The Hyper-V Packer builder is able to create
Hyper-V
virtual machines and export them, starting from an ISO image.
The builder builds a virtual machine by creating a new virtual machine from
scratch. Typically, the VM is booted, an OS is installed, and software is
provisioned within the OS. Finally the VM is shut down. The result of the
Hyper-V builder is a directory containing all the files necessary to run
the virtual machine portably.
Basic Example
Here is a basic example. This example is not functional. It will start the OS
installer but then fail because we don't provide the preseed file for Ubuntu
to self-install. Still, the example serves to show the basic configuration:
By default Packer will perform a hard power off of a virtual machine.
However, when a machine is powered off this way, it is possible that
changes made to the VMs file system may not be fully synced, possibly
leading to corruption of files or lost changes. As such, it is important to
add a shutdown_command. This tells Packer how to safely shutdown and
power off the VM.
ISO Configuration Reference
By default, Packer will symlink, download or copy image files to the Packer
cache into a "hash($iso_url+$iso_checksum).$iso_target_extension" file.
Packer uses hashicorp/go-getter in
file mode in order to perform a download.
go-getter supports the following protocols:
Local files
Git
Mercurial
HTTP
Amazon S3
Examples:
go-getter can guess the checksum type based on iso_checksum length, and it is
also possible to specify the checksum type.
iso_checksum (string) - The checksum for the ISO file or virtual hard drive file. The type of
the checksum is specified within the checksum field as a prefix, ex:
"md5:{$checksum}". The type of the checksum can also be omitted and
Packer will try to infer it based on string length. Valid values are
"none", "{$checksum}", "md5:{$checksum}", "sha1:{$checksum}",
"sha256:{$checksum}", "sha512:{$checksum}" or "file:{$path}". Here is a
list of valid checksum values:
none
Although the checksum will not be verified when it is set to "none",
this is not recommended since these files can be very large and
corruption does happen from time to time.
iso_url (string) - A URL to the ISO containing the installation image or virtual hard drive
(VHD or VHDX) file to clone.
Optional:
iso_urls ([]string) - Multiple URLs for the ISO to download. Packer will try these in order.
If anything goes wrong attempting to download or while downloading a
single URL, it will move on to the next. All URLs must point to the same
file (same checksum). By default this is empty and iso_url is used.
Only one of iso_url or iso_urls can be specified.
iso_target_path (string) - The path where the iso should be saved after download. By default will
go in the packer cache, with a hash of the original filename and
checksum as its name.
iso_target_extension (string) - The extension of the iso file after download. This defaults to iso.
Configuration Reference
There are many configuration options available for the Hyper-V builder. They
are organized below into two categories: required and optional. Within each
category, the available options are alphabetized and described.
In addition to the options listed here, a
communicator can be configured for this
builder.
Optional:
output_directory (string) - This setting specifies the directory that
artifacts from the build, such as the virtual machine files and disks,
will be output to. The path to the directory may be relative or
absolute. If relative, the path is relative to the working directory
packer is executed from. This directory must not exist or, if
created, must be empty prior to running the builder. By default this is
"output-BUILDNAME" where "BUILDNAME" is the name of the build.
disable_shutdown (bool) - Packer normally halts the virtual machine after all provisioners have
run when no shutdown_command is defined. If this is set to true, Packer
will not halt the virtual machine but will assume that the VM will shut itself down
when it's done, via the preseed.cfg or your final provisioner.
Packer will wait for a default of 5 minutes until the virtual machine is shutdown.
The timeout can be changed using the shutdown_timeout option.
disk_size (uint) - The size, in megabytes, of the hard disk to create
for the VM. By default, this is 40 GB.
use_legacy_network_adapter (bool) - If true use a legacy network adapter as the NIC.
This defaults to false. A legacy network adapter is fully emulated NIC, and is thus
supported by various exotic operating systems, but this emulation requires
additional overhead and should only be used if absolutely necessary.
differencing_disk (bool) - If true enables differencing disks. Only
the changes will be written to the new disk. This is especially useful if
your source is a VHD/VHDX. This defaults to false.
use_fixed_vhd_format (bool) - If true, creates the boot disk on the
virtual machine as a fixed VHD format disk. The default is false, which
creates a dynamic VHDX format disk. This option requires setting
generation to 1, skip_compaction to true, and
differencing_disk to false. Additionally, any value entered for
disk_block_size will be ignored. The most likely use case for this
option is outputing a disk that is in the format required for upload to
Azure.
disk_block_size (uint) - The block size of the VHD to be created.
