OliveTin EZ-Start: The Next Generation. Deploy OliveTin-for-Channels from the Command Line without the Need for Portainer to be Installed in Advance!

[bnhf]

@skipt

stderr output for the Install Portainer action shows no obvious errors.

Let's take a look at the debug output. From the EZ-Start WebUI (on port 1338) run this Action:

Select this debug log:

You may need to redact the password you're using in the debug, unless it's a throw-away. No need to redact your LAN IP addresses -- there's no security risk posting those.

In addition to posting the debug log, please confirm you're running the latest version of WSL2 by running the following from a PowerShell prompt:

wsl --update

Also, from a Linux prompt, post the output from:

cat /etc/os-release

All that should help give us an idea what state your system is in, and what's happening when the Portainer installation is happening.

[skipt]

Portainer Install Debug log:

/config/portainer.debug.log 2026-01-10 10:29:59

+ [[ -z '' ]]
+ portainerHost=http
+ portainerAdminPassword=(Redacted)
+ [[ 12 -lt 12 ]]
++ cut -d : -f 2
++ htpasswd -nbB admin 1206ld_4Port
+ hashedPassword='$2y$05$Z6T7A0WK1ZiVwJF8Mmrsb.051dkLn3DScrmWFMxgvYeBlT3w27CA2'
+ portainerHttpPort=9000
+ portainerHttpsPort=9443
+ docker run -d -p 9000:9000 -p 9443:9443 --name portainer --restart always --pull always -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock -v portainer_data:/data portainer/portainer-ce:latest --admin-password '$2y$05$Z6T7A0WK1ZiVwJF8Mmrsb.051dkLn3DScrmWFMxgvYeBlT3w27CA2'
+ echo 'Portainer container created successfully'
+ sleep 2
++ curl -s -X POST http://http:9000/api/auth -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{"Username":"admin", "Password":"Redacted"}'
++ jq -r .jwt
+ jsonWebToken=
++ curl -s -X POST http://http:9000/api/users/1/tokens -H 'Authorization: Bearer ' -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{"password": "(Redacted)", "description": "olivetin"}'
++ jq -r .rawAPIKey
+ portainerToken=
++ jq -r .Id
++ curl -s -X POST http://http:9000/api/endpoints -H 'Authorization: Bearer ' -F Name=local -F EndpointCreationType=1
+ portainerEnv=
+ [[ -n '' ]]
+ echo -e '\nPortainer token creation and environment initialization failed...'

Latest WSL2 is installed:

PS C:\Windows\system32> wsl --update
Checking for updates.
The most recent version of Windows Subsystem for Linux is already installed.

OS Release info:

PRETTY_NAME="Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS"
NAME="Ubuntu"
VERSION_ID="24.04"
VERSION="24.04.3 LTS (Noble Numbat)"
VERSION_CODENAME=noble
ID=ubuntu
ID_LIKE=debian
HOME_URL="https://www.ubuntu.com/"
SUPPORT_URL="https://help.ubuntu.com/"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/"
PRIVACY_POLICY_URL="https://www.ubuntu.com/legal/terms-and-policies/privacy-policy"
UBUNTU_CODENAME=noble
LOGO=ubuntu-logo

BTW, I can get to Portainer on port 9000, and (no surprise) it doesn't list any access tokens.

[bnhf]

@skipt

Portainer Install Debug log:

If you look again at the instructions, you'll see you're only supposed to supply the ip:port. You used an http:// before it (URL style). That's the problem. I should have caught this when you posted your Docker run command earlier.

Start over with that in mind, and you should be good.

[skipt]

Yes, no http:, very good catch. Since the script was running with no errors I didn't pick up on the URL versus IP error.

After fixing that, things went fine until the Create an OliveTin Stack in Portainer Project One-Click Action. The error is:

JSON response from http://nnn.nnn.n.nnn:9000/api/stacks/create/standalone/string?endpointId=1:
{"message":"failed to deploy a stack: compose up operation failed: Error response from daemon: invalid volume specification: 'C:/Users/Public/olivetin/data:/web:rw'","details":"Failed to deploy a stack: compose up operation failed: Error response from daemon: invalid volume specification: 'C:/Users/Public/olivetin/data:/web:rw'"}
false

FYI #1 my HOST_DIR var is set to C:/Users/Public, and that directory (/mnt/c/Users/Public) is full r/w according to my linux terminal.

FYI #2: Docker desktop says I have a halverneus/static-file-server:latest image but it is not shown as running under containers.

[bnhf]

@skipt

FYI #1 my HOST_DIR var is set to C:/Users/Public, and that directory (/mnt/c/Users/Public) is full r/w according to my linux terminal.

Rather than fight with using Windows paths in Linux (which carries a slight performance penalty anyways), I suggest using /data for your HOST_DIR value. Windows paths do work, but the valid structure has changed in Windows 11, and I don't have any WIndows 10 systems around anymore to test on.

@skipt

FYI #2: Docker desktop says I have a halverneus/static-file-server:latest image but it is not shown as running under containers.

This won't be running until you deploy the full version of olivetin without error.

[skipt]

Thanks for sticking with me, Mr. Dev Sir. I am up and running. (Simple) Health check looks good.

As you suggested I used /data for my HOST_DIR value. I poked around looking for this directory and couldn't find it. It is a question for me because with multiple containers, WSL, and Windows all on the same server, there are multiple root directories around. Should I be able to find /data, or will it show up only after I run certain olivetin actions?

Also, I note the ez-start container/image is still there, but not running. Is there any reason to keep it around?

[bnhf]

@skipt

Should I be able to find /data

Yes. Connect to your WSL Ubuntu instance using Windows Terminal and:

slayer@Convertible-PC3:~$ ls -la /data
total 52
drwxr-xr-x 11 root   root    4096 Mar 31  2025 .
drwxr-xr-x 24 root   root    4096 Jan  9 11:46 ..
drwxr-xr-x  5 slayer slayer  4096 Mar 20  2024 ah4c
drwxr-xr-x  6 root   root    4096 Mar 31  2025 channels-data
drwxr-xr-x  4 root   root    4096 Mar 31  2025 channels-dvr
drwxr-xr-x  8 slayer slayer  4096 Mar 26  2024 filebot
drwxr-xr-x  4 slayer slayer  4096 Mar 29  2024 mediainfo
drwxr-xr-x  5 root   root    4096 Mar 31  2025 mlbserver
drwxrwxrwt  5 root   root   12288 Jan  8 03:49 olivetin
drwxr-xr-x  7    911 docker  4096 Mar 19  2024 organizr
drwxr-xr-x  3 root   root    4096 Mar 27  2025 plex

Not sure if this works in Windows 10, but in Windows 11, this is also an option:

@skipt

Also, I note the ez-start container/image is still there, but not running. Is there any reason to keep it around?

You can stop and remove the EZ-Start container. The image though is used for the full version of OliveTin as well, so it cannot be removed.

[skipt]

Thanks for letting my know about keeping the olivetin image. That is obviously important.

At login I was starting in my HOME directory, thus not finding /data.

Thanks again for your help.