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chrisoldwood/autounattend.xml

Created November 25, 2019 16:12
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Example Packer configuration files for creating a Windows 10 VM on QEMU/KVM/libvirt.
Raw
autounattend.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend">
<settings pass="windowsPE">
<component name="Microsoft-Windows-International-Core-WinPE" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<SetupUILanguage>
<UILanguage>en-US</UILanguage>
</SetupUILanguage>
<SystemLocale>en-US</SystemLocale>
<UILanguage>en-US</UILanguage>
<UserLocale>en-US</UserLocale>
</component>
<component name="Microsoft-Windows-Setup" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<DiskConfiguration>
<Disk wcm:action="add">
<CreatePartitions>
<CreatePartition wcm:action="add">
<Order>1</Order>
<Type>Primary</Type>
<Extend>true</Extend>
</CreatePartition>
</CreatePartitions>
<ModifyPartitions>
<ModifyPartition wcm:action="add">
<Active>true</Active>
<Extend>false</Extend>
<Format>NTFS</Format>
<Letter>C</Letter>
<Order>1</Order>
<PartitionID>1</PartitionID>
<Label>Windows 10</Label>
</ModifyPartition>
</ModifyPartitions>
<DiskID>0</DiskID>
<WillWipeDisk>true</WillWipeDisk>
</Disk>
</DiskConfiguration>
<ImageInstall>
<OSImage>
<InstallTo>
<DiskID>0</DiskID>
<PartitionID>1</PartitionID>
</InstallTo>
</OSImage>
</ImageInstall>
<UserData>
<AcceptEula>true</AcceptEula>
<FullName>Packer Admin</FullName>
<Organization></Organization>
<ProductKey>
<Key>W269N-WFGWX-YVC9B-4J6C9-T83GX</Key>
</ProductKey>
</UserData>
</component>
<component name="Microsoft-Windows-PnpCustomizationsWinPE" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<DriverPaths>
<PathAndCredentials wcm:action="add" wcm:keyValue="1">
<Path>E:\NetKVM\w10\amd64\</Path>
</PathAndCredentials>
<PathAndCredentials wcm:action="add" wcm:keyValue="3">
<Path>E:\viostor\2k16\amd64\</Path>
</PathAndCredentials>
</DriverPaths>
</component>
</settings>
<settings pass="oobeSystem">
<component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<UserAccounts>
<LocalAccounts>
<LocalAccount wcm:action="add">
<Password>
<Value>packer</Value>
<PlainText>true</PlainText>
</Password>
<Description></Description>
<DisplayName>Packer Admin</DisplayName>
<Group>Administrators</Group>
<Name>packer</Name>
</LocalAccount>
</LocalAccounts>
</UserAccounts>
<AutoLogon>
<Password>
<Value>packer</Value>
<PlainText>true</PlainText>
</Password>
<Enabled>true</Enabled>
<Username>packer</Username>
</AutoLogon>
<OOBE>
<NetworkLocation>Work</NetworkLocation>
<HideEULAPage>true</HideEULAPage>
<ProtectYourPC>3</ProtectYourPC>
<SkipMachineOOBE>true</SkipMachineOOBE>
<SkipUserOOBE>true</SkipUserOOBE>
</OOBE>
<FirstLogonCommands>
<SynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
<CommandLine>cmd.exe /c powershell -Command "Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Force"</CommandLine>
<Description>Set Execution Policy 64 Bit</Description>
<Order>1</Order>
<RequiresUserInput>true</RequiresUserInput>
</SynchronousCommand>
<SynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
<CommandLine>cmd.exe /c powershell -File a:\fixnetwork.ps1</CommandLine>
<Description>Fix public network</Description>
<Order>2</Order>
<RequiresUserInput>true</RequiresUserInput>
</SynchronousCommand>
<SynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
<CommandLine>cmd.exe /c powershell -File "a:\ConfigureRemotingForAnsible.ps1"</CommandLine>
<Description>Enable WinRM</Description>
<Order>3</Order>
<RequiresUserInput>true</RequiresUserInput>
</SynchronousCommand>
<SynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
<CommandLine>cmd.exe /c reg add "HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Network\NewNetworkWindowOff"</CommandLine>
<Description>Network prompt</Description>
<Order>4</Order>
<RequiresUserInput>true</RequiresUserInput>
</SynchronousCommand>
</FirstLogonCommands>
</component>
</settings>
<settings pass="specialize">
<component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<ComputerName>Win10-Packer</ComputerName>
<ProductKey>W269N-WFGWX-YVC9B-4J6C9-T83GX</ProductKey>
</component>
</settings>
</unattend>
Raw
windows10.packer.json
{
"builders":
[
{
"vm_name": "windows-10",
"type": "qemu",
"accelerator": "kvm",
"cpus": 1,
"memory": 4096,
"disk_size": 15360,
"iso_url": "Win10_1909_English_x64.iso",
"iso_checksum": "86c16116ebacf9b29e4766dd479b5a79",
"iso_checksum_type": "md5",
"floppy_files":
[
"autounattend.xml",
"fixnetwork.ps1",
"ConfigureRemotingForAnsible.ps1"
],
"output_directory": "qemu-drives",
"qemuargs":
[
[ "-drive", "file=qemu-drives/{{ .Name }},if=virtio,cache=writeback,discard=ignore,format=qcow2,index=1" ],
[ "-drive", "file=./virtio-win.iso,media=cdrom,index=3" ]
],
"communicator": "winrm",
"winrm_username": "packer",
"winrm_password": "packer",
"winrm_use_ssl": "true",
"winrm_insecure": "true",
"winrm_timeout" : "1h",
"shutdown_command": "shutdown /s /t 30 /f",
"shutdown_timeout": "15m"
}
]
}
@chrisoldwood
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chrisoldwood commented Nov 15, 2022

