: Downloading package from https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell/releases/download/v7.4.11/hashes.sha256 to D:\temp\kar2pc0v.xwo...
    windows-2022.azure-arm.image: Package downloaded in 0.25 seconds
    windows-2022.azure-arm.image: Found hash for PowerShell-7.4.11-win-x64.msi in checksum file: 9579011c463a3ad6abf890736a97e2fbba9a7b4e09ce851576ccf263e15bdc97
    windows-2022.azure-arm.image: Downloading package from https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell/releases/download/v7.4.11/PowerShell-7.4.11-win-x64.msi to D:\temp\PowerShell-7.4.11-win-x64.msi...
    windows-2022.azure-arm.image: Package downloaded in 0.96 seconds 

[alpapone1]

Hi @vidyasagarnimmagaddi ,

I have changed the vm size to "Standard_F8s_v2" and rerun the build, but still getting the same issue :

azure-arm.image: Downloading package from https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell/releases/download/v7.4.11/hashes.sha256 to D:\temp\oldfx4pt.4fr...
azure-arm.image: WARNING: Package download failed in 0.55 seconds
azure-arm.image: WARNING: Could not find a part of the path 'D:\temp\oldfx4pt.4fr'.

What else could be the problem ?

Thanks
Paolo

[vidyasagarnimmagaddi]

Hi @alpapone1 ,
We have expereinced the error Could not find a part of the path 'D:\temp\oldfx4pt.4fr in other tools while installation , re-running the build worked for us. Kindly try re-running the build. thanks.

[alpapone1]

Hi @vidyasagarnimmagaddi ,

I have rerun twice the build but still getting the same error :

==> azure-arm.image: Provisioning with powershell script: scripts/build/Install-PowershellCore.ps1
==> azure-arm.image: Get-Item : Cannot find path 'D:\temp\hkrt12xp.lqo' because it does not exist.
==> azure-arm.image: At C:\Program Files\WindowsPowerShell\Modules\ImageHelpers\InstallHelpers.ps1:878 char:72
==> azure-arm.image: + ... Invoke-DownloadWithRetry -Url $Url -Path $tempFile | Get-Item | Get-C ...
==> azure-arm.image: + ~~~~~~~~
==> azure-arm.image: + CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (D:\temp\hkrt12xp.lqo:String) [Get-Item], ItemNotFoundException
==> azure-arm.image: + FullyQualifiedErrorId : PathNotFound,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetItemCommand

Attached our config files we use to build the windows image.

Please note that before refactoring we were able to create the windows image with these config files.

windows.zip

Thanks
Paolo

[alpapone1]

Hi @vidyasagarnimmagaddi ,

in addition I tried to replicate locally what the InstallHelpers.ps1 script does ($checksums = (Invoke-DownloadWithRetry -Url $Url -Path $tempFile | Get-Item | Get-Content) -as [string[]]) , and I get the same error with pwsh 7.5.2 :

PS : I don't have D drive on my machine, I created the folder on C drive.

PS C:\Users\adminlocale> $Url = "https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell/releases/download/v7.4.11/hashes.sha256"
PS C:\Users\adminlocale> $Url
https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell/releases/download/v7.4.11/hashes.sha256
PS C:\Users\adminlocale> $Path = "C\temp\tlfjvecg.zgq"
PS C:\Users\adminlocale> $Path
C\temp\tlfjvecg.zgq
PS C:\Users\adminlocale> Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $Url -OutFile $Path -UseBasicParsing
Invoke-WebRequest: Could not find a part of the path 'C:\Users\adminlocale\C\temp\tlfjvecg.zgq'.
PS C:\Users\adminlocale> pwsh -v
PowerShell 7.5.2

[vidyasagarnimmagaddi]

Hi @vidyasagarnimmagaddi ,

I have rerun twice the build but still getting the same error :

==> azure-arm.image: Provisioning with powershell script: scripts/build/Install-PowershellCore.ps1 ==> azure-arm.image: Get-Item : Cannot find path 'D:\temp\hkrt12xp.lqo' because it does not exist. ==> azure-arm.image: At C:\Program Files\WindowsPowerShell\Modules\ImageHelpers\InstallHelpers.ps1:878 char:72 ==> azure-arm.image: + ... Invoke-DownloadWithRetry -Url $Url -Path $tempFile | Get-Item | Get-C ... ==> azure-arm.image: + ~~~~~~~~ ==> azure-arm.image: + CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (D:\temp\hkrt12xp.lqo:String) [Get-Item], ItemNotFoundException ==> azure-arm.image: + FullyQualifiedErrorId : PathNotFound,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetItemCommand

Attached our config files we use to build the windows image.

Please note that before refactoring we were able to create the windows image with these config files.

windows.zip

Thanks Paolo

Hi @alpapone1 , from the logs its observed that, you are using custom Packer template win-2022-ado.pkr.hcl instead of the main build, here the template is missing a step to create the temp directory (D:\temp). This is causing the PowerShell provisioning script to fail when it tries to access a file in that path:

Kindly try to use this fix the issue.

provisioner "powershell" {
  inline = [
    "New-Item -Path ${var.temp_dir} -ItemType Directory -Force"
  ]
} 

[alpapone1]

HI @vidyasagarnimmagaddi ,

thanks for your help, also we just realized that step was missing in our custom hcl.

Unfortunately in the refactoring commit (7eede67#diff-6e66c56fd4f758a7e1180b208487f21d9ae8a696ec18ddebb5f38836e0c41ac0) this file was not changed and we had to check the other commits now.

Thanks again and let's hope the build will run smoothly :)

Paolo