Recommended disk block size for Linux hyper-v guests is 1 MiB. This
defaults to "32" MiB.
memory (uint) - The amount, in megabytes, of RAM to assign to the
VM. By default, this is 1 GB.
secondary_iso_images ([]string) - A list of ISO paths to
attach to a VM when it is booted. This is most useful for unattended
Windows installs, which look for an Autounattend.xml file on removable
media. By default, no secondary ISO will be attached.
disk_additional_size ([]uint) - The size or sizes of any
additional hard disks for the VM in megabytes. If this is not specified
then the VM will only contain a primary hard disk. Additional drives
will be attached to the SCSI interface only. The builder uses
expandable rather than fixed-size virtual hard disks, so the actual
file representing the disk will not use the full size unless it is
full.
guest_additions_mode (string) - If set to attach then attach and
mount the ISO image specified in guest_additions_path. If set to
none then guest additions are not attached and mounted; This is the
default.
guest_additions_path (string) - The path to the ISO image for guest
additions.
vm_name (string) - This is the name of the new virtual machine,
without the file extension. By default this is "packer-BUILDNAME",
where "BUILDNAME" is the name of the build.
switch_name (string) - The name of the switch to connect the virtual
machine to. By default, leaving this value unset will cause Packer to
try and determine the switch to use by looking for an external switch
that is up and running.
switch_vlan_id (string) - This is the VLAN of the virtual switch's
network card. By default none is set. If none is set then a VLAN is not
set on the switch's network card. If this value is set it should match
the VLAN specified in by vlan_id.
mac_address (string) - This allows a specific MAC address to be used on
the default virtual network card. The MAC address must be a string with
no delimiters, for example "0000deadbeef".
vlan_id (string) - This is the VLAN of the virtual machine's network
card for the new virtual machine. By default none is set. If none is set
then VLANs are not set on the virtual machine's network card.
cpus (uint) - The number of CPUs the virtual machine should use. If
this isn't specified, the default is 1 CPU.
generation (uint) - The Hyper-V generation for the virtual machine. By
default, this is 1. Generation 2 Hyper-V virtual machines do not support
floppy drives. In this scenario use secondary_iso_images instead. Hard
drives and DVD drives will also be SCSI and not IDE.
enable_mac_spoofing (bool) - If true enable MAC address spoofing
for the virtual machine. This defaults to false.
enable_dynamic_memory (bool) - If true enable dynamic memory for
the virtual machine. This defaults to false.
enable_secure_boot (bool) - If true enable secure boot for the
virtual machine. This defaults to false. See secure_boot_template
below for additional settings.
secure_boot_template (string) - The secure boot template to be
configured. Valid values are "MicrosoftWindows" (Windows) or
"MicrosoftUEFICertificateAuthority" (Linux). This only takes effect if
enable_secure_boot is set to "true". This defaults to "MicrosoftWindows".
enable_virtualization_extensions (bool) - If true enable
virtualization extensions for the virtual machine. This defaults to
false. For nested virtualization you need to enable MAC spoofing,
disable dynamic memory and have at least 4GB of RAM assigned to the
virtual machine.
temp_path (string) - The location under which Packer will create a directory to house all the
VM files and folders during the build. By default %TEMP% is used
which, for most systems, will evaluate to
%USERPROFILE%/AppData/Local/Temp.
The build directory housed under temp_path will have a name similar to
packerhv1234567. The seven digit number at the end of the name is
automatically generated by Packer to ensure the directory name is
unique.
configuration_version (string) - This allows you to set the vm version when calling New-VM to generate
the vm.
keep_registered (bool) - If "true", Packer will not delete the VM from
The Hyper-V manager.
skip_compaction (bool) - If true skip compacting the hard disk for
the virtual machine when exporting. This defaults to false.
skip_export (bool) - If true Packer will skip the export of the VM.
