CertificateImproperlyFormatted when using SSH to connect to Azure Windows10 VM

[scott-gilchrist]

Issue

When using the "file" provisioner to copy a file to an Azure Windows VM packer fails to connect giving a CertificateImproperlyFormatted error. This happens even when an ssh username and password are provided.

Packer JSON file

{
"builders" : [{
	"type": "azure-arm",
	"client_id": "<id>",
	"client_secret": "<secret>",
	"tenant_id": "<id>",
	"subscription_id": "<id>",

	"managed_image_resource_group_name": "packerOutput",
	"managed_image_name": "Image2021Win10",

	"os_type": "Windows",
	"image_publisher": "MicrosoftWindowsDesktop",
	"image_offer": "windows-10",
	"image_sku": "20h1-pro-g2", 

	"communicator": "ssh",
	"ssh_port": "22",

	"location": "uksouth",
	"vm_size": "Standard_DS4_v2"
    }],

   "provisioners": [
	{
	    "type" : "file",
	    "source" : "files/file.zip",
	    "destination" : "C:\\tmp\\file.zip"
	}
    ]
}

Error Output

The following build log is output by packer:

==> azure-arm: Code="DeploymentFailed" Message="At least one resource deployment operation failed. Please list deployment operations for details. Please see https://aka.ms/DeployOperations for usage details." Details=[{"code":"Conflict","message":"{\r\n "status": "Failed",\r\n "error": {\r\n "code": "ResourceDeploymentFailure",\r\n "message": "The resource operation completed with terminal provisioning state 'Failed'.",\r\n "details": [\r\n {\r\n "code": "CertificateImproperlyFormatted",\r\n "message": "The secret retrieved from https://pkrkvyeatfcs2q3.vault.azure.net/secrets/packerKeyVaultSecret/4h294bf7v61e4d4b8b854f0a462fac20 is empty string."\r\n }\r\n ]\r\n }\r\n}"}]
==> azure-arm: Removing the created Deployment object: 'pkrdpyeatfcs2q3'
==> azure-arm: Removing the created Deployment object: 'kvpkrdpyeatfcs2q3'
==> azure-arm: ==> azure-arm: Cleanup requested, deleting resource group ...
==> azure-arm: Resource group has been deleted.
Build 'azure-arm' errored after 4 minutes 20 seconds: Code="DeploymentFailed" Message="At least one resource deployment operation failed. Please list deployment operations for details. Please see https://aka.ms/DeployOperations for usage details." Details=[{"code":"Conflict","message":"{\r\n "status": "Failed",\r\n "error": {\r\n "code": "ResourceDeploymentFailure",\r\n "message": "The resource operation completed with terminal provisioning state 'Failed'.",\r\n "details": [\r\n {\r\n "code": "CertificateImproperlyFormatted",\r\n "message": "The secret retrieved from https://pkrkvyeatfcs2q3.vault.azure.net/secrets/packerKeyVaultSecret/4h294bf7v61e4d4b8b854f0a462fac20 is empty string."\r\n }\r\n ]\r\n }\r\n}"}]

WinRM alternative

I can't use WinRM as the file I'm copying to Azure is abysmally slow and takes over 16hours to copy a 1.5GB file. The only other option I have is using SSH unless there's another workaround for this issue?

Thanks.

[ghost]

This issue has been automatically migrated to hashicorp/packer-plugin-azure#48 because it looks like an issue with that plugin. If you believe this is not an issue with the plugin, please reply to hashicorp/packer-plugin-azure#48.

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