---
title: "Kubernetes: list all ImagePullBackOff container images"
url: https://perrotta.dev/2025/08/kubernetes-list-all-imagepullbackoff-container-images/
last_updated: 2026-01-03
---


**Problem statement** Upgrade the
[`kube-prometheus-stack`](https://github.com/prometheus-community/helm-charts/tree/main/charts/kube-prometheus-stack)
helm chart in [Azure China](https://portal.azure.cn/) to the latest version.
*Side effect*: Many container images are now missing from our internal
[ACR](https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/products/container-registry) (Azure
Container Registry). They need to be synced with [`skopeo`](https://github.com/containers/skopeo).

Which images need to be synced? Use the command below, it is quite readable[^1]:

```shell
kubectl get pods --all-namespaces -o json | jq -r '.items[] | select(any(.status.containerStatuses[]; .state.waiting.reason == "ImagePullBackOff")) | .metadata.namespace + "/" + .metadata.name + "\t" + ( [.status.containerStatuses[] | select(.state.waiting.reason == "ImagePullBackOff").image] | join(", ") )'
```

Sample run:

```shell
ubuntu@universe:~ $ kubectl get pods --all-namespaces -o json | jq -r '.items[]
      | select(any(.status.containerStatuses[]; .state.waiting.reason == "ImagePullBackOff"))
      | .metadata.namespace + "/" + .metadata.name + "\t" +
        ( [.status.containerStatuses[] | select(.state.waiting.reason == "ImagePullBackOff").image] | join(", ") )'
monitoring/clustermon-kube-prometheus-operator-67c8b6c87c-w72km {my-registry-name}.azurecr.cn/quay.io/prometheus-operator/prometheus-operator:v0.83.0
monitoring/clustermon-prometheus-node-exporter-v7bpt    {my-registry-name}.azurecr.cn/quay.io/prometheus/node-exporter:v1.9.1
```

How to `skopeo`? First, log in:

```shell
echo -n "{password}" | skopeo login {my-registry-name}.azurecr.cn --password-stdin --username {my-username}
```

How do you get these credentials? Log in to the Azure China Portal, find the ACR
resource, navigate to Settings > Access keys.

Then sync each image[^2]:

```shell
% skopeo sync \
  --override-os linux --override-arch amd64 \
  --src docker --dest docker \
  quay.io/prometheus/node-exporter:v1.9.1 \
  {my-registry-name}.azurecr.cn/quay.io/prometheus
```

[^1]: I cannot promise I am able to craft this by hand without looking up man
    pages or getting assistance from an LLM. *C'est la vie*.

[^2]: If there are many images, consider using an
    [array](https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/html_node/Arrays.html) +
    `for` loop.