If you are interested only in the VHD/VHDX files, you can enable this
option. The resulting VHD/VHDX file will be output to
<output_directory>/Virtual Hard Disks. By default this option is false
and Packer will export the VM to output_directory.
headless (bool) - Packer defaults to building Hyper-V virtual
machines by launching a GUI that shows the console of the machine being
built. When this value is set to true, the machine will start without a
console.
first_boot_device (string) - When configured, determines the device or device type that is given preferential
treatment when choosing a boot device.
For Generation 1:
IDE
CDorDVD
Floppy
NET
For Generation 2:
IDE:x:y
SCSI:x:y
CDorDVD
NET
boot_order ([]string) - When configured, the boot order determines the order of the devices
from which to boot.
The device name must be in the form of SCSI:x:y, for example,
to boot from the first scsi device use SCSI:0:0.
NB You should also set first_boot_device (e.g. DVD).
NB Although the VM will have this initial boot order, the OS can
change it, for example, Ubuntu 18.04 will modify the boot order to
include itself as the first boot option.
NB This only works for Generation 2 machines.
Http directory configuration reference
Packer will create an http server serving http_directory when it is set, a
random free port will be selected and the architecture of the directory
referenced will be available in your builder.
http_directory (string) - Path to a directory to serve using an HTTP server. The files in this
directory will be available over HTTP that will be requestable from the
virtual machine. This is useful for hosting kickstart files and so on.
By default this is an empty string, which means no HTTP server will be
started. The address and port of the HTTP server will be available as
variables in boot_command. This is covered in more detail below.
http_content (map[string]string) - Key/Values to serve using an HTTP server. http_content works like and
conflicts with http_directory. The keys represent the paths and the
values contents, the keys must start with a slash, ex: /path/to/file.
http_content is useful for hosting kickstart files and so on. By
default this is empty, which means no HTTP server will be started. The
address and port of the HTTP server will be available as variables in
boot_command. This is covered in more detail below.
Example:
http_port_min (int) - These are the minimum and maximum port to use for the HTTP server
started to serve the http_directory. Because Packer often runs in
parallel, Packer will choose a randomly available port in this range to
run the HTTP server. If you want to force the HTTP server to be on one
port, make this minimum and maximum port the same. By default the values
are 8000 and 9000, respectively.
http_port_max (int) - HTTP Port Max
http_bind_address (string) - This is the bind address for the HTTP server. Defaults to 0.0.0.0 so that
it will work with any network interface.
Shutdown configuration reference
Optional:
shutdown_command (string) - The command to use to gracefully shut down the machine once all
provisioning is complete. By default this is an empty string, which
tells Packer to just forcefully shut down the machine. This setting can
be safely omitted if for example, a shutdown command to gracefully halt
the machine is configured inside a provisioning script. If one or more
scripts require a reboot it is suggested to leave this blank (since
reboots may fail) and instead specify the final shutdown command in your
last script.
shutdown_timeout (duration string | ex: "1h5m2s") - The amount of time to wait after executing the shutdown_command for the
virtual machine to actually shut down. If the machine doesn't shut down
in this time it is considered an error. By default, the time out is "5m"
(five minutes).
Floppy configuration reference
A floppy can be made available for your build. This is most useful for
unattended Windows installs, which look for an Autounattend.xml file on
removable media. By default, no floppy will be attached. All files listed in
this setting get placed into the root directory of the floppy and the floppy
is attached as the first floppy device. The summary size of the listed files
must not exceed 1.44 MB. The supported ways to move large files into the OS
are using http_directory or the file
provisioner.
Optional:
floppy_files ([]string) - A list of files to place onto a floppy disk that is attached when the VM
is booted. Currently, no support exists for creating sub-directories on
the floppy. Wildcard characters (\*, ?, and []) are allowed. Directory
names are also allowed, which will add all the files found in the
directory to the floppy.
floppy_dirs ([]string) - A list of directories to place onto the floppy disk recursively. This is
similar to the floppy_files option except that the directory structure
is preserved. This is useful for when your floppy disk includes drivers
or if you just want to organize it's contents as a hierarchy. Wildcard
characters (\*, ?, and []) are allowed. The maximum summary size of
all files in the listed directories are the same as in floppy_files.
floppy_content (map[string]string) - Key/Values to add to the floppy disk. The keys represent the paths, and
the values contents. It can be used alongside floppy_files or
floppy_dirs, which is useful to add large files without loading them
into memory. If any paths are specified by both, the contents in
floppy_content will take precedence.
cd_files ([]string) - A list of files to place onto a CD that is attached when the VM is
booted. This can include either files or directories; any directories
will be copied onto the CD recursively, preserving directory structure
hierarchy. Symlinks will have the link's target copied into the directory
tree on the CD where the symlink was. File globbing is allowed.
