Cannot run gitlab-runner inside a windowsservercore container

Summary

Executing gitlab-runner run inside a docker container "microsoft/windowsservercore" results in FATAL: The service process could not connect to the service controller.

Steps to reproduce

Create a docker container which contains the latest gitlab runner.

Dockerfile:

FROM microsoft/dotnet-framework:4.6.2

RUN @powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command "iex ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://chocolatey.org/install.ps1'))" && \ 
    SET "PATH=%PATH%;%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\chocolatey\bin"

RUN choco install gitlab-runner -y
ADD register-gitlab-runner.ps1 .
CMD powershell .\register-gitlab-runner.ps1

register-gitlab-runner.ps1:

$Env:REGISTRATION_TOKEN         = '<token>'
$Env:CI_SERVER_URL              = '<url>'
$Env:RUNNER_TAG_LIST            = 'windows, dotnetfull, vs2017, servicefabric'

$Env:RUNNER_NAME                = "GitLab Runner (Windows) #${[guid]::NewGuid()}"
$Env:RUNNER_EXECUTOR            = 'shell'
$Env:RUNNER_SHELL               = 'powershell'
 
$Env:CONFIG_FILE                = "${PWD}\config.toml"
$Env:REGISTER_RUN_UNTAGGED      = 'false'
$Env:RUNNER_REQUEST_CONCURRENCY = 1
$Env:RUNNER_BUILDS_DIR          = "${PWD}/builds"
$Env:RUNNER_CACHE_DIR           = '${PWD}/cache'
 
gitlab-runner register --non-interactive
gitlab-runner run
gitlab-runner unregister --name $Env:RUNNER_NAME

Actual behavior

The run command results i a FATAL exception: "FATAL: The service process could not connect to the service controller."

Expected behavior

The run command starts and executes until SIG_TERM is received.

Relevant logs and/or screenshots

gitlab-runner run -d:

panic: reflect: call of reflect.Value.Type on zero Value [recovered]
        panic: reflect: call of reflect.Value.Type on zero Value

goroutine 1 [running]:
panic(0x1488400, 0xc0423b1280)
        /usr/local/go/src/runtime/panic.go:500 +0x1af
main.main.func1()
        /go/src/gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ci-multi-runner/main.go:32 +0x86
panic(0x1488400, 0xc0423b1280)
        /usr/local/go/src/runtime/panic.go:458 +0x251
reflect.Value.Type(0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0xc0420101c0, 0xc0423537d0)
        /usr/local/go/src/reflect/value.go:1670 +0x22b
gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ci-multi-runner/vendor/gitlab.com/ayufan/golang-cli-helpers.convertMarshal(0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x1, 0xc04247f2a0, 0xc042420080, 0xc04247f2e0, 0x53af0b)
        /go/src/gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ci-multi-runner/vendor/gitlab.com/ayufan/golang-cli-helpers/convert.go:47 +0x4a
gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ci-multi-runner/vendor/gitlab.com/ayufan/golang-cli-helpers.convertToString(0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x1579100, 0xc04237d980, 0x445788, 0x2dc62e6d1d9)
        /go/src/gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ci-multi-runner/vendor/gitlab.com/ayufan/golang-cli-helpers/convert.go:58 +0x64
gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ci-multi-runner/vendor/gitlab.com/ayufan/golang-cli-helpers.StructFieldValue.String(0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0, ...)
        /go/src/gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ci-multi-runner/vendor/gitlab.com/ayufan/golang-cli-helpers/struct_field.go:32 +0x82
gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ci-multi-runner/vendor/gitlab.com/ayufan/golang-cli-helpers.(*StructFieldValue).String(0xc04237d980, 0x1579100, 0xc04237d980)
        <autogenerated>:5 +0x81
flag.isZeroValue(0xc04238ce00, 0xc0423b0f40, 0x1c, 0x1479b50)
        /usr/local/go/src/flag/flag.go:393 +0x134
flag.(*FlagSet).PrintDefaults.func1(0xc04238ce00)
        /usr/local/go/src/flag/flag.go:467 +0x1dc
flag.(*FlagSet).VisitAll(0xc0421a13e0, 0xc04247f588)
        /usr/local/go/src/flag/flag.go:323 +0x6e
flag.(*FlagSet).PrintDefaults(0xc0421a13e0)
        /usr/local/go/src/flag/flag.go:476 +0x56
flag.defaultUsage(0xc0421a13e0)
        /usr/local/go/src/flag/flag.go:509 +0x9d
flag.(*FlagSet).usage(0xc0421a13e0)
        /usr/local/go/src/flag/flag.go:825 +0x5c
flag.(*FlagSet).failf(0xc0421a13e0, 0x16842b7, 0x1b, 0xc04247f780, 0x1, 0x1, 0xc04247f738, 0x482765)
        /usr/local/go/src/flag/flag.go:814 +0x11d
flag.(*FlagSet).parseOne(0xc0421a13e0, 0x7, 0xc0421a13e0, 0xc04209a070)
        /usr/local/go/src/flag/flag.go:894 +0x5c8
flag.(*FlagSet).Parse(0xc0421a13e0, 0xc042031d90, 0x1, 0x1, 0x33603e8, 0x0)
        /usr/local/go/src/flag/flag.go:915 +0x67
gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ci-multi-runner/vendor/github.com/codegangsta/cli.Command.Run(0x1665dd6, 0x3, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x1681399, 0x18, 0x0, ...)
        /go/src/gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ci-multi-runner/vendor/github.com/codegangsta/cli/command.go:98 +0xc3a
gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ci-multi-runner/vendor/github.com/codegangsta/cli.(*App).Run(0xc042340100, 0xc042031d70, 0x3, 0x3, 0x0, 0x0)
        /go/src/gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ci-multi-runner/vendor/github.com/codegangsta/cli/app.go:159 +0x70c
main.main()
        /go/src/gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ci-multi-runner/main.go:58 +0x256

Environment description

Windows Server 2016 DataCenter + Docker for Windows installed

Because of https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ci-multi-runner/issues/2176, I tried to run several docker containers running gitlab-runner directly with shell executor.

Used GitLab Runner version

Version: 9.3.0 Git revision: 3df822b Git branch: 9-3-stable GO version: go1.7.5 Built: Thu, 22 Jun 2017 10:57:49 +0000 OS/Arch: windows/amd64

changed the description

Workaround

I've got running gitlab-runner, by using the run-single command. The problem here is, that I need to parse config.toml by myself in order to get the runner token for parameter -u <token>.

To stop or ungracefully kill the process I use docker exec <image-id> powershell Stop-Process -Name "gitlab-runner". After the process is stopped, the unregistration command works as excepted.

We have the same problem. @cmenzi's workaround does not work either. Instead we do gitlab-runner install & gitlab-runner start

C:\build>gitlab-ci-runner.exe --version
gitlab-ci-runner.exe --version
Version:      9.4.2
Git revision: 6d06f2e
Git branch:   9-4-stable
GO version:   go1.8.3
Built:        Wed, 02 Aug 2017 12:46:19 +0000
OS/Arch:      windows/amd64