hcsshim::ExpandScratchSize

[ntrappe-msft]

Describe the bug

When starting up a container from an image like Windows Server 2022, we hit a hcsshim::ExpandScratchSize error.

To Reproduce

1. DO NOT pull the latest Windows Server 2022 image. Use an older image like the following:

REPOSITORY                        TAG             IMAGE ID      CREATED
mcr.microsoft.com/windows/server  ltsc2022-amd64  40a39129fbbb  5 months ago
mcr.microsoft.com/windows/server  <none>          29e69ab16e91  5 months ago

2. Start up a container.

docker run mcr.microsoft.com/windows/server:ltsc2022-amd64

3. You should immediately see the error:

Error response from daemon: hcsshim::ExpandScratchSize failed in Win32: The system cannot find the file specified. (0x2).

Expected behavior

We should be able to spin up a container from any Windows Server 2022 image without issue.

Configuration:

• Edition: Windows Server 2022
• Base Image being used: Windows Server 2022
• Container engine: docker
• Container Engine Version: 24.0.5

Additional context

• If starting up a container with an older Windows Server 2019/2022 image, you'll likely get the hcsshim::ExpandScratchSize error
• If starting up a container with an older Windows Server Core 2019/2022 image, you'll likely get the hcsshim::CreateScratchLayer error → hcsshim::CreateScratchLayer - failed failed in Win32: The system cannot find the path specified. (0x3) #375

[ntrappe-msft]

Solution

The easiest way to resolve this Issue is to re-pull the image. I've repro'd the error across Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2022, Windows Server 2022 amd64, etc. (It's not sensitive to the slight different in the server versions). If you re-pull the image, the error should go away.

> docker pull mcr.microsoft.com/windows/server:ltsc2022
> docker run mcr.microsoft.com/windows/server:ltsc2022