The above will create a CD with two files, user-data and meta-data in the
CD root. This specific example is how you would create a CD that can be
used for an Ubuntu 20.04 autoinstall.
Would also be an acceptable way to define the above cd. The difference
between providing the directory with or without the glob is whether the
directory itself or its contents will be at the CD root.
Use of this option assumes that you have a command line tool installed
that can handle the iso creation. Packer will use one of the following
tools:
xorriso
mkisofs
hdiutil (normally found in macOS)
oscdimg (normally found in Windows as part of the Windows ADK)
cd_content (map[string]string) - Key/Values to add to the CD. The keys represent the paths, and the values
contents. It can be used alongside cd_files, which is useful to add large
files without loading them into memory. If any paths are specified by both,
the contents in cd_content will take precedence.
communicator (string) - Packer currently supports three kinds of communicators:
none - No communicator will be used. If this is set, most
provisioners also can't be used.
ssh - An SSH connection will be established to the machine. This
is usually the default.
winrm - A WinRM connection will be established.
In addition to the above, some builders have custom communicators they
can use. For example, the Docker builder has a "docker" communicator
that uses docker exec and docker cp to execute scripts and copy
files.
pause_before_connecting (duration string | ex: "1h5m2s") - We recommend that you enable SSH or WinRM as the very last step in your
guest's bootstrap script, but sometimes you may have a race condition
where you need Packer to wait before attempting to connect to your
guest.
If you end up in this situation, you can use the template option
pause_before_connecting. By default, there is no pause. For example if
you set pause_before_connecting to 10m Packer will check whether it
can connect, as normal. But once a connection attempt is successful, it
will disconnect and then wait 10 minutes before connecting to the guest
and beginning provisioning.
Optional SSH fields:
ssh_host (string) - The address to SSH to. This usually is automatically configured by the
builder.
ssh_port (int) - The port to connect to SSH. This defaults to 22.
ssh_username (string) - The username to connect to SSH with. Required if using SSH.
ssh_password (string) - A plaintext password to use to authenticate with SSH.
ssh_ciphers ([]string) - This overrides the value of ciphers supported by default by golang.
The default value is [
"aes128-gcm@openssh.com",
"chacha20-poly1305@openssh.com",
"aes128-ctr", "aes192-ctr", "aes256-ctr",
]
ssh_clear_authorized_keys (bool) - If true, Packer will attempt to remove its temporary key from
~/.ssh/authorized_keys and /root/.ssh/authorized_keys. This is a
mostly cosmetic option, since Packer will delete the temporary private
key from the host system regardless of whether this is set to true
(unless the user has set the -debug flag). Defaults to "false";
currently only works on guests with sed installed.
ssh_key_exchange_algorithms ([]string) - If set, Packer will override the value of key exchange (kex) altorighms
supported by default by golang. Acceptable values include:
"curve25519-sha256@libssh.org", "ecdh-sha2-nistp256",
"ecdh-sha2-nistp384", "ecdh-sha2-nistp521",
"diffie-hellman-group14-sha1", and "diffie-hellman-group1-sha1".
ssh_certificate_file (string) - Path to user certificate used to authenticate with SSH.
The ~ can be used in path and will be expanded to the
home directory of current user.
ssh_pty (bool) - If true, a PTY will be requested for the SSH connection. This defaults
to false.
ssh_timeout (duration string | ex: "1h5m2s") - The time to wait for SSH to become available. Packer uses this to
determine when the machine has booted so this is usually quite long.
