Building images for Windows¶

Download a Windows Server 2012R2/ 2016 installation ISO.

Install Windows Server 2012R2/ 2016 OS on workstation PC along with following feature:

• Enable Hyper-V virtualization.

• Install PowerShell 4.0.

• Install Git environment & import git proxy (if have).

• Create new Path in Microsoft Windows Server Operating System which support for submodule update via git submodule update –init command:

  - Variable name: Path
  - Variable value: C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;C:\Program Files\Git\bin
  

• Rename virtual switch name in Windows Server 2012R2/ 2016 in Virtual Switch Manager into external.

Step 1: Create folders: C:\<folder_name_1> where output images will be located, C:\<folder_name_2> where you need to place the necessary hardware drivers.

Step 2: Copy and extract necessary hardware drivers in C:\<folder_name_2>.

Step 3: Insert or burn Windows Server 2016 ISO to D:\.

Step 4: Download windows-openstack-imaging-tools tools.

git clone https://github.com/cloudbase/windows-openstack-imaging-tools.git

Step 5: Create & running script create-windows-cloud-image.ps1:

git submodule update --init
Import-Module WinImageBuilder.psm1
$windowsImagePath = "C:\<folder_name_1>\<output_file_name>.qcow2"
$VirtIOISOPath = "C:\<folder_name_1>\virtio.iso"
$virtIODownloadLink = "https://fedorapeople.org/groups/virt/virtio-win/direct-downloads/archive-virtio/virtio-win-0.1.133-2/virtio-win.iso"
(New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadFile($virtIODownloadLink, $VirtIOISOPath)
$wimFilePath = "D:\sources\install.wim"
$extraDriversPath = "C:\<folder_name_2>\"
$image = (Get-WimFileImagesInfo -WimFilePath $wimFilePath)[1]
$switchName = 'external'
New-WindowsOnlineImage -WimFilePath $wimFilePath
  -ImageName $image.ImageName ` -WindowsImagePath $windowsImagePath -Type 'KVM' -ExtraFeatures @() `
  -SizeBytes 20GB -CpuCores 2 -Memory 2GB -SwitchName $switchName ` -ProductKey $productKey -DiskLayout 'BIOS' `
  -ExtraDriversPath $extraDriversPath ` -InstallUpdates:$false -AdministratorPassword 'Pa$$w0rd' `
  -PurgeUpdates:$true -DisableSwap:$true

After executing this command you will get two output files, first one being “C:<folder_name_1><output_file_name>.qcow2”, which is the resulting windows whole disk image and “C:<folder_name_1>virtio.iso”, which is virtio iso contains all the synthetic drivers for the KVM hypervisor.

See example_windows_images for more details and examples.