BCContainerHelper
Table of contents
- BCContainerHelper
- BCContainerHelper Installation
- Dynamics 365 Business Central Installation
- Extension Management
- Users Management
- Events Logs
- Unit Tests
- Other commands
- Dynamics 365 Business Central Installation (Deprecated methods)
BCContainerHelper Installation
Install BCContainerHelper module
install-module bccontainerhelper (-force)
Uninstall BCContainerHelper module
uninstall-module bccontainerhelper
BCContainerHelper module path
C:\Program Files\WindowsPowerShell\Modules\bccontainerhelper\<version>
Get BCContainerHelper installed module version
Get-InstalledModule bccontainerhelper
Update BCContainerHelper module
Update-Module bccontainerhelper
Dynamics 365 Business Central Installation
Get Artifacts
Obtaining BC artifacts
$artifactUrl = Get-BCArtifactUrl -version
- storageAccount (bcinsider or bcartifacts). The storage account determines where to get the artifacts. bcartifacts is the storage account, which contains all public artifacts with Business Central and NAV.
- type (onprem or sandbox - default is blank = sandbox) determines whether to get onprem artifacts (shipped builds) or sandbox artifacts (Saas builds). If you are looking for a build, which matches your saas version, you need to use sandbox.
- version (default is blank = all versions) is the version you are filtering for. You can specify a full version number or a partial version number. The function will try to match your request.
- country (default is blank = all countries) is the localization you are filtering for. Onprem countries follows onprem releases (na for north america), sandbox countries follows saas countries (us, ca and mx).Note that in 0.7.0.7 there is a bug, which returns the platform as a country. The platform cannot be used as a country:-(
- select (all, closest, secondToLastMajor or latest) determines which artifact urls you get.
- latest (which is the default) will return the latest image in the list
- all will return an array of all artifact urls matching the filter
- closest requires you to supply a full version number and the function will return the closest version (where Major and Minor version MUST match).
- secondToLastMajor is used in CI/CD scenarios to identify next minor release.
- sasToken is the shared access signature token to use when requesting artifacts from a secured storage account (like bcinsider).
$artifactUrl = Get-BCArtifactUrl -version 15.2 -country us # D365 BC 2019 Release Wave 2 (V15), Update 15.2, US
$artifactUrl = Get-BCArtifactUrl -version 15 -country us -select Latest # D365 BC 2019 Release Wave 2 (V15), Latest update, US
$artifactUrl = Get-BCArtifactUrl -version 16 -country us -select Latest # D365 BC 2020 Release Wave 1 (V16), Latest update, US
Get BC Artifacts List
Write-Host -ForegroundColor Yellow "Get US sandbox artifact url for current version (Latest)"
Get-BCArtifactUrl -country "us"
Write-Host -ForegroundColor Yellow "Get all US sandbox artifact urls"
Get-BCArtifactUrl -country "us" -select All
Write-Host -ForegroundColor Yellow "Get US sandbox artifact url for a version closest to 16.2.13509.13700"
Get-BCArtifactUrl -country "us" -version "16.2.13509.13700" -select Closest
Write-Host -ForegroundColor Yellow "Get latest 16.1 US sandbox artifact url"
Get-BCArtifactUrl -country "us" -version "16.1"
Write-Host -ForegroundColor Yellow "Get latest 15.x US sandbox artifact url"
Get-BCArtifactUrl -country "us" -version "15"
Write-Host -ForegroundColor Yellow "Get all Danish NAV and Business Central artifact urls"
Get-BCArtifactUrl -type OnPrem -country "dk" -select All
Create BC container using artifacts
More info: https://freddysblog.com/2020/06/25/working-with-artifacts/
$containername = ‘bcsandbox154qa’ $artifactUrl = Get-BCArtifactUrl -version 15 -country us -select Latest # D365 BC 2019 Release Wave 2 (V15), Latest update, US $licenseFilePath = ‘C:\enChoice\Business Central\Licenses\V15\5259612.flf’
New-BcContainer -accept_eula -containerName
- -includeAL -> To include the base app
- -includeTestLibrariesOnly -> To include test libraries
- -includeTestToolkit -> To include test libraries and all the standard tests.
$containername = 'bcsandbox15'
$artifactUrl = Get-BCArtifactUrl -version 15 -country us -select Latest # D365 BC 2019 Release Wave 2 (V15), Latest update, US
$licenseFilePath = 'C:\License Path\license.flf'
$credential = New-Object pscredential 'admin', (ConvertTo-SecureString -String 'P@ssword1' -AsPlainText -Force)
New-BcContainer `
-accept_eula `
-containerName $containername `
-artifactUrl $artifactUrl `
-Credential $credential `
-useSSL `
-updateHosts `
-auth NavUserPassword `
-Verbose `
-licenseFile $licenseFilePath
Download and install certificate
After the container creation you get the url to the certificate:
Files: http://bccontainer:8080/ALLanguage.vsix http://bccontainer:8080/certificate.cer
To download the container and import to the Trusted Root store do:
### Download the certificate from container
$url = 'http://bccontainer:8080/certificate.cer'
$output = 'C:\Temp\certificate.cer'
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $url -OutFile $output
### Import downloaded certificate to trusted root
Import-Certificate -FilePath $output -CertStoreLocation 'Cert:\LocalMachine\Root' -Verbose
Get NAV/BC Containers List
Get-BcContainers
Get NAV/BC Container Server Info
Get-BcContainerServerConfiguration -containerName “
Get-BcContainerServerConfiguration -containerName "BC140CU4W1"
Get NAV/BC Container Debug Info (info you get after creating the container)
Get-BcContainerDebugInfo -containerName
Get-BcContainerDebugInfo -containerName dynamicsbc154 -ExcludeDockerInfo -ExcludeEnvVars
Start / Restart NAV/BC Container
Start-BcContainer -containerName “
Start-BcContainer -containerName "BC140CU4W1"
Restart-BcContainer -containerName "BC140CU4W1"
Wait-BcContainerReady -containerName "BC140CU4W1"
Stop NAV/BC Container
Stop-BcContainer -containerName “
Stop-BcContainer -containerName "BC140CU4W1"
Import NAV/BC License
Import a license in the container.
