Using the Diskimage-Builder PowerShell script

This page thoroughly documents the use of this PowerShell script to obtain valid vdh/vhdx/qcow2 Windows disks from an installation .iso image.

Prerequisites:

Start a PowerShell session from :

> start powershell

Downloading and installing dependencies:

Download and install :

PS> (New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadFile("https://msysgit.googlecode