packer-windows-vsphere-iso

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packer-windows-vsphere-iso

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This repo builds automatically Windows VM templates (Windows 11, Windows 10, Server 2019, Server 2022) for VMware vSphere environment using Hashicorp's Packer using freely available Windows Eval ISOs.

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# packer-windows-vsphere-iso

With this repo VM templates for the following Windows operating systems can be built.

- Windows 10 Enterprise
- Windows 11 Enterprise
- Windows Server 2019 Datacenter
- Windows Server 2022 Datacenter

You don't need do pre-download any Windows ISO.
Windows ISO files gets download automatically from public sources.

## How to use this repo

### Pre-requesites

Download or `git clone https://github.com/andif888/packer-windows-vsphere-iso.git` this repo and make sure you have [Packer](https://www.packer.io/downloads) Version 1.7.1 or later installed. If you don't know Packer, it's a single commandline binary which only needs to be on your `PATH`.

### Step 1: Adjust variables

Rename the file [variables.auto.pkrvars.hcl.sample](variables.auto.pkrvars.hcl.sample) to `variables.auto.pkrvars.hcl` and adjust the variables for your VMware vSphere environment. Some documentation on each variable is inside the sample file.
```bash
mv variables.auto.pkrvars.hcl.sample variables.auto.pkrvars.hcl
nano variables.auto.pkrvars.hcl
```

### Step 2: Init Packer

Init Packer by using the following command. (Spot the dot at the end of the command!)
```bash
packer init .
```

### Step 3: Build a VM Template

To build a VM template run one of the provided `build`-scripts.   
For example to build a Windows 11 template run: 
```bash
./build-11.sh
``` 
If you are on a Windows machine then use the `build-*.ps1` files.

### Optional: Windows Template default credentials

the default credentials after a successful build are   
Username: `vagrant`   
Password: `vagrant`  
    
If you would like to change the default ćredentials before a packer build, then you need to edit the following files:

- **variables.auto.pkrvars.hcl**
- **autounattend.xml**

### Optional: Install Windows Updates during build

You can optionally install Windows Updates during the build operation. 
If you would like this feature then you need to edit the [windows.pkr.hcl](windows.pkr.hcl) file before the build operation. Please uncomment the following sections:  
  
Line: 11-14
```hcl
    windows-update = {
      version = "0.14.0"
      source = "github.com/rgl/windows-update"
    }
```
Line: 163-170
```hcl
  provisioner "windows-update" {
    search_criteria = "IsInstalled=0"
    filters = [
      "exclude:$_.Title -like '*Preview*'",
      "include:$true",
    ]
    update_limit = 25
  }
```
After that you have to run `packer init .` again to automatically download the Packer Windows-Update Plugin.
```bash
packer init .
```

## Windows 11 - BypassTPMCheck

Normaly Windows 11 requires a TPM to get installed successfully. 
VMware vSphere provides a virtualized TPM since Version 6.7 and later. 
In this repo we do not configure a vTPM in vSphere for Windows 11.   
Instead we use a easy workaround to turn off TPM check during Windows 11 installation.   
In the [autounattend.xml](answer_files/11/en/autounattend.xml) we add some registrykeys which effectively enable the **BypassTPMCheck** in Windows 11.

```xml
    <RunSynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
        <Order>1</Order>
        <Description>BypassTPMCheck</Description>
        <Path>cmd /c reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\Setup\LabConfig" /v "BypassTPMCheck" /t REG_DWORD /d 1</Path>
    </RunSynchronousCommand>
    <RunSynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
        <Order>2</Order>
        <Description>BypassSecureBootCheck</Description>
        <Path>cmd /c reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\Setup\LabConfig" /v "BypassSecureBootCheck" /t REG_DWORD /d 1</Path>
    </RunSynchronousCommand>
    <RunSynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
        <Order>3</Order>
        <Description>BypassRAMCheck</Description>
        <Path>cmd /c reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\Setup\LabConfig" /v "BypassRAMCheck" /t REG_DWORD /d 1</Path>
    </RunSynchronousCommand>
```

packer-windows-vsphere-iso

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