Import-BcContainerLicense -containerName “
Import-BcContainerLicense -containerName test -licenseFile c:\temp\mylicense.flf -restart
Import-BcContainerLicense -containerName test -licenseFile "https://www.dropbox.com/s/fhwfwjfjwhff/license.flf?dl=1"
Extension Management
Get installed extension list
Get all installed extensions in a container.
Get-BcContainerAppInfo -containerName “
Get-BcContainerAppInfo -containerName "test"
Get the name of all installed extensions in a container.
(Get-BcContainerAppInfo -containerName “
(Get-BcContainerAppInfo -containerName "test").Name
Other parameters:
- -tenant => specifies the tenant from which you want to get the app info;
- -symbolsOnly => specifies whether you only want apps, which are of packagetype SymbolsOnly (Specifying SymbolsOnly ignores the tenant parameter);
- -sort => Specifies how (if any) you want to sort apps based on dependencies to other apps;
Publish an extension
Publish-BcContainerApp -containerName “
Optional parameters:
- -sync => synchronized the app;
- -install => installs the app;
- -scope => Global / Tenant;
The below script will publish, sync and install the app in c:\temp\my.app in the NAV container called test. Will install the app in tenant scope as vs code does.
Publish-BcContainerApp -containerName "test" -appFile "c:\temp\my.app" -skipVerification -sync -install -scope Tenant
If you only publish the app, you can use Sync-BcContainerApp and Install-BcContainerApp to sync and install the app later.
Unpublish an extension
Unpublish-BcContainerApp -containerName “
Other parameters:
- -uninstall => uninstalls the app before unpublising;
- -publisher => the publisher, used when the name is not enough to identify the app;
- -version => the version, used when there are multiple versions of the app installed;
Unpublish-BcContainerApp -containerName "test" -appName "MyApp" -uninstall -tenant default
Clean up the extension before publishing
To clean up the extension, deleting all tables schema, you must sync the app with the -mode flag set to clean. This allows you to installed a previous version of the extension, for example.
Sync-BcContainerApp -containerName “
Sync-BcContainerApp -containerName "test" -appName "MyApp" -Mode Clean
Users Management
Create new user in container
Creates a new user in a container with NavUserPassword credentials
New-BcContainerBcUser -containerName “
Other parameters:
- -ChangePasswordAtNextLogOn => forces the user to change the password on logon. Default value: true;
$credential = New-Object pscredential 'admin', (ConvertTo-SecureString -String 'P@ssword1' -AsPlainText -Force)
New-BcContainerBcUser -containerName "test" -Credential $credential -PermissionSetId "SUPER"
Creates a new user in a container with Windows authentication
New-BcContainerBcUser -containerName “
New-BcContainerBcUser -containerName "test" -WindowsAccount "<domain\username>" -PermissionSetId "SUPER"
Events Logs
Get the Event log from a NAV/BC Container as an .evtx file
Get-BcContainerEventLog -containerName
Get-BcContainerEventLog -containerName "test"
Unit Tests
Import Test Toolkit to existing container
Import-TestToolkitToBcContainer -containername
Other parameters:
- -includeTestFrameworkOnly => Only import TestFramework Apps (do not import Test Apps or Test Library apps);
- -testToolkitCountry => Only import TestToolkit objects for a specific country;
Import-TestToolkitToBcContainer -containername "test" -includeTestLibrariesOnly -includePerformanceToolkit
Other commands
Copy file from container to local machine
Copy-FileFromBcContainer -containername
Copy-FileFromBcContainer -containername "test" -containerpath c:/configurationpackages/NAV15.4.W1.ENU.EXTENDED.rapidstart -localpath C:\temp\NAV15.4.W1.ENU.EXTENDED.rapidstart
Import objects to BC
Import-ObjectsToBcContainer -containerName “
Compile BC objects
Compile-ObjectsInBcContainer -containerName “
Compile-ObjectsInBcContainer -containerName "BC140CU4W1"
-filter 'Type=Codeunit'
-filter 'Modified=Yes'
-filter 'Compiled=No'
Create a VS Code AL Project Folder based on a Container
Create a VS Code AL Project Folder based on a Container
Create-AlProjectFolderFromBcContainer -container
Note: When using the -useBaseLine flag, the -includeAL flag must be set when creating the container.
$alProjectFolder = "C:\ProgramData\BcContainerHelper\AL\BaseApp"
Create-AlProjectFolderFromBcContainer -containerName alContainer `
-alProjectFolder $alProjectFolder `
-name "myapp" `
-publisher "Freddy Kristiansen" `
-version "1.0.0.0" `
-AddGIT `
-useBaseLine
More info: Create-AlProjectFolderFromNavContainer
Docker Local Shared Folder
C:\ProgramData\BcContainerHelper\Extensions\
Folder inside container: C:\run\my
Dynamics 365 Business Central Installation (Deprecated methods)
Create BC container (will download image if necessary)
- -includeAL
- To include the base app
New-BCContainer -accept_eula -containerName 'BC140CU4W1' `
-imageName 'mcr.microsoft.com/businesscentral/onprem:14.5.35970.0-w1-ltsc2019' `
-updateHosts