Example value: 10m.
ssh_disable_agent_forwarding (bool) - If true, SSH agent forwarding will be disabled. Defaults to false.
ssh_handshake_attempts (int) - The number of handshakes to attempt with SSH once it can connect. This
defaults to 10.
ssh_bastion_host (string) - A bastion host to use for the actual SSH connection.
ssh_bastion_port (int) - The port of the bastion host. Defaults to 22.
ssh_bastion_agent_auth (bool) - If true, the local SSH agent will be used to authenticate with the
bastion host. Defaults to false.
ssh_bastion_username (string) - The username to connect to the bastion host.
ssh_bastion_password (string) - The password to use to authenticate with the bastion host.
ssh_bastion_interactive (bool) - If true, the keyboard-interactive used to authenticate with bastion host.
ssh_bastion_private_key_file (string) - Path to a PEM encoded private key file to use to authenticate with the
bastion host. The ~ can be used in path and will be expanded to the
home directory of current user.
ssh_bastion_certificate_file (string) - Path to user certificate used to authenticate with bastion host.
The ~ can be used in path and will be expanded to the
home directory of current user.
ssh_file_transfer_method (string) - scp or sftp - How to transfer files, Secure copy (default) or SSH
File Transfer Protocol.
ssh_proxy_host (string) - A SOCKS proxy host to use for SSH connection
ssh_proxy_port (int) - A port of the SOCKS proxy. Defaults to 1080.
ssh_proxy_username (string) - The optional username to authenticate with the proxy server.
ssh_proxy_password (string) - The optional password to use to authenticate with the proxy server.
ssh_keep_alive_interval (duration string | ex: "1h5m2s") - How often to send "keep alive" messages to the server. Set to a negative
value (-1s) to disable. Example value: 10s. Defaults to 5s.
ssh_read_write_timeout (duration string | ex: "1h5m2s") - The amount of time to wait for a remote command to end. This might be
useful if, for example, packer hangs on a connection after a reboot.
Example: 5m. Disabled by default.
ssh_remote_tunnels ([]string) -
ssh_local_tunnels ([]string) -
ssh_private_key_file (string) - Path to a PEM encoded private key file to use to authenticate with SSH.
The ~ can be used in path and will be expanded to the home directory
of current user.
Optional WinRM fields:
winrm_username (string) - The username to use to connect to WinRM.
winrm_password (string) - The password to use to connect to WinRM.
winrm_host (string) - The address for WinRM to connect to.
NOTE: If using an Amazon EBS builder, you can specify the interface
WinRM connects to via
ssh_interface
winrm_no_proxy (bool) - Setting this to true adds the remote
host:port to the NO_PROXY environment variable. This has the effect of
bypassing any configured proxies when connecting to the remote host.
Default to false.
winrm_port (int) - The WinRM port to connect to. This defaults to 5985 for plain
unencrypted connection and 5986 for SSL when winrm_use_ssl is set to
true.
winrm_timeout (duration string | ex: "1h5m2s") - The amount of time to wait for WinRM to become available. This defaults
to 30m since setting up a Windows machine generally takes a long time.
winrm_use_ssl (bool) - If true, use HTTPS for WinRM.
winrm_insecure (bool) - If true, do not check server certificate chain and host name.
winrm_use_ntlm (bool) - If true, NTLMv2 authentication (with session security) will be used
for WinRM, rather than default (basic authentication), removing the
requirement for basic authentication to be enabled within the target
guest. Further reading for remote connection authentication can be found
here.
Boot Configuration Reference
The boot configuration is very important: boot_command specifies the keys
to type when the virtual machine is first booted in order to start the OS
installer. This command is typed after boot_wait, which gives the virtual
machine some time to actually load.
The boot_command is an array of strings. The strings are all typed in
sequence. It is an array only to improve readability within the template.
There are a set of special keys available. If these are in your boot
command, they will be replaced by the proper key:
<bs> - Backspace
<del> - Delete
<enter> <return> - Simulates an actual "enter" or "return" keypress.
<esc> - Simulates pressing the escape key.
<tab> - Simulates pressing the tab key.
<f1> - <f12> - Simulates pressing a function key.
<up> <down> <left> <right> - Simulates pressing an arrow key.
<spacebar> - Simulates pressing the spacebar.
<insert> - Simulates pressing the insert key.
<home> <end> - Simulates pressing the home and end keys.
<pageUp> <pageDown> - Simulates pressing the page up and page down
keys.
<menu> - Simulates pressing the Menu key.
<leftAlt> <rightAlt> - Simulates pressing the alt key.
<leftCtrl> <rightCtrl> - Simulates pressing the ctrl key.
<leftShift> <rightShift> - Simulates pressing the shift key.
<leftSuper> <rightSuper> - Simulates pressing the ⌘ or Windows key.
<wait> <wait5> <wait10> - Adds a 1, 5 or 10 second pause before
sending any additional keys. This is useful if you have to generally
wait for the UI to update before typing more.
<waitXX> - Add an arbitrary pause before sending any additional keys.
The format of XX is a sequence of positive decimal numbers, each with
optional fraction and a unit suffix, such as 300ms, 1.5h or 2h45m.
Valid time units are ns, us (or µs), ms, s, m, h. For
example <wait10m> or <wait1m20s>.
<XXXOn> <XXXOff> - Any printable keyboard character, and of these
"special" expressions, with the exception of the <wait> types, can
also be toggled on or off. For example, to simulate ctrl+c, use
<leftCtrlOn>c<leftCtrlOff>. Be sure to release them, otherwise they
will be held down until the machine reboots. To hold the c key down,
you would use <cOn>. Likewise, <cOff> to release.
{{ .HTTPIP }} {{ .HTTPPort }} - The IP and port, respectively of an
HTTP server that is started serving the directory specified by the
http_directory configuration parameter. If http_directory isn't
specified, these will be blank!
{{ .Name }} - The name of the VM.
Example boot command. This is actually a working boot command used to start an
CentOS 6.4 installer:
For more examples of various boot commands, see the sample projects from our
community templates page.
Optional:
boot_keygroup_interval (duration string | ex: "1h5m2s") - Time to wait after sending a group of key pressses. The value of this
should be a duration. Examples are 5s and 1m30s which will cause
Packer to wait five seconds and one minute 30 seconds, respectively. If
this isn't specified, a sensible default value is picked depending on
the builder type.
boot_wait (duration string | ex: "1h5m2s") - The time to wait after booting the initial virtual machine before typing
the boot_command. The value of this should be a duration. Examples are
5s and 1m30s which will cause Packer to wait five seconds and one
minute 30 seconds, respectively. If this isn't specified, the default is
10s or 10 seconds. To set boot_wait to 0s, use a negative number, such
as "-1s"
boot_command ([]string) - This is an array of commands to type when the virtual machine is first
booted. The goal of these commands should be to type just enough to
initialize the operating system installer. Special keys can be typed as
well, and are covered in the section below on the boot command. If this
is not specified, it is assumed the installer will start itself.
Integration Services
Packer will automatically attach the integration services ISO as a DVD drive
for the version of Hyper-V that is running.
Generation 1 vs Generation 2
Floppy drives are no longer supported by generation 2 machines. This requires
you to take another approach when dealing with preseed or answer files. Two
possible options are using your own virtual DVD drives, the cd_files option,
or using Packer's built in web server.
When dealing with Windows you need to enable UEFI drives for generation 2
virtual machines.
Creating an ISO From a Directory
Programs like mkisofs can be used to create an ISO from a directory. There is
a windows version of
mkisofs available.
Below is a working PowerShell script that can be used to create a Windows
answer ISO:
-> Warning: Please note that if you're setting up WinRM for provisioning, you'll probably want to turn it off or restrict its permissions as part of a shutdown script at the end of Packer's provisioning process. For more details on the why/how, check out this useful blog post and the associated code:
https://cloudywindows.io/post/winrm-for-provisioning-close-the-door-on-the-way-out-eh/
Example For Ubuntu Vivid Generation 2
If you are running Windows under virtualization, you may need to create a
virtual switch with an External connection type.
-> Note for *nix guests: Please note that Packer requires the VM to be
running a hyper-v KVP daemon in order to detect the IP address of the guest VM.
On RHEL based machines this may require installing the package hyperv-daemons
and ensuring the hypervkvpd service is started at boot. On Debian based
machines, you may need linux-cloud-tools-common for hv_kvp_daemon. Failure
to do this may cause packer to wait at Waiting for SSH to become available...
before eventually timing out.
Also note that while the operating system is still being installed by a preseed
file, it is normal to see Waiting for SSH/WinRM to be available and
Error getting SSH/WinRM host: No ip address error messages until the system
is actually installed and ready to be connected to.
