Packer Example for Windows

Getting Started

You can get started quickly by using Packer’s simple getting started guide, but you’ll soon want to delve into the documentation for more options and examples.

Let’s install it and create our first image!

You can find all example files in my GitHub repository here: https://github.com/adamrushuk/Packer-Templates

Installation

Using Chocolatey, installing Packer is as easy as running:

choco install packer -y

Clone my GitHub repository if you want to follow along:

git clone git@github.com:adamrushuk/Packer-Templates.git

TL;DR - Shut up and give me the goods!

If you really just want to see Packer in action, make sure you’ve cloned the git repository in the Installation step above, then run the Invoke-Packer.ps1 wrapper script: .\Invoke-Packer.ps1

If you’re interested in the step-by-step breakdown, read on!

Step 1: Create the base image

First we’ll create a base image by passing our first JSON template to the build command:

packer build .\vb-win2012r2-base.json

Breakdown

The above command starts the build process in the following order:

Builders Section

1. Packer first checks the packer_cache folder to see if the ISO specified in ISO URL has already been downloaded. If not, it downloads the ISO.
2. The output_directory folder is checked to see if empty, or can be overwritten if packer build -force <JSONTemplate> was used.
   This check is ignored if -force is used, eg: packer build -force <JSONTemplate>.
3. A VM is created in VirtualBox with the specified hardware settings.
4. A virtual floppy disk is attached containing the files specified in floppy_files.
5. The VM is powered on.
6. As Windows boots for the first time it notices Autounattend.xml in the root of the floppy drive, which actions several steps including:
   1. Selecting the Windows Server 2012 R2 STANDARD OS version.
   2. Creating a local user account called vagrant and adding it to the local administrators group.
   3. Executing the a:\Boxstarter.ps1 script.
7. The a:\Boxstarter.ps1 script installs Chocolatey and Boxstarter, then executes the a:\Package.ps1 script.
8. The a:\Package.ps1 script:
   1. Enables Remote Desktop.
   2. Installs critical Windows Updates.
   3. Removes the pagefile.
   4. Updates Firewall and enables WinRM.
9. Packer connects via WinRM and moves on to the Provisioners Section.

Info: Boxstarter will log all package activity output to $env:LocalAppData\Boxstarter\boxstarter.log on the guest. [TBC]

Warning: winrm_timeout must be set high enough to account for the Windows Updates which can take 4hrs+. I’ve now set to 12h, as my first build failed.

Provisioners Section

1. Install-VirtualBoxGuestAdditions.ps1 is the only script used in this section, which simply installs the VirtualBox Guest Additions software.

Shutdown

After the Provisioners section is complete, the shutdown command executes:

shutdown /s /t 10 /f /d p:4:1 /c "Packer Shutdown"

The resulting artifacts of .ovf and .vmdk VM files should be saved in the specified output_directory: output-win2012r2-base.

This step took ~4 hours.

Step 2: Create the PowerShell 5 image

Now let’s create another image with PowerShell 5 installed by passing our second JSON template to the build command:

packer build .\vb-win2012r2-powershell5.json

Having images for both PowerShell 4 and PowerShell 5 will enable us to target both versions when running our tests using a product like Test-Kitchen.

Breakdown

The above command starts the build process in the following order:

Builders Section

1. The output_directory folder is checked to see if empty.
   This check is ignored if -force is used, eg: packer build -force <JSONTemplate>.
2. The source_path folder is checked to see if the specified OVF file exists, eg: output-win2012r2-base/win2012r2-base.ovf.
3. A VM is created in VirtualBox by importing the output-win2012r2-base/win2012r2-base.ovf file from Step 1 (Create the base image).
4. The VM is powered on and Packer connects via WinRM.

Provisioners Section

1. Install-PowerShell5.ps1 simply installs PowerShell 5: choco install powershell -y.
2. windows-restart ensures the VM is rebooted after the PowerShell 5 installation.
3. cleanup.ps1 will:
   1. Remove temp folders/files.
   2. Remove unwanted Windows Update files.
   3. Defrag the C drive.
   4. Zero out freespace.

Shutdown

After the Provisioners section is complete, the shutdown command executes:

shutdown /s /t 10 /f /d p:4:1 /c "Packer Shutdown"

The resulting artifacts of .ovf and .vmdk VM files should be saved in the specified output_directory, eg: output-win2012r2-powershell5.

This step took ~20 minutes.

Step 3: Sysprep and export to a Vagrant box

The final step is to sysprep the previous two images (from Steps 1 and 2) and export them to a Vagrant box - though I’ll just cover one example using the image from Step 2.

Let’s pass the third JSON template to the build command:

packer build .\vb-win2012r2-export-vagrant.json

Breakdown

The above command starts the build process in the following order:

Builders Section

1. The output_directory folder is checked to see if empty.
   This check is ignored if -force is used, eg: packer build -force <JSONTemplate>.
2. The source_path folder is checked to see if the specified OVF file exists, eg: output-win2012r2-powershell5/win2012r2-powershell5.ovf.
3. A VM is created in VirtualBox by importing the ./output-win2012r2-powershell5/win2012r2-powershell5.ovf file from Step 2 (Create the PowerShell 5 image).
4. A virtual floppy disk is attached containing the files specified in floppy_files.
5. The VM is powered on and Packer connects via WinRM.

Provisioners Section

1. Set-Sysprep.ps1 is the only script used in this section, which completes these two actions:
   1. Copies a:\UK-postunattend.xml to C:\Windows\Panther\Unattend\unattend.xml
   2. Copies a:\SetupComplete-2012.cmd to C:\Windows\setup\scripts\SetupComplete.cmd

These two files are used once the Vagrant box is powered on for the first time after the sysprep during the Packer shutdown.

unattend.xml configures:

1. Locale and language settings to en-GB.
2. Timezone to GMT Standard Time.
3. A local user account called vagrant and adding it to the local administrators group.
4. Various annoying GUI settings to be disabled.

SetupComplete.cmd simple enables WinRM: netsh advfirewall firewall set rule name="WinRM-HTTP" new action=allow, as the Packer shutdown command below disables WinRM.

Shutdown

After the Provisioners section is complete, the shutdown command executes:

a:/PackerShutdown.bat which will disable WinRM so Vagrant doesn’t get confused during the first reboot after the sysprep:

REM Disable WinRM
call winrm set winrm/config/service/auth @{Basic="false"}
call winrm set winrm/config/service @{AllowUnencrypted="false"}
netsh advfirewall firewall set rule name="WinRM-HTTP" new action=block

:: Sysprep and shutdown
C:/windows/system32/sysprep/sysprep.exe /generalize /oobe /unattend:C:/Windows/Panther/Unattend/unattend.xml /quiet /shutdown

The resulting artifacts of .ovf and .vmdk VM files should be saved in the specified output_directory: /output-win2012r2-powershell5-vagrant.

Post-processors Section

The vagrant post-processor will action the following:

1. Import the .ovf and .vmdk artifacts from the provisioner section.
2. Produce a Vagrant box using the windows-template.vagrantfile template.
3. As "keep_input_artifact": true is specified, the .ovf and .vmdk VM files from the provisioner section will be retained, but you can set this to false if preferred. I like to keep them for troubleshooting if required.

This step took ~20 minutes.

Summary

We’ve gone over the separate steps you can take to create Packer images, and after about 5 hours you should now have a shiny new Vagrant box to play with: Win2012R2-Std-WMF5-Full.box

Now you can build upon these templates and customise to your liking.

Reference

Make sure you visit these awesome blogs to see where most of the examples / scripts came from:

• http://www.hurryupandwait.io/blog/creating-windows-base-images-for-virtualbox-and-hyper-v-using-packer-boxstarter-and-vagrant
• https://hodgkins.io/best-practices-with-packer-and-windows