Chocolatey install of sql-server-express failed in Azure when called from CustomScriptExtension

Question

I'm trying to bootstrap a new Azure VM, and so am installing Chocolatey and using it to install the sql-server-express package. Unfortunately I get the error The system cannot find the file specified in the Chocolatey logs, even though the package was downloaded OK.

How can I fix this?

Answer 1

The error appears to be with the account that Azure launches CustomScriptExtensions from.

I managed to work around it using Powershell to run the installation as an admin user:

Enable-WSManCredSSP -Role Server -Force
Enable-WSManCredSSP -Role Client -DelegateComputer * -Force
New-Item -Path HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\CredentialsDelegation -Name AllowFreshCredentialsWhenNTLMOnly -Force
New-ItemProperty -Path HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\CredentialsDelegation\AllowFreshCredentialsWhenNTLMOnly -Name 1 -Value * -PropertyType String
Set-Item -Path "WSMan:\localhost\Service\Auth\CredSSP" -Value $true
$securePassword = ConvertTo-SecureString 'passwordgoeshere' -AsPlainText -Force
$credential = New-Object System.Management.Automation.PSCredential 'hostname\adminuser', $securePassword
Invoke-Command -Authentication CredSSP -ScriptBlock {choco install sql-server-express} -ComputerName hostname -Credential $credential

Note that you must supply both the hostname and userame for the credentials (i.e. hostname\adminuser), otherwise this command will not work from a CustomScriptExtension.

You also need to use CredSSP, otherwise the SQL installation will fail with errors like:

Exception type: Microsoft.SqlServer.Chainer.Infrastructure.ChainerInfrastructureException
    Message: 
        There was an error generating the XML document.
    HResult : 0x84b10001
        FacilityCode : 1201 (4b1)
        ErrorCode : 1 (0001)
    Data: 
      DisableWatson = true
    Stack: 
        at Microsoft.SqlServer.Chainer.Infrastructure.DataStoreService.SerializeObject(String rootPath, Object objectToSerialize, Boolean saveToCache)
        at Microsoft.SqlServer.Chainer.Infrastructure.DataStoreService.SerializeObject(Object objectToSerialize)
        at Microsoft.SqlServer.Chainer.Infrastructure.PublicConfigurationBridge.Calculate()
        at Microsoft.SqlServer.Chainer.Infrastructure.InputSettingService.CalculateSettings(IEnumerable`1 settingIds)
        at Microsoft.SqlServer.Chainer.Infrastructure.InputSettingService.CalculateAllSettings(Boolean chainerSettingOnly)
        at Microsoft.SqlServer.Chainer.Infrastructure.Action.Execute(String actionId, TextWriter errorStream)
        at Microsoft.SqlServer.Setup.Chainer.Workflow.ActionInvocation.<>c__DisplayClasse.<ExecuteActionWithRetryHelper>b__b()
        at Microsoft.SqlServer.Setup.Chainer.Workflow.ActionInvocation.ExecuteActionHelper(ActionWorker workerDelegate)
    Inner exception type: System.InvalidOperationException
        Message: 
                There was an error generating the XML document.
        HResult : 0x80131509
        Stack: 
                at System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer.Serialize(XmlWriter xmlWriter, Object o, XmlSerializerNamespaces namespaces, String encodingStyle, String id)
                at System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer.Serialize(TextWriter textWriter, Object o, XmlSerializerNamespaces namespaces)
                at Microsoft.SqlServer.Chainer.Infrastructure.DataStoreService.SerializeObject(String rootPath, Object objectToSerialize, Boolean saveToCache)
        Inner exception type: System.Security.Cryptography.CryptographicException
            Message: 
                        Access is denied.

            HResult : 0x80070005
            Stack: 
                        at System.Security.Cryptography.ProtectedData.Protect(Byte[] userData, Byte[] optionalEntropy, DataProtectionScope scope)
                        at Microsoft.SqlServer.Common.SqlSecureString.WriteXml(XmlWriter writer)
                        at System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializationWriter.WriteSerializable(IXmlSerializable serializable, String name, String ns, Boolean isNullable, Boolean wrapped)
                        at Microsoft.Xml.Serialization.GeneratedAssembly.XmlSerializationWriterAgentConfigurationPublic.Write6_AgentConfigurationPublic(String n, String ns, AgentConfigurationPublic o, Boolean isNullable, Boolean needType)
                        at Microsoft.Xml.Serialization.GeneratedAssembly.XmlSerializationWriterAgentConfigurationPublic.Write7_AgentConfigurationPublic(Object o)

See https://stackoverflow.com/a/48571976/157605 for more details about enabling CredSSP.