diff --git a/sky/backends/backend_utils.py b/sky/backends/backend_utils.py
index 9986f93275a..d76c3fc80c5 100644
--- a/sky/backends/backend_utils.py
+++ b/sky/backends/backend_utils.py
@@ -882,6 +882,9 @@ def write_cluster_config(
         f'open(os.path.expanduser("{constants.SKY_REMOTE_RAY_PORT_FILE}"), "w", encoding="utf-8"))\''
     )
 
+    conda_auto_activate = ('true' if to_provision.extract_docker_image() is None
+                           else 'false')
+
     # Use a tmp file path to avoid incomplete YAML file being re-used in the
     # future.
     tmp_yaml_path = yaml_path + '.tmp'
@@ -917,7 +920,7 @@ def write_cluster_config(
 
                 # Conda setup
                 'conda_installation_commands':
-                    constants.CONDA_INSTALLATION_COMMANDS,
+                    constants.CONDA_INSTALLATION_COMMANDS(conda_auto_activate),
                 # We should not use `.format`, as it contains '{}' as the bash
                 # syntax.
                 'ray_skypilot_installation_commands':
diff --git a/sky/provision/docker_utils.py b/sky/provision/docker_utils.py
index e989fbc085a..7bfa1724b83 100644
--- a/sky/provision/docker_utils.py
+++ b/sky/provision/docker_utils.py
@@ -110,8 +110,8 @@ def docker_start_cmds(
         '--cap-add=SYS_ADMIN',
         '--device=/dev/fuse',
         '--security-opt=apparmor:unconfined',
+        '--entrypoint=/bin/bash',
         image,
-        'bash',
     ]
     return ' '.join(docker_run)
 
diff --git a/sky/skylet/constants.py b/sky/skylet/constants.py
index 30820a3a91e..93dfd8b72ca 100644
--- a/sky/skylet/constants.py
+++ b/sky/skylet/constants.py
@@ -126,7 +126,9 @@
 # https://github.com/ray-project/ray/issues/31606
 # We use python 3.10 to be consistent with the python version of the
 # AWS's Deep Learning AMI's default conda environment.
-CONDA_INSTALLATION_COMMANDS = (
+# Using lambda instead of str.format() since there are multiple {} in the
+# installation commands and we only want to replace some of them.
+CONDA_INSTALLATION_COMMANDS = lambda conda_auto_activate: (
     'which conda > /dev/null 2>&1 || '
     '{ curl https://repo.anaconda.com/miniconda/Miniconda3-py310_23.11.0-2-Linux-x86_64.sh -o Miniconda3-Linux-x86_64.sh && '  # pylint: disable=line-too-long
     # We do not use && for installation of conda and the following init commands
@@ -135,8 +137,8 @@
     # true.
     '{ bash Miniconda3-Linux-x86_64.sh -b; '
     'eval "$(~/miniconda3/bin/conda shell.bash hook)" && conda init && '
-    'conda config --set auto_activate_base true && '
-    f'conda activate base; }}; }}; '
+    f'conda config --set auto_activate_base {conda_auto_activate} && '
+    'conda activate base; }; }; '
     'grep "# >>> conda initialize >>>" ~/.bashrc || '
     '{ conda init && source ~/.bashrc; };'
     # If Python version is larger then equal to 3.12, create a new conda env
@@ -145,7 +147,7 @@
     # costly to create a new conda env, and venv should be a lightweight and
     # faster alternative when the python version satisfies the requirement.
     '[[ $(python3 --version | cut -d " " -f 2 | cut -d "." -f 2) -ge 12 ]] && '
-    f'echo "Creating conda env with Python 3.10" && '
+    'echo "Creating conda env with Python 3.10" && '
     f'conda create -y -n {SKY_REMOTE_PYTHON_ENV_NAME} python=3.10 && '
     f'conda activate {SKY_REMOTE_PYTHON_ENV_NAME};'
     # Create a separate conda environment for SkyPilot dependencies.
diff --git a/sky/skylet/providers/command_runner.py b/sky/skylet/providers/command_runner.py
index 06c5d6d48af..4f66ef54383 100644
--- a/sky/skylet/providers/command_runner.py
+++ b/sky/skylet/providers/command_runner.py
@@ -65,8 +65,8 @@ def docker_start_cmds(
         '--cap-add=SYS_ADMIN',
         '--device=/dev/fuse',
         '--security-opt=apparmor:unconfined',
+        '--entrypoint=/bin/bash',
         image,
-        'bash',
     ]
     return ' '.join(docker_run)