Create Hyper-V VHD in Seconds With WAIK WIM2VHD.WSF

There are several ways to install a VM simple create and install OS. Or with SCVMM 2012  

But If you want to do it fast and you don’t like the Image thing witch I don’t like. then there is a solution. In under the 3 minutes I create a Fresh installed Windows 2008R2 SP1 Server for Hyper-V.

How ? with an unattend install Create an XML put in your stuff and you are ready to go.

But there is more, Choose the right tools there are multiple ways to do this. I show you how to use the WAIK tools. in the WAIK tools there is this little script WIM2VHD.WSF this can do magic for you.

First Install the WAIK 3.1 Version this is the latest version till now. Download the 3.0 WAIK and update it with the waik_supplement_en-us this will make the version 3.0 <> 3.1

The ISO can be downloaded from the following link:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=0aee2b4b-494b-4adc-b174-33bc62f02c5d

Installation Instructions

The ISO does not contain instructions for installation.  More information on the update can be found at the following location:  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd349350(WS.10).aspx.

To install the updated WINPE you copy the contents of the ISO over top of the following directory:

C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools

You should choose to overwrite the files.  It basically replaces all the WINPE specific files and Optional Components (OC’S). 

ConfigMgr and Microsoft Deployment Toolkit Information

 

 

C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\

Now we start up the WIM2VHD.WSF

And using the Parameters :

where is your WIM file on the Source :

/WIM:Z:\en_windows_server_2008_r2_with_sp1

Source Files

\sources\install.wim

What is your version

/SKU:SERVERENTERPRISE

The VHD Name

/VHD:D:\foo.vhd

And the unattend file used for installation

/UNATTEND:C:\zero.xml

 

So with this I have a complete unatted install in just under de 2 min. Yes then the image is ready to use but the OS needs to setup.

With a little Powershell Script I create a auto VM create and startup. You can adjust this anyway you like. Just for testing.

 

Type the Virtual Machine’s name: TEST01
How much memory to assign? In MB: 4096
How many CPUs to assign? Integer Number: 4

Virtual Machine TEST01 has been successfully created
Start and Connect to  Type [Y]ES or [N]O: So with this I have a complete unatted install in just under de 2 min. Yes then the image is ready to use but the OS needs to setup.

This takes also about 5 Min depends on the unattend.xml if you do a lot of after config then it needs more time