-Tags Parameter is not working in GenerateResourcesAndImage

[ufcurmcginty]

Description

I am passing a HashTable of tags as a value for the Tags parameter as the directions state, but this does not work.

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

I am using the Manual Image Generation Customization
main branch

Is it regression?

no

Expected behavior

I first create the hash table.
$Tags = @{ "BusinessUnit" = "Infrastructure" "ProjectName" = "GitHub Runners" }

I then run the script.
GenerateResourcesAndImage -Tags $Tags

Actual behavior

I get the error:

Packer template validation failed.
At C:\repos\.Public\runner-images\helpers\GenerateResourcesAndImage.ps1:224 char:9
+         throw "Packer template validation failed."
+         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : OperationStopped: (Packer template validation failed.:String) [], RuntimeException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Packer template validation failed.

Repro steps

I have also tried endless different types of syntax to feed tags directly as a parameter but always get the error:
`GenerateResourcesAndImage : Cannot process argument transformation on parameter 'Tags'. Cannot convert the
"BusinessUnit=Infrastructure" value of type "System.String" to type "System.Collections.Hashtable".
At line:1 char:33

• GenerateResourcesAndImage -Tags BusinessUnit=Infrastructure

•                             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  

  • CategoryInfo : InvalidData: (:) [GenerateResourcesAndImage], ParentContainsErrorRecordException
  • FullyQualifiedErrorId : ParameterArgumentTransformationError,GenerateResourcesAndImage`

[hemanthmanga]

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


[Prabhatkumar59]

Hi @ufcurmcginty - Could you please share the repro steps or workflow links related to this where you are facing the issue. It will help us debug the problem more effectively. Thanks.

[ufcurmcginty]

@Prabhatkumar59 I've tried many different ways of feeding the tags into the -Tag parameter and given an example in the Expected Behavior section. Apologies if I put that in the wrong section.

Can you give me an example of the proper syntax of the -Tags parameter? I didn't see an example in the readme.

[Prabhatkumar59]

Hi @ufcurmcginty - Thanks for following up.

# Step 1: Define the tags as a hashtable
$Tags = @{
    BusinessUnit = "Infrastructure"
    ProjectName  = "GitHub Runners"
}

# Step 2: Call the script with the hashtable
GenerateResourcesAndImage -Tags $Tags

This is the correct and supported way to pass tags — the -Tags parameter expects a [Hashtable], not a string or key-value expression inline. so it must be passed as a variable in the same PowerShell session

"We understand from your earlier message that you're already passing a hashtable like this and still seeing a validation error. If that's the case, the issue may not be with the tag syntax itself but possibly how it's getting processed later in the script or written into the config."
So, could you please try to re-check your code and run the script with -Verbose from your side & Check the packerUserConfig.json file to see if the "tags" block looks correctly formed?
Thanks!

[ufcurmcginty]

I don't see a packerUserConfig.json in the %APPDATA%\packer.d\ directory. Do I need to make the file myself, or does the script generate it somewhere else?

Here's the output while using -Verbose:

❯ GenerateResourcesAndImage -Tags $Tags -Verbose

cmdlet GenerateResourcesAndImage at command pipeline position 1
Supply values for the following parameters:
SubscriptionId: [censored]
ResourceGroupName: prd-scus-buildagents-rg
ImageType: Ubuntu2404
AzureLocation: southcentralus
Latest commit: Date: Fri Jun 20 14:48:46 2025 +0000; Commit: 98413b96dd8807d6e7e36080b3e063ca37c3319c - Updating readme file for win22 version 20250617.1.0 (#12423); Author: github-actions[bot] <41898282+github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>.
VERBOSE: PowerShell 5 detected. Replacing double quotes with escaped double quotes in tags JSON.
Downloading packer plugins...
Validating packer template...
Usage: packer validate [options] TEMPLATE

  Checks the template is valid by parsing the template and also
  checking the configuration with the various builders, provisioners, etc.

  If it is not valid, the errors will be shown and the command will exit
  with a non-zero exit status. If it is valid, it will exit with a zero
  exit status.

Options:

  -syntax-only                  Only check syntax. Do not verify config of the template.
  -except=foo,bar,baz           Validate all builds other than these.
  -only=foo,bar,baz             Validate only these builds.
  -machine-readable             Produce machine-readable output.
  -var 'key=value'              Variable for templates, can be used multiple times.
  -var-file=path                JSON or HCL2 file containing user variables, can be used multiple times.
  -no-warn-undeclared-var       Disable warnings for user variable files containing undeclared variables.
  -evaluate-datasources         Evaluate data sources during validation (HCL2 only, may incur costs); Defaults to false.
  -ignore-prerelease-plugins    Disable the loading of prerelease plugin binaries (x.y.z-dev).
  -use-sequential-evaluation    Fallback to using a sequential approach for local/datasource evaluation.
Packer template validation failed.
At C:\repos\.Public\runner-images\helpers\GenerateResourcesAndImage.ps1:224 char:9
+         throw "Packer template validation failed."
+         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : OperationStopped: (Packer template validation failed.:String) [], RuntimeException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Packer template validation failed.

[Prabhatkumar59]

Hi @ufcurmcginty - The packerUserConfig.json file is not created in %APPDATA%\packer.d\ — instead, it’s automatically generated by the script in the image-specific folder inside the repo.

For your case (ImageType: Ubuntu2404), you can find it here:-
C:\repos\.Public\runner-images\images\linux\ubuntu2404\packerUserConfig.json
So, there is no need to create it manually — just check that location after running the script to verify and inspect the tag. Also, we recommend you to use this in PowerShell 7 or higher to avoid the double-quote escape logic entirely. And then re-run the script with the corrected file or in PowerShell 7 & validate it once.
Thanks!

[Prabhatkumar59]

Hi @ufcurmcginty - Since we haven't heard back, we'll assume your issue is resolved from your side and we will close this issue for now. Feel free to reach out to us for any other queries.
Thanks