Powershell scripts for fast Linux VM provisioning

Features

• Provision Linux VM using cloud-init on Hyper-V in a single command
• Use custom userdata yaml, check cloud-init documentation
• Using Ubuntu Cloud Images certified for Azure and proven to work reliably on Hyper-V with tailored Microsoft kernel included
• Generation 1 for Azure migration friendliness or Generation 2 Hyper-V virtual machine type supported
• Automatic update check for a newer image on provisioning
• Works on Windows 10, Hyper-V 2016 or later

Example usage

.\New-HyperVCloudImageVM.ps1 -VMProcessorCount 2 -VMMemoryStartupBytes 2GB -VHDSizeBytes 60GB -VMName "ubuntu-1" -ImageVersion "24.04" -VMGeneration 2 -ShowSerialConsoleWindow -KeyboardLayout en -ShowVmConnectWindow -VMMachine_StoragePath "$env:ProgramData\hyperv-vm-provisioning"

Parameter ImageVersion accepts the following values:

• Ubuntu: "18.04", "20.04", "22.04", "22.04-azure", "24.04", "24.04-azure"
• Debian: "10", "11", "12"

Remark/Disclaimer: Azure image types by default supports DataSourceAzure cloud-init type which expects Azure environment. Since we are not emulating Azure cloud-init environment the only way to use those images is to converting those images to NoCloud datasource - this requires at least Windows 11 build 22000 because it uses wsl --mount (see Convert-VHDToNoCloud.ps1).

Default username is admin and password is Passw0rd (easily overriden with script parameters). Use standard parameters as needed: unattended use -Force, get some additional details -Verbose or to make initial checkpoint for VM use -Debug.

You should provide your own custom userdata.yaml as script parameter and customize the final image.

Prerequisites

If you have fresh Windows installation please configure Hyper-V first.

Make sure you have Hyper-V services enabled (run windows powershell as admin)

Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Hyper-V -All

Add Hyper-V management tools

Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Hyper-V-Tools-All -All

Set up WSL if you plan to use Azure images (source)

wsl.exe --install
wsl.exe --install --no-distribution

Download

One line powershell command

Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force; [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol -bor 3072; $r='hyperv-vm-provisioning'; iwr -Uri 'https://github.com/schtritoff/hyperv-vm-provisioning/archive/master.zip' -UseBasicParsing -OutFile "$r.zip" ; Expand-Archive "$r.zip" -Force ; Remove-Item "$r.zip" -Force

Troubleshooting

If you get error ERROR Daemon /proc/net/route contains no routes on serial console then you need to check if your VM has got and IP address - that is requirement for provisioning to work properly. You need to reboot VM after adding IP to finish with provisioning.

If you had download, extracting or image conversion interruptions/failures try to clear cache folder and try again. It could be that local cache files are in dirty state.

If in serial console you get messages 'Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs' you might have set too small VHD size. It is recommended to be at least 40 GB for recent Ubuntu Azure images.

Similar projects and credits

https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/virtual_pc_guy/2015/06/23/building-a-daily-ubuntu-image-for-hyper-v/

https://github.com/MicrosoftDocs/Virtualization-Documentation/blob/master/hyperv-samples/benarm-powershell/Ubuntu-VM-Build/BaseUbuntuBuild.ps1

https://github.com/fdcastel/Hyper-V-Automation/blob/master/New-VMFromUbuntuImage.ps1

https://gist.github.com/PulseBright/3a6fe586821a2ff84cd494eb897d3813

https://gist.github.com/matrey/66d697ef540f0da8933a341524ea9fd7

https://matrey.github.io/articles/build-your-own-ubuntu-ami/

License

public domain or any other license for reused work from original authors