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After Effects Installer-Cache Setup In A Windows Container

This guide describes the validated installer-cache workflow for deploying the setup version selected in setup-versions.yml inside a Shotwright container.

Shotwright supports two runtime modes:

  1. Host mount — mount the host-side After Effects install that matches the version selected in setup-versions.yml into the container.
  2. Installer-cache mode — pull the prepared setup image from GHCR first, or build the cache locally as a fallback, then let Shotwright install After Effects automatically at startup.

This document focuses on installer-cache mode.

1. Resolve and obtain the installer cache

Resolve the active setup version from setup-versions.yml first:

$setup = python .\scripts\install\setup_versions.py | ConvertFrom-Json

This object also includes $setup.install_root, the AE install directory expected for the selected version.

Cross-environment defaults such as host payload roots, runner temp subdirectory names, container mount roots, and base image tags are centralized in shotwright-config.json.

Cartoon comparison of pulling the setup image from GHCR versus building the installer cache locally

The recommended approach is to pull the pre-built installer payload image from GHCR:

docker pull $setup.ghcr_image
docker create --name ae-setup $setup.ghcr_image cmd /c exit
docker cp 'ae-setup:C:\payload' 'C:\data\payload'
docker rm ae-setup

If the image is too large for a reliable docker pull, use scripts/pull_container_image.py instead. It downloads through http_proxy or https_proxy, writes a docker archive to disk, and can load it locally:

python .\scripts\pull_container_image.py --image $setup.ghcr_image --output-dir C:\data\images --load

After extraction you should have:

Directory Required contents
C:\data\payload\<payload_dir_name> driver.xml and all AE package folders
C:\data\payload\<helper_dir_name> HDBox (with patched Setup.exe) and IPC directories
Alternative: build the installer cache from scratch

If you need to build the installer cache locally instead of pulling from GHCR:

python scripts\install\download_after_effects_payload.py --payload-root C:\data\payload

That script relies on scripts/install/download_utils.py and the helper classes used to resolve Adobe packages and supporting downloads.

Before first use, patch the helper installer:

$helperSetup = Join-Path (Join-Path 'C:\data\payload' $setup.helper_dir_name) 'HDBox\Setup.exe'
python scripts\install\modify_setup_win.py $helperSetup

If the file has already been patched, the script reports Setup.exe appears to be already patched. and exits successfully.

2. Prerequisites

  1. Docker Desktop is running in Windows container mode. docker info --format '{{.OSType}}' should return windows.
  2. You have already built, or are ready to build, a local Shotwright image.

3. Build the Shotwright image

docker build -t shotwright:runtime .

The Dockerfile now builds the all-in-one shotwright:runtime image. It copies the published After Effects setup payload from GHCR into the image and runs the installer during image build, so service-created worker containers do not depend on runtime payload mounts.

4. Run the end-to-end install and validation flow

Use scripts/validate/run_validation.ps1:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\scripts\validate\run_validation.ps1 `
    -ImageTag shotwright:runtime `
    -AfterEffectsPayloadRoot (Join-Path 'C:\data\payload' $setup.payload_dir_name) `
    -CreativeCloudHelperRoot (Join-Path 'C:\data\payload' $setup.helper_dir_name)

This command does the following:

  1. Starts a Windows container from the specified image.
  2. Mounts the repository, validation data directory, AE installer cache, and Creative Cloud helper cache.
  3. Lets scripts/runtime_entrypoint.ps1 invoke scripts/install/install_after_effects_in_container.ps1.
  4. Waits for aerender.exe to appear and report a version.
  5. Generates validation_motion.aep.
  6. Runs nexrender and ensures validation.mp4 ends up in validation-data/output.

Expected result:

validation-data\output\validation.mp4

5. Known issues

Validation succeeds but nexrender exits non-zero

After Effects sometimes returns a non-zero exit code even when the render completed successfully. When that happens, scripts/validate/run_validation.ps1 recovers the newest result.mp4 from validation-data/work.

Invalid driverXML ... parameter specified

This usually means the driver.xml path was split by spaces. Use space-free paths such as C:\data\payload\<payload_dir_name>.

Path:C:\adobeTemp already exists

This message is non-fatal. The installer is reusing a temporary extraction directory and can continue.

6. Acceptance criteria

  1. The install completes without Adobe Setup is not Authorized.
  2. $setup.install_root\Support Files\aerender.exe exists inside the container.
  3. aerender -version prints a valid version string.
  4. validation.mp4 is produced under validation-data/output.