How to Build a Windows 2008 VMware ESX VM

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How to build a Windows 2008 VMware ESX VM Template

By Jeremy Waldrop – [email protected]

1. Use an ISO that already has Service Pack 2 as part of the OS.

2. Build a new Windows 2008 VM that has 2 GB RAM and a 40 GB

drive. For vSphere 4 use thin provisioning on the VMDK.

3. NOTE – FOR ESX 4 MAKE SURE YOUR NETWORK

ADAPTER TYPE IS SET TO VMXNET3 AND THAT YOU USE A

THIN PROVISIONED DISK. MAKE SURE THE SCSI

CONTROLLER TYPE IS LSI SAS.

4. Attach the Windows 2008 with SP2 ISO to the CD/DVD drive and

set it to connect at power on.

5. On the VM Edit Settings window go to the Options tab and in the

General section uncheck the Enable logging check box.

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6. Go to the Boot Options section and check the box to force going

into the BIOS on next boot.

7. Power on the VM and when the setup screen appears go to

Advanced, I/O Device Configuration.

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8. Disable the Serial and Parallel ports.

9. Go to the Boot menu and set the CD-ROM first in the boot order.

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10. Save, exit and install Windows 2008, during the install choose

either Standard or Enterprise.

11. On first boot up after install set the Administrator password.

12. Close the “Initial Configuration Tasks” window; after the VMware

Tools have been installed we will configure the server.

13. Close the “Server Manager” window.

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14. Disconnect the Windows 2008 ISO and set the device type to

Client Device.

15. Install VMware Tools, choose Typical install type.

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16. Set the “Hardware acceleration” to Full before reboot.

17. After reboot from the VMware Tools install configure the time

zone.

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18. Configure Networking – Uninstall both Link-Layer components

and uncheck TCP/IPv6.

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19. Leave the IP address set to DHCP unless DHCP isn’t available on

the network.

20. Disable the TCP/IP v6 Tunnel Adapters. Go to Start, Run, regedit

and go to this key

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpi

p6\Parameters\ Add a new DWORD (32-bit) value named

DisabledComponents and set it to 0xffffffff See this KB for

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information on this.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-

US;929852

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;929852

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;929852

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21. Set the computer name to W2K8TEMPALTE

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22. Download and install updates. Turn on Windows Updates to

download and notify before install.

23. Check for updates and install the latest critical and

recommended updates. If the updates fail to download restart

and try again.

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24. Enable Remote Desktop

25. Disable the Windows Firewall. Go to Start Run and type

gpedit.msc. Go to Computer Configuration/Administrative

Templates/Network/Network Connections/Windows

Firewall/Domain Profile and Disable the “Windows Firewall:

Protect all network connections”, do the same for the Standard

Profile.

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26. Below is a screen shot of how the server should be configured.

27. Check the box to “Do not show this window at logon” and click

Close.

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28. When the Server Manager window opens check the box to “Do

not show me this console at logon” and close Server Manager.

29. Go to the Taskbar properties and check these boxes.

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30. Go to the Start Menu tab and check these boxes.

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31. Click Customize and check these boxes.

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32. Go to the Notification Area tab and check these boxes.

33. Click OK.

34. Go to Computer properties on the desktop and set the

Performance options below.

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35. Right-click on the desktop and go to Personalization.

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36. Go to Screen Saver and set it to none.

37. Disable the system screensaver; this is the screen saver that

starts when no user is logged into the system. Go to start run and

type regedit. Browse to this registry path

“HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop” and delete the

SCRNSAVE.EXE name.

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38. Go to Sounds, when prompted choose No.

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39. Set the Sound scheme to No Sounds.

40. Click on Change desktop Icons and uncheck the boxes below.

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41. Go to Settings Control Panel. Go to View and choose Status Bar

and Details

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42. Go to Tools, Folder Options, View tab and check/uncheck these

boxes.

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43. Apply and apply to folders.

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44. Delete the Desktop.ini files on the desktop.

45. Right-click on the desktop and arrange icons by Name.

46. Go to Start, Programs, Administrative Tools, Server Manger and

click on Configure IE ESC, set it to off for both Administrators and

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Users.

47. Go to Internet Explorer properties and set the home page to

blank.

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48. Go to the Advanced tab and check/uncheck these boxes.

49. Clear the C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Local\Temp folder.

50. Go to the properties of the C drive and uncheck the “Index this

drive for faster searching” box, click apply and choose Apply

changes to drive c:\ only.

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51. Go to the cmd prompt and type powercfg.exe -h off to disable

hibernation. This command also deletes the hiberfile.sys from C:\

52. Disable UAC (User Account Control). Go to Start, Run and type

gpedit.msc. Go to Computer Configuration/Windows

Setttings/Security Settings/Local Policies/Security Options. Set

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“User Account Control: Run all administrator in Admin Approval

Mode” to Disabled.

Set “User Account Control: Behavior of the elevation prompt for

administrators in Admin Approval Mode” to “Elevate without

prompting”

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53. Delete the page file and reboot. This is so the C drive can be fully

defragmented.

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54. After reboot login and delete the pagefile.sys from the C: drive.

Defragment the C: drive

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55. Go to Control Panel, Power options and set the Power Plan to

High performance.

56. Click the change plan settings and set both options to Never.

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57. Create a new temporary user named ptemp and add the user to

the local administrators group.

58. Log out an login as ptemp

59. Go to Computer properties, Advanced system settings, User

Profiles, Settings

60. Select Administrator and choose Copy To… Type

C:\Users\Default and change Permitted to use to Authenticated

Users.

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61. Logout and login as Administrator, delete the ptemp user profile

and user account.

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62. Go to C:\Users\Default and delete the old NTUSER.DAT{ files.

63. Delete these folders.

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64. Set the Pagefile back to the C: drive and set it to be managed by

Windows.

65. Shutdown the VM and convert it to a Template.

66. Create a Windows 2008 Customization Specification for

Windows 2008. You do not need to enter a product key and you

do not need to worry about the sysprep files. In Vista and

Windows 2008 sysprep is in C:\Windows\System32\sysprep.

When the guest OS type is set to Vista VMware VC knows that the

sysprep files are already on the OS.

67. In the Windows 2008 Guest Customization settings add this

command to the run once section “powercfg.exe -h off”.

68. When a new VM gets deployed from this template choose your

Windows 2008 specification.

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69. On first boot up the VM will boot up to a login screen, do not

login the VM will reboot automatically after a minute. On the next

boot up you should see this screen appear.

70. And this screen. This process may take a few minutes, so be

patient.

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71. The VM will automatically reboot again. Login and shutdown the

VM.

72. The VM is now ready for use.

Documents

How to Build a Windows 2008 VMware ESX VM