Virtualizor is a great tool to manage and deploy virtual machines. It helps to create identical servers with a single click.

But, for this to work, we need server templates. Luckily, Virtualizor allows template creation. Therefore, it becomes easy to create virtual machines.

Unlike Linux templates, Virtualizor Windows template creation has a slightly different process.

That’s why, we often get requests from our Virtualizor customers to create Windows templates as part of our Server Management Services.

Today, we’ll see how our Support Engineers setup Virtualizor Windows template and fix common errors with it.

Why to use templates?

Firstly, let’s check how templates make thing easier in server creation.

A template is a master copy of the server configuration. It can easily accommodate all the software customization. Again, we can choose the server type, add all the necessary programs, etc. in the template. Therefore, when in need to create a new server, Virtualizor allows to create it from the template. Thus, it really helps in saving time and effort.

Although, Virtualizor provide many default templates at https://virtualizor.com/ostemplates, it may not be enough when customers have specific requirements. That’s why, our Dedicated Engineers always help customers to create templates as per requirement.

How to create Windows templates in Virtualizor

We’ll now see how we create Windows templates in Virtualizor. This involves a series of steps. Let’s check them in detail.

1. Prerequisites

While creating Windows template, Virtualizor do not shrink the File System of the server. Therefore, the Template will be of of exactly the same size as the VPS. And, this requires enough disk space on the server.

Before creating the template, our Support Engineers always ensure that the server has enough free space. Luckily, to make the template size small, there is a method to shrink the file system. But, this will work only for LVM based storage added on Virtualizor panel. Therefore, we always double check the Virtualizor storage type before template creation.

2. Creating Windows template

Now, its time to create the Windows template in Virtualizor. For this, we connect to the Virtualizor master server and we use the command:

root> /usr/local/emps/bin/php /usr/local/virtualizor/tools/windows.php <BLOCK_DEVICE> <TEMPLATE_NAME>

For example, to create a Windows template having name windows-2008r2.img based on lvm block device /dev/vg/vsv1001-id-uuid, the exact command would be

/usr/local/emps/bin/php /usr/local/virtualizor/tools/windows.php /dev/vg/vsv1001-id-uuid windows-2008r2.img

Here, the Windows template will be created at the path /var/virtualizor/kvm 

3. Deleting System reserved partition

Usually, when creating the server from ISO, it contains a system reserved partition. Unfortunately, we’ve seen this partition creating problems with vps password reset, disk resize for the vps, etc. To workaround this, our Dedicated Engineers removing the System reserved partition using the steps below.

Connect to the server’s command prompt, and execute the following command to configure the boot files.

bcdboot c:\windows /s c:

Then, we use the Disk Management GUI to mark the C:\ partition as Active. After a server reboot, we delete the System Reserved partition by right clicking on it and selecting “Delete volume”.

Errors with Virtualizor Windows templates

Although, the creation of Virtualizor Windows templates looks pretty easy, we often see customers experiencing problems in production servers.  We’ll now take a look at the top errors and how we fix them.

1. Problems with VM backup

Recently, one of our customers reported problems with the virtual machine created from Windows template. The backup process reported the error as:

Error: Cannot query guest OS information. The mount directory path is invalid.

Here, when checking, our Dedicated Engineers found that the 100Mb System Reserved Partition  was creating problems. So we had to remove this partition and finally that fixed backup process.

2. Resetting password

Similarly, another common error with Virtualizor windows templates happens with administrator password. Many users report trouble using the default password. On such cases, our System Administrators do an extensive check on the Virtualizor server as well as the VM settings. For forgotten passwords on pre installed servers via template or ISO, we use the password reset wizard in the end user ui or by admin editvs utility.

Likewise, when trying to install windows server on kvm vps from ISO, Virtualizor can generate password errors. This usually happens due to missing packages on the server. In one of the cases, our Support Engineers had to install the missing libguestfs-winsupport package to fix the problem.

[Have trouble creating Windows templates in Virtualizor? We can get it right for you.]

Conclusion

In a nutshell, Virtualizor allows the creation of Windows template that can take care of custom requirements. Today, we saw the Virtualizor Windows template creation process and how our Support Engineers fix the common errors with it.