Ever Since Microsoft released the new Windows Nano Server 1709 Container Image downloading and extracting files without PowerShell has been challenging.
Recently, The Microsoft Virtualization announced that two command-line tools will be added to Windows 10 and Windows Nano Server.
The tools are:
Tar.exe – Allows us to extract files and create archives without PowerShell which means you can use it from the command -line.
Curl .exe– allows us to download files from Internet sources and Servers located on our network.
Curl.exe
In the line below, I’m using curl.exe to download a zip file from the Internet
curl.exe -o node.zip https://nodejs.org/dist/v9.2.0/node-v9.2.0-win-x64.zip
Tar.exe
In the line below, I’m using tar.exe to extract the downloaded file.
tar.exe -xf node.zip
To create an archive file I’ll use the command below:
tar.exe -cf Test.zip Test
Dockerfile
In the DockerFile example below, I’ll use a Windows Nano Server without PowerShell and download a .Zip file from the Internet and extract it.
FROM microsoft/nanoserver-insider:latest
RUN curl.exe -o node.zip https://nodejs.org/dist/v9.2.0/node-v9.2.0-win-x64.zip
RUN Tar.exe -xf node.zip -C:\install
Conclusion
It looks like Microsoft are making windows Nano Server more friendly to developers and Administrators by making simple tools working easily.