docker cp: Don't have permisson to create folder on host

Question

I want to copy a folder from docker container to my machine. I'm looking at this question.

So here is my command:

sudo docker cp 2f6aca7f2748:/root/scripts/ .

I got the following error:

mkdir /home/***/scripts: permission denied

I try mkdir scripts, and it is OK (of course). What could be the problem here?

Update

Some more context: I'm using a NIS account, shared between both my desktop and server. However, docker is in the server, and I want to copy folder from host to my local folder on server.

I check and the issue is not coming on my machine. Something to do with permission on your directory on host? or a docker issue probably? — Tarun Lalwani, Jul 27 '17 at 18:58
@TarunLalwani I have no idea, I add some more details in my question. — qsp, Jul 27 '17 at 19:12
Does the sudoers file have full sudo access for your NIS account? — Tarun Lalwani, Jul 28 '17 at 13:07
Did you ever manage fix this? I have successfully run this command before on the same machine, but it doesn't work anymore. — Blaine, Apr 26 '21 at 04:42

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 28 '17 at 08:00

In https://docs.docker.com/engine/reference/commandline/cp/#extended-description

it says :

The cp command behaves like the Unix cp -a command in that directories are copied recursively with permissions preserved if possible. Ownership is set to the user and primary group at the destination. For example, files copied to a container are created with UID:GID of the root user. Files copied to the local machine are created with the UID:GID of the user which invoked the docker cp command.

Thats maybe the cause this problem.

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 26 '21 at 04:48

As a follow up to @Fahri's solution here.

You need ownership for the destination folder,

Since I was about to wipe the machine anyways, I just set the ownership of the folder to any user with the following command.

sudo chmod -R a+rwX directory/

remember to not do this if you plan to keep the machine, refer to this answer for proper permissions.

docker cp: Don't have permisson to create folder on host

Update

2 Answers2