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https://github.com/brimstone/windows-ova

Self-Installing Windows OVA. Automate and distribute Windows as an OVA.
https://github.com/brimstone/windows-ova

installer ova virtualbox virtualization vmware windows

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Self-Installing Windows OVA. Automate and distribute Windows as an OVA.

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README 

        
Self-Installing Windows OVA & ISO

=================================

_because I can't distribute Windows_



Overview

--------



### OVA



This is an Virtual Machine in OVA format that will install Windows on top of

itself. I wrote this as an alternative to [packer](https://www.packer.io). This

OVA basically downloads the evaluation version of the Windows version you select

to one drive as installation media and then installs onto the primary drive.

After this is done, the smaller secondary drive can be discarded to save disk

space. If the default size of the primary drive is not large enough, it should

be resized BEFORE booting the OVA for the first time.



### ISO



This is an ISO to be used with packer to fully automate a Windows install in a

VM environment like proxmox. This should be used as the secondary boot source,

behind the primary drive. VMs that use this ISO should also have two drives, two

cpus, and two gigabytes of memory. There's some packer templates provided in the

release for the ISO.



![windows 10](win10.gif)



Customizing

-----------



This OVA supports being repackaged with an ISO for further customization.

Simply add at least one file, `install.cmd` to an iso and attach it before

booting the OVA for the first time. The system will boot up, and copy the

contents of the iso to the secondary drive, display a message to the user upon

success, then shutdown. The VM can be exported as a OVA now for redistribution.



Contents for an example iso are in the `iso/` directory. There is also a

`Makefile` target for building this iso, `example.iso`.



### install.cmd

This is simply run at first login after install. Place things in here like

silent installation instructions for programs either off the same iso or

downloaded from the internet.



### variables.txt

This file should set at least one variable.



#### `version`

This should be one of the following keys:



|key      |Version                 |

|---------|------------------------|

|win2k16  |Windows 2016 Standard   |

|win10-64 |Windows 10 64-bit       |

|win10-32 |Windows 10 32-bit       |

|win2k12r2|Windows 2012 R2 Standard|

|win81-64 |Windows 8.1 64-bit      |

|win81-32 |Windows 8.1 32-bit      |

|win8-64  |Windows 8 64-bit        |

|win8-32  |Windows 8 32-bit        |

|win2k8r2 |Windows 2008 R2 Standard|

|win7-64  |Windows 7 64-bit        |

|win7-32  |Windows 7 32-bit        |



#### `localmirror`

This should be the absolute address of a local mirror for ISOs. It can also be

`"none"` for no mirror and no prompt. This allows truly unattended installation.



#### Example `variables.txt`

```

version=win10-64

localmirror=http://192.168.0.1/isos/

```



### Autounattend.xml

If this file is present on the ISO, in a directory named for the version key

being installed, it will be used instead of an `Autounattend.xml` from the

[boxcutter](https://github.com/boxcutter/windows) project. One gotcha is how

Windows 7 and Windows 2008 think the install media is DriveID 0 and the actual

"C" drive is DriveID 1. Keep that in mind when crafting answer files for these

versions.



Building

--------

To build this, start with a debian system and install virtualbox and the

following:

```

apt-get install fakeroot multistrap debian-archive-keyring rsync mtools

genisoimage qemu-img dosfsutils

```