Error: The input does not contain any JSON tokens when run from Devops build pipeline

[alareau]

Since yesterday, our builds have been failing on our devops builder (Self hosted build server)

I think it's a caching issue of some kind. (tried running dotnet nuget locals all --clear)

We've made a simple yaml file

`##### INIT ########
trigger:
none

pool:
name: Our agent

#####################################
stages:

• stage: ExecuteDocsGen
  jobs:

  • job:
    steps:

    • task: NuGetToolInstaller@1
      displayName: 'Use NuGet'

    • task: NuGetCommand@2
      displayName: 'Install local pac cli'
      inputs:
      command: custom
      arguments: 'install Microsoft.PowerApps.CLI -Version 1.38.3 -OutputDirectory pac'

    • task: PowerShell@2
      displayName: Testing
      inputs:
      targetType: 'inline'
      script: |
      dotnet tool install --global Microsoft.PowerApps.CLI.Tool
      get-command pac | format-list
      Write-Host "Lerroy Jenkins"
      pac auth list`

while the output related to pac auth gives

`Microsoft PowerPlatform CLI
Version: 1.39.3+g0f45f92
Online documentation: https://aka.ms/PowerPlatformCLI
Feedback, Suggestions, Issues: https://github.com/microsoft/powerplatform-build-tools/discussions

Error: The input does not contain any JSON tokens. Expected the input to start with a valid JSON token, when isFinalBlock is true. Path: $ | LineNumber: 0 | BytePositionInLine: 0.

When the admin goes on the server and run dotnet tool install --global Microsoft.PowerApps.CLI.Tool pac auth list

He gets "No profiles were found on this computer. Please run 'pac auth create' to create one." (no JSON error)

Here's the full output

`

Generating script.
========================== Starting Command Output ===========================
"C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe" -NoLogo -NoProfile -NonInteractive -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Command ". 'E:\DevopsBuild\Agent_work_temp\0a851617-ecd7-4d0b-9efd-dd429b1c8a7c.ps1'"
Tool 'microsoft.powerapps.cli.tool' is already installed.

Name : pac.exe
CommandType : Application
Definition : C:\Windows\ServiceProfiles\NetworkService.dotnet\tools\pac.exe
Extension : .exe
Path : C:\Windows\ServiceProfiles\NetworkService.dotnet\tools\pac.exe
FileVersionInfo : File: C:\Windows\ServiceProfiles\NetworkService.dotnet\tools\pac.exe
InternalName: pac.dll
OriginalFilename: pac.dll
FileVersion: 1.39.3
FileDescription: Microsoft Power Platform CLI
Product: Microsoft Power Platform©
ProductVersion: 1.39.3+g0f45f92
Debug: False
Patched: False
PreRelease: False
PrivateBuild: False
SpecialBuild: False
Language: Language Neutral

Lerroy Jenkins
Microsoft PowerPlatform CLI
Version: 1.39.3+g0f45f92
Online documentation: https://aka.ms/PowerPlatformCLI
Feedback, Suggestions, Issues: https://github.com/microsoft/powerplatform-build-tools/discussions

Error: The input does not contain any JSON tokens. Expected the input to start with a valid JSON token, when isFinalBlock is true. Path: $ | LineNumber: 0 | BytePositionInLine: 0.

##[error]PowerShell exited with code '1'.
Finishing: Testing
`

Edit.

I setup a scheduled task running as Network service (like the agents) and it just runs a cmd which has
pac auth list

after it's run, i get the same error as the build agent.

Maybe a permission error?

[alareau]

Ok, I finally figured it out.

I setup the same scheduled task on a win10 workstation and it worked fine.
So I kept investigating

Ended up seeing an interest in entry in the security event log on the server

Process Command Line: "C:\Program Files\dotnet\dotnet.exe" pacTelemetryUpload.dll "C:\Windows\ServiceProfiles\NetworkService\AppData\Local\Microsoft\PowerAppsCli\telemetry-cache\pac"

Went looking in the directory.
There were 2 extra files not present on my win10 machine (since i never really did any PowerApps work on that workstation)

authprofiles_v2.json
tokenache_spn_msalv3.dat
both files were 0kb

I renamed both those files (with zz in the front). Scheduled task and pipelines started working again.

When i look in the directory now, both those files are back and bigger than 0kb.

---

Maybe the error message returned can mention where the json file is located? (instead of a generic json empty message)

[BruceWin]

Further to alareau's answer, we found that clearing the contents of the "$env:LocalAppData\Microsoft\PowerAppsCli" folder resolved the issue for us.
In our pipelines, we now clear this folder before installing the "Power Platform Tool Installer".

PowerShell:

# Check if the folder exists
if (Test-Path $folderPath)
{
    # Remove all files and subdirectories within the folder
    Remove-Item -Path "$folderPath\*" -Recurse -Force
    write-host "##[info]The folder '$folderPath' has been cleared."
}
else
{
    write-host "##[info]The folder '$folderPath' does not exist."
}

[carm-scaffidi]

Thank you for the added preventative step, I will be sure Alex notices this comment.