diff --git a/.devcontainer/Dockerfile b/.devcontainer/Dockerfile
index 2634a9528f1ee..6d1a5acb6c39a 100644
--- a/.devcontainer/Dockerfile
+++ b/.devcontainer/Dockerfile
@@ -18,4 +18,19 @@ RUN curl -sSL "https://netcorenativeassets.blob.core.windows.net/resource-packag
     && unzip ./v8.zip -d /usr/local/v8 \
     && echo $'#!/usr/bin/env bash\n\
 "/usr/local/v8/d8" --snapshot_blob="/usr/local/v8/snapshot_blob.bin" "$@"\n' > /usr/local/bin/v8 \
-    && chmod +x /usr/local/bin/v8
\ No newline at end of file
+    && chmod +x /usr/local/bin/v8
+
+# install chromium dependencies to run debugger tests:
+RUN sudo apt-get install libnss3 -y \
+    && apt-get install libatk1.0-0 -y \
+    && apt-get install libatk-bridge2.0-0 -y \
+    && apt-get install libcups2 -y \
+    && apt-get install libdrm2 -y \
+    && apt-get install libxkbcommon-x11-0 -y \
+    && apt-get install libxcomposite-dev -y \
+    && apt-get install libxdamage1 -y \
+    && apt-get install libxrandr2 -y \
+    && apt-get install libgbm-dev -y \
+    && apt-get install libpango-1.0-0 -y \
+    && apt-get install libcairo2 -y \
+    && apt-get install libasound2 -y 
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/mono/wasm/debugger/DebuggerTestSuite/TestHarnessStartup.cs b/src/mono/wasm/debugger/DebuggerTestSuite/TestHarnessStartup.cs
index 54a94285c342a..c420d6265191a 100644
--- a/src/mono/wasm/debugger/DebuggerTestSuite/TestHarnessStartup.cs
+++ b/src/mono/wasm/debugger/DebuggerTestSuite/TestHarnessStartup.cs
@@ -103,10 +103,13 @@ public async Task LaunchAndServe(ProcessStartInfo psi,
                     if (tcs.Task.IsCompleted)
                         return;
 
-                    var match = parseConnection.Match(str);
-                    if (match.Success)
+                    if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(str))
                     {
-                        tcs.TrySetResult(match.Groups[1].Captures[0].Value);
+                        var match = parseConnection.Match(str);
+                        if (match.Success)
+                        {
+                            tcs.TrySetResult(match.Groups[1].Captures[0].Value);
+                        }
                     }
                 };
 
@@ -197,6 +200,11 @@ public void Configure(IApplicationBuilder app, IOptionsMonitor<TestHarnessOption
                         var psi = new ProcessStartInfo();
 
                         psi.Arguments = $"--headless --disable-gpu --lang=en-US --incognito --remote-debugging-port={devToolsUrl.Port} http://{TestHarnessProxy.Endpoint.Authority}/{options.PagePath}";
+                        if (File.Exists("/.dockerenv"))
+                        {
+                            Logger.LogInformation("Detected a container, disabling sandboxing for debugger tests.");
+                            psi.Arguments = "--no-sandbox " + psi.Arguments;
+                        }
                         psi.UseShellExecute = false;
                         psi.FileName = options.ChromePath;
                         psi.RedirectStandardError = true;