# Pulling a custom execution environment from a private recent docker hub registry **URL:** \ **Category:** Get Help\ **Tags:** awx, ee\ **Created:** [October 6, 2026, 4:07pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/pulling-a-custom-execution-environment-from-a-private-recent-docker-hub-registry/46421 "2026-10-06T16:07:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![actionmystique](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/actionmystique/32/1678_2.png) [@actionmystique](https://forum.ansible.com/u/actionmystique)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2026, 4:07pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/pulling-a-custom-execution-environment-from-a-private-recent-docker-hub-registry/46421/1 "2026-10-06T16:07:16Z")
With the latest awx (24.6.1) installed using docker compose, the Container Registry credential does not include any link to a private GPG key. However, when pulling anything from a private recent docker hub registry,after logging with the right user/password, it is necessary to pass the password of the GPG privare key that was used to create the hub registry. That’s why I get this error message when trying to launch any template which uses this custom ee: ```auto Error: unable to copy from source docker://hub-kvm.example.com/awx-ee:26.06.15: initializing source docker://hub-kvm.example.com/awx-ee:26.06.15: reading manifest 26.06.15 in hub-kvm.example.com/awx-ee: authentication required ``` Manually pulling the ee from the private hub registry onto the server hosting the awx docker containers: ```auto docker image ls --digests --all REPOSITORY TAG DIGEST IMAGE ID CREATED SIZE hub-kvm.example.com/awx_devel 24.6.1-v1.6.9 sha256:digest image_id 12 days ago 3.34GB quay.io/sclorg/postgresql-15-c9s latest sha256:5dc641f7cfc4dc4c826b9bff512154100601cb63bfc71fd3e51066c159c84030 5dc641f7cfc4 13 days ago 519MB redis latest sha256:718f745deb7dfefeac6eed7041fc7ec9476b50e61b247932682457c41adafa0e 718f745deb7d 2 weeks ago 213MB hub-kvm.example.com/awx-ee 26.06.15 sha256:digest image_id 3 months ago 2.79GB ``` … does not seem to help, as AWX does not see the custom awx-ee since it continues to try to pull the image each time a template depending on this awx-ee is launched if it is defined with ‘only pull the image if not present before running’. If I change the awx-ee pull with ‘never pull container before running’, I get ```auto Error: hub-kvm.example.com/awx-ee:26.06.15: image not known ``` I suppose the ee must be available inside the tools\_awx\_1 container instead of outside. Maybe it’s possible to import the docker ee image into podman using scp? #awx-project ---
**Author:** ![johan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dec6dc/32.png) [@johan](https://forum.ansible.com/u/johan)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2026, 4:30pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/pulling-a-custom-execution-environment-from-a-private-recent-docker-hub-registry/46421/2 "2026-10-06T16:30:04Z")
hello, regardless of AWX, can you docker login / docker pull the ee from any machine with docker (or podman) installed ? regards, J. ---
**Author:** ![actionmystique](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/actionmystique/32/1678_2.png) [@actionmystique](https://forum.ansible.com/u/actionmystique)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2026, 1:02pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/pulling-a-custom-execution-environment-from-a-private-recent-docker-hub-registry/46421/3 "2026-10-08T13:02:15Z")
The solution is quite simple: 1. pull the image from the docker hub registry into the host (not into the container due to GPG requirements) 2. save the image locally with docker: `docker save hub-kvm.example.com/awx-ee:26.06.15 -o /tmp/awx-ee.tar` 3. copy the tar into the container: `docker cp -aL /tmp/awx-ee.tar "tools_awx_1:/tmp/awx-ee.tar"` 4. import the image into podman from within the container: ```auto sh-5.1# podman load -i /tmp/awx-ee.tar Getting image source signatures Copying blob 786739c7f212 done | Copying blob 5abdc8a828dd done | Copying blob b888217cb50f done | Copying blob 382961bb5b97 done | Copying blob cf9095a74f4b done | Copying blob daee0ffd6a0b done | Copying blob a2ebfef7c402 done | Copying blob 2c12a6403324 done | Copying blob e64388a11fc9 done | Copying blob ab6b8297d27a done | Copying blob c3104213b82a done | Copying blob 0c8b29dcdce4 done | Copying blob 464f52037ea1 done | Copying blob 125816e4d25b done | Copying blob 077189d2adcd done | Copying blob 835028f8e4b3 done | Copying blob 4f4fb700ef54 skipped: already exists Copying blob 69ac9330d32e done | Copying blob 0558d4c99e95 done | Copying blob a2bbc36e0549 done | Copying blob 4f4fb700ef54 skipped: already exists Copying blob 3e4a0d7f91f5 done | Copying blob fc0a77423b44 done | Copying blob 6165ccde9310 done | Copying blob ede4b4e7c561 done | Copying config 4422da1d95 done | Writing manifest to image destination Loaded image: hub-kvm.example.com/awx-ee:26.06.15 ``` Listing all images: ```auto sh-5.1# podman images REPOSITORY TAG IMAGE ID CREATED SIZE hub-kvm.example.com/awx-ee 26.06.15 4422da1d9577 3 months ago 1.89 GB quay.io/ansible/awx-ee latest 8e78406f4916 4 months ago 2.69 GB ``` eh voila!