One other change which came in later was a simplification of the qemuargs -drive entries. In the early days if you added a -drive entry for the CDROM drive where the virtio drivers were located you also had to manually add any other -drive entries, such as for the main HDD. In later versions you can use -cdrom instead and let packer control the entry for the HDD:

            "qemuargs":
            [
                [ "-cdrom", "./virtio-win.iso" ]
            ],

@chrisoldwood
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chrisoldwood commented Nov 15, 2022

To enable remote access via SSH (as well as, or instead of PowerShell remoting) you can add the following to autounattend.xml:

      <FirstLogonCommands>

        <SynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
          <CommandLine>powershell -c "Add-WindowsCapability -Online -Name OpenSSH.Server~~~~0.0.1.0"</CommandLine>
          <Description>Install OpenSSH server</Description>
          <Order>13</Order>
          <RequiresUserInput>true</RequiresUserInput>
        </SynchronousCommand>
        <SynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
          <CommandLine>powershell -c "Set-Service -Name sshd -StartupType Automatic"</CommandLine>
          <Description>Set OpenSSH service to autostart</Description>
          <Order>14</Order>
          <RequiresUserInput>true</RequiresUserInput>
        </SynchronousCommand>
        <SynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
          <CommandLine>powershell -c "Start-Service sshd"</CommandLine>
          <Description>Start OpenSSH server</Description>
          <Order>15</Order>
          <RequiresUserInput>true</RequiresUserInput>
        </SynchronousCommand>

      </FirstLogonCommands>

@chrisoldwood
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chrisoldwood commented Nov 15, 2022

To enable a shared clipboard between host and guest when using the console, e.g. via virt-manager you need to install the SPICE agent:

        {
            "type": "powershell",
            "inline":
            [
                "$ErrorActionPreference = 'stop'",
                "# Install SPICE agent for shared clipboard",
                "(New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadFile('https://www.spice-space.org/download/windows/vdagent/vdagent-win-0.10.0/spice-vdagent-x64-0.10.0.msi', 'spice-vdagent.msi')",
                "Start-Process -FilePath msiexec -ArgumentList '/i spice-vdagent.msi /qn /norestart' -NoNewWindow -Wait",
                "Remove-Item spice-vdagent.msi"
            ]
        },

@chrisoldwood
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chrisoldwood commented Nov 15, 2022

If you prefer to use the Git for Windows Bash implementation for the Windows-side shell for SSH you can enable it like so:

        {
            "type": "powershell",
            "inline":
            [
                "$ErrorActionPreference = 'stop'",
                "# Install Chocolatey package manager",
                "Invoke-Expression ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://chocolatey.org/install.ps1'))",
                "# Install git",
                "choco install git -y"
                "# Set bash as OpenSSH shell (as last step, in order not to interfere with powershell provisioners above)",
                "Set-ItemProperty -Path HKLM:\\SOFTWARE\\OpenSSH -Name DefaultShell -Value 'C:\\Program Files\\Git\\bin\\bash.exe' -Force"
            ]
        }

@kamack38
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kamack38 commented Jan 27, 2025 •
edited
Loading

This file fails for me with error code: 0x80300024 in QEMU. It says that the Windows system cannot set active partition on disk 0. The selected disk does not support this operation.

Adjusting the <DiskConfiguration> to the UEFI partition layout as mentioned above fixed the issue. Thanks!

@diegoponce08
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diegoponce08 commented Mar 26, 2025

Hello. Instead of including the driver ISO, can you just include a patch with the driver files for the hard drive? I get an error when starting the installation; the Windows installer won't start.

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