How to start a stopped Docker container with a different command?

I would like to start a stopped Docker container with a different command, as the default command crashes - meaning I can't start the container and then use 'docker exec'.

Basically I would like to start a shell so I can inspect the contents of the container.

Luckily I created the container with the -it option!

Find your stopped container id

docker ps -a

Commit the stopped container:

This command saves modified container state into a new image user/test_image

docker commit $CONTAINER_ID user/test_image

Start/run with a different entry point:

docker run -ti --entrypoint=sh user/test_image

Entrypoint argument description: https://docs.docker.com/engine/reference/run/#/entrypoint-default-command-to-execute-at-runtime

Note:

Steps above just start a stopped container with the same filesystem state. That is great for a quick investigation. But environment variables, network configuration, attached volumes and other staff is not inherited, you should specify all these arguments explicitly.

Steps to start a stopped container have been borrowed from here: (last comment) https://github.com/docker/docker/issues/18078

Edit this file (corresponding to your stopped container):

vi /var/lib/docker/containers/923...4f6/config.json

Change the "Path" parameter to point at your new command, e.g. /bin/bash. You may also set the "Args" parameter to pass arguments to the command.

Restart the docker service (note this will stop all running containers):

service docker restart

List your containers and make sure the command has changed:

docker ps -a

Start the container and attach to it, you should now be in your shell!

docker start -ai mad_brattain

Worked on Fedora 22 using Docker 1.7.1.

NOTE: If your shell is not interactive (e.g. you did not create the original container with -it option), you can instead change the command to "/bin/sleep 600" or "/bin/tail -f /dev/null" to give you enough time to do "docker exec -it CONTID /bin/bash" as another way of getting a shell.

NOTE2: Newer versions of docker have config.v2.json, where you will need to change either Entrypoint or Cmd (thanks user60561).

Add a check to the top of your Entrypoint script

Docker really needs to implement this as a new feature, but here's another workaround option for situations in which you have an Entrypoint that terminates after success or failure, which can make it difficult to debug.

If you don't already have an Entrypoint script, create one that runs whatever command(s) you need for your container. Then, at the top of this file, add these lines to entrypoint.sh:

# Run once, hold otherwise
if [ -f "already_ran" ]; then
    echo "Already ran the Entrypoint once. Holding indefinitely for debugging."
    cat
fi
touch already_ran

# Do your main things down here

To ensure that cat holds the connection, you may need to provide a TTY. I'm running the container with my Entrypoint script like so:

docker run -t --entrypoint entrypoint.sh image_name

This will cause the script to run once, creating a file that indicates it has already run (in the container's virtual filesystem). You can then restart the container to perform debugging:

docker start container_name

When you restart the container, the already_ran file will be found, causing the Entrypoint script to stall with cat (which just waits forever for input that will never come, but keeps the container alive). You can then execute a debugging bash session:

docker exec -i container_name bash

While the container is running, you can also remove already_ran and manually execute the entrypoint.sh script to rerun it, if you need to debug that way.

I took @Dmitriusan's answer and made it into an alias:

alias docker-run-prev-container='prev_container_id="$(docker ps -aq | head -n1)" && docker commit "$prev_container_id" "prev_container/$prev_container_id" && docker run -it --entrypoint=bash "prev_container/$prev_container_id"'

Add this into your ~/.bashrc aliases file, and you'll have a nifty new docker-run-prev-container alias which'll drop you into a shell in the previous container.

Helpful for debugging failed docker builds.