LocalBox deployment fails at LocalBox-Client “Bootstrap” CustomScriptExtension — “The system cannot find the file specified”

[QuentinEpps]

Hi Jumpstart community 👋 — I’m looking for help troubleshooting a consistent LocalBox deployment failure where the LocalBox-Client VM “Bootstrap” CustomScriptExtension fails with file not found.
What I’m deploying

Repo: microsoft/azure_arc (Jumpstart LocalBox) [learn.microsoft.com]
Path: azure_jumpstart_localbox/bicep (using main.bicep + main.bicepparam) [community....namics.com]
Deploy method: Azure CLI Bicep deployment (per Jumpstart “Deploy LocalBox infrastructure with Azure Bicep/Azure CLI” guidance)

The Bicep deployment creates the resource group resources and the LocalBox-Client VM, but the deployment fails on:
Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/extensions → LocalBox-Client / Bootstrap → CustomScriptExtension with:

VMExtensionProvisioningError
Exit code: 1
Error output: “The system cannot find the file specified.”

This looks like the extension cannot find Bootstrap.ps1 (or a dependency) after download / during execution.

[janegilring]

@QuentinEpps Did you clone the repository just before this deployment was run? If it was cloned at some earlier point, could you try to run a git pull in the repository folder and try a new deployment?

[QuentinEpps]

Hello, I ran a git pull but nothing has changed

[janegilring]

Hi @QuentinEpps — thanks for confirming the git pull. Since the file is correctly available on the main branch and the Bicep template references are correct, the "The system cannot find the file specified" error is likely happening during script execution rather than during the download of Bootstrap.ps1 itself.

To help narrow this down, could you provide some additional details?

1. Are you using the default parameter values (githubAccount = 'microsoft', githubBranch = 'main') or have you changed them to point to a fork/branch?

2. Which Azure region are you deploying to? (The location and azureLocalInstanceLocation parameters)

3. Which VM size are you using? (default Standard_E32s_v6 or something else?)

4. Can you retrieve the CustomScriptExtension log from the VM? Even though the deployment failed, the VM itself may have been created. You can try:

   • Connect to the VM via Azure Bastion (if deployed) or Serial Console in the Azure Portal
   • Check the extension log at:
     C:\WindowsAzure\Logs\Plugins\Microsoft.Compute.CustomScriptExtension\1.10.*\CustomScriptHandler.log
     and the script output at:
     C:\Packages\Plugins\Microsoft.Compute.CustomScriptExtension\1.10.*\Downloads\0\
   • Also check if C:\LocalBox\Logs\Bootstrap.log exists — it would show how far the script got before failing.

5. Have you deployed LocalBox successfully before, or is this your first attempt?

The exit code 1 with "The system cannot find the file specified" can also occur when the CustomScriptExtension handler itself has trouble locating the downloaded script in its working directory — this can sometimes happen due to transient Azure platform issues. If you haven't already, it may be worth deleting the resource group completely and trying a fresh deployment.