Create Windows image using Packer and Ansible and then run it in Vagrant (libvirt)

I saw many Packer templates which are used to build the Windows images on Github. Almost all of them are using PowerShell scripts or DOS-style batch files. Ansible can use WinRM to manage Windows for some time - therefore I decided to use it also with Packer when building the images. Because of the bug it was not possible to use Ansible 2.3 (or older) with Packer + WinRM.

The latest Ansible 2.4 is working fine with Packer + Qemu + WinRM when you want to create the Windows images: https://www.packer.io/docs/provisioners/ansible.html#winrm-communicator

Let's see how you can do it in Fedora 26:

• Packer + with WinRM communicator / Ansible / Qemu and enable Packer's Winrm communicator
• Create the Packer template, Autounattended file for Windows 2016, few helper scrips
• Download and mount the virtio-win iso and run Packer

Complete build log:

[root@localhost packer_windows-server-2016-eval]# /usr/local/bin/packerio build windows-server-2016-eval.json
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval output will be in this color.

==> windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: Downloading or copying ISO
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: Downloading or copying: http://care.dlservice.microsoft.com/dl/download/1/4/9/149D5452-9B29-4274-B6B3-5361DBDA30BC/14393.0.161119-1705.RS1_REFRESH_SERVER_EVAL_X64FRE_EN-US.ISO
==> windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: Creating floppy disk...
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: Copying files flatly from floppy_files
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: Copying file: http/windows-server-2016/Autounattend.xml
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: Copying file: scripts/win-common/fixnetwork.ps1
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: Copying file: /tmp/tmp.cQYclNvngg_virtio-win-iso/NetKVM/2k16/amd64/netkvm.cat
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: Copying file: /tmp/tmp.cQYclNvngg_virtio-win-iso/NetKVM/2k16/amd64/netkvm.inf
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: Copying file: /tmp/tmp.cQYclNvngg_virtio-win-iso/NetKVM/2k16/amd64/netkvm.sys
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: Copying file: /tmp/tmp.cQYclNvngg_virtio-win-iso/NetKVM/2k16/amd64/netkvmco.dll
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: Copying file: /tmp/tmp.cQYclNvngg_virtio-win-iso/qxldod/2k16/amd64/qxldod.cat
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: Copying file: /tmp/tmp.cQYclNvngg_virtio-win-iso/qxldod/2k16/amd64/qxldod.inf
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: Copying file: /tmp/tmp.cQYclNvngg_virtio-win-iso/qxldod/2k16/amd64/qxldod.sys
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: Copying file: /tmp/tmp.cQYclNvngg_virtio-win-iso/viostor/2k16/amd64/viostor.cat
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: Copying file: /tmp/tmp.cQYclNvngg_virtio-win-iso/viostor/2k16/amd64/viostor.inf
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: Copying file: /tmp/tmp.cQYclNvngg_virtio-win-iso/viostor/2k16/amd64/viostor.sys
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: Done copying files from floppy_files
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: Collecting paths from floppy_dirs
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: Resulting paths from floppy_dirs : []
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: Done copying paths from floppy_dirs
==> windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: Creating hard drive...
==> windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: Found port for communicator (SSH, WinRM, etc): 2518.
==> windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: Looking for available port between 5900 and 6000 on 127.0.0.1
==> windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: Starting VM, booting from CD-ROM
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: The VM will be run headless, without a GUI. If you want to
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: view the screen of the VM, connect via VNC without a password to
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: vnc://127.0.0.1:5900
==> windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: Overriding defaults Qemu arguments with QemuArgs...
==> windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: Waiting 10s for boot...
==> windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: Connecting to VM via VNC
==> windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: Typing the boot command over VNC...
==> windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: Waiting for WinRM to become available...
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: #< CLIXML windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: WinRM connected. windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: System.Management.Automation.PSCustomObjectSystem.Object1Preparing modules for first use.0-1-1Completed-1 1Preparing modules for first use.0-1-1Completed-1
==> windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: Connected to WinRM!
==> windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: Provisioning with Ansible...
==> windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: Executing Ansible: ansible-playbook --extra-vars packer_build_name=windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval packer_builder_type=qemu -i /var/tmp/packer-provisioner-ansible323552097 /var/tmp/packer_windows-server-2016-eval/ansible/win.yml --private-key /var/tmp/ansible-key225720202 --connection packer --extra-vars ansible_shell_type=powershell ansible_shell_executable=None virtio_driver_directory=2k16
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval:
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: PLAY [all] *********************************************************************
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval:
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: TASK [Gathering Facts] *********************************************************
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: ok: [default]
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval:
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: TASK [Enable Remote Desktop] ***************************************************
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: ok: [default]
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval:
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: TASK [Allow connections from computers running any version of Remote Desktop (less secure)] ***
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: ok: [default]
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval:
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: TASK [Allow RDP traffic] *******************************************************
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: changed: [default]
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval:
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: PLAY RECAP *********************************************************************
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: default : ok=4 changed=1 unreachable=0 failed=0
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval:
==> windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: Restarting Machine
==> windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: Waiting for machine to restart...
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: A system shutdown is in progress.(1115)
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: #< CLIXML windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: WIN2016 restarted. windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: System.Management.Automation.PSCustomObjectSystem.Object1Preparing modules for first use.0-1-1Completed-1 1Preparing modules for first use.0-1-1Completed-1
==> windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: Machine successfully restarted, moving on
==> windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: Pausing 1m0s before the next provisioner...
==> windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: Uploading scripts/win-common/remove_nic.bat => c:\remove_nic.bat
==> windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: Gracefully halting virtual machine...
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval:
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: C:\Users\vagrant>echo "*** Downloading devcon64.exe from https://github.com/PlagueHO/devcon-choco-package/raw/master/devcon.portable/devcon64.exe"
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: "*** Downloading devcon64.exe from https://github.com/PlagueHO/devcon-choco-package/raw/master/devcon.portable/devcon64.exe"
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval:
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: C:\Users\vagrant>powershell -command "$client = new-object System.Net.WebClient; $client.DownloadFile('https://github.com/PlagueHO/devcon-choco-package/raw/master/devcon.portable/devcon64.exe', 'c:\devcon64.exe')"
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval:
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: C:\Users\vagrant>echo "*** Removing the NICs"
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: "*** Removing the NICs"
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval:
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: C:\Users\vagrant>for /F "tokens=1 delims=: " %G in ('c:\devcon64.exe findall =net | findstr /c:"Red Hat VirtIO Ethernet Adapter"') do (c:\devcon64.exe remove "@%G" )
==> windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: Converting hard drive...
==> windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: Running post-processor: vagrant
==> windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval (vagrant): Creating Vagrant box for 'libvirt' provider
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval (vagrant): Copying from artifact: output-windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval/packer-windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval (vagrant): Using custom Vagrantfile: Vagrantfile-windows.template
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval (vagrant): Compressing: Vagrantfile
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval (vagrant): Compressing: box.img
windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval (vagrant): Compressing: metadata.json
Build 'windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval' finished.

==> Builds finished. The artifacts of successful builds are:
--> windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval: 'libvirt' provider box: windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval-libvirt.box



Directory structure after build copleted:

.
├── ansible
│   └── win.yml
├── http
│   └── windows-server-2016
│   └── Autounattend.xml
├── packer_cache
│   └── 49f719e23c56a779a991c4b4ad1680b8363918cd0bfd9ac6b52697d78a309855.iso
├── scripts
│   └── win-common
│   ├── fixnetwork.ps1
│   └── remove_nic.bat
├── Vagrantfile-windows.template
├── virtio-win.iso
├── windows-server-2016-eval.json
└── windows-server-2016-standard-x64-eval-libvirt.box


Necessary files:
https://github.com/ruzickap/packer-templates/blob/master/ansible/win.yml
https://github.com/ruzickap/packer-templates/blob/master/http/windows-server-2016/Autounattend.xml
https://github.com/ruzickap/packer-templates/blob/master/scripts/win-common/fixnetwork.ps1
https://github.com/ruzickap/packer-templates/blob/master/scripts/win-common/remove_nic.bat
https://github.com/ruzickap/packer-templates/blob/master/Vagrantfile-windows.template
https://github.com/ruzickap/packer-templates/blob/master/windows-server-2016-eval.json


This is the real example:

More complex example can be found here: https://github.com/ruzickap/packer-templates

Enjoy ;-)