Importing Custom Microsoft Windows Images

The configuration described in this section is required so that Compute instances that are created from the Microsoft Windows system image can boot correctly and network connections will work.

You can perform this configuration on the running source system or after you have launched the Compute instance.

• Preparing the Source System Prior to Creating the Image. This is the recommended method.

• Preparing the Compute Instance After Instance Launch. If you have concerns about modifying the live source system, you can use this method. If you use this method, your Compute instance is not initially viable. After you launch your Compute instance, connect to the VNC console and use the VNC window to make the changes described in Preparing the Source System Prior to Creating the Image.

Preparing the Source System Prior to Creating the Image

1. Review the requirements.

   See Importing Custom Microsoft Windows Images.

2. Clone the existing instance, using the procedures specific to the current platform. Then perform all changes on the clone to prevent disrupting the production instance.

3. Follow your organization's security guidelines to ensure that the Microsoft Windows system is secured. This can include, but is not limited to the following tasks:

   • Install the latest security updates for the OS and installed applications.

   • Enable the firewall, and configure it so that you only enable the rules that are needed.

   • Disable unnecessary privileged accounts.

   • Use strong passwords for all accounts.

4. Configure Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) access.

   1. Enable Remote Desktop connections to the image. See To connect to a Windows instance from a Remote Desktop Client.

   2. Modify the Microsoft Windows Firewall inbound port rule to allow RDP access for both Private and Public network location types. When you import the image, the Microsoft Windows Network Location Awareness service will identify the network connection as a Public network type.

5. Determine whether the current Microsoft Windows license type is a volume license by running the following command in PowerShell:

   Get-CimInstance -ClassName SoftwareLicensingProduct | where {$_.PartialProductKey} | select ProductKeyChannel

   If the license is not a volume license, after you import the image, you will update the license type.

6. If you plan to use the custom image to create more than one instance, create a generalized image of the boot disk. A generalized image is cleaned of computer-specific information, such as unique identifiers. When you create instances from a generalized image, the unique identifiers are regenerated. This prevents two instances that are created from the same image from colliding on the same identifiers.

7. Create a backup of the root volume.

8. If the Windows instance has remotely attached storage, such as NFS or block volumes, configure any services that rely on this storage to start manually. Remotely attached storage is not available the first time an instance that was created from a custom image boots on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.

9. Ensure that all network interfaces use DHCP, and that the MAC address and IP addresses are not hardcoded. See your system documentation for steps to perform network configuration for your system.

10. Download the Oracle Windows VirtIO drivers:

    1. Sign in to the Oracle Software Delivery Cloud site.

    2. In the All Categories drop-down, select Release.

    3. Type Oracle Linux 7.9 in the search box and click Search.
    4. Click REL: Oracle Linux 7.9.0.0.0.

    5. At the top right of the page, to the right of your cart, click Continue.

    6. In the Platforms/Languages list, select x86 64 bit. Click Continue.
    7. Accept the license agreement and then click Continue.
    8. Select the check box next to Oracle VirtIO Drivers Version for Microsoft Windows 1.1.x. Clear the other check boxes.
    9. Click Download and then follow the prompts.
11. Install the Oracle VirtIO drivers for Windows:
    1. Follow the prompts in the installation workflow. On the Installation Type page, select Custom.
    2. Reboot the Windows instance.

12. Perform the Creating and Exporting an Image procedure.

Creating and Exporting an Image

1. Stop the system.

2. Clone the stopped system as a VMDK or QCOW2 file. Refer to the tools documentation for your OS.

3. Export the image from your physical system or virtualization environment.

4. Perform the Importing a Microsoft Windows Image procedure to import the image into Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.

Preparing the Compute Instance After Instance Launch

1. Perform as many of the Preparing the Source System Prior to Creating the Image steps as you are comfortable performing.

2. Perform the Creating and Exporting an Image procedure above.

   After importing the image, do not perform the Post Import Tasks for Microsoft Windows Images procedure.

3. Use the imported image to launch an instance.

   For the image source, select Custom Images, and then select the image that you imported. See Creating an Instance.

4. Connect to the console as described in Connecting to a Compute Instance.

5. Perform the Preparing Microsoft Windows Systems for Import procedure.

6. Perform the Post Import Tasks for Microsoft Windows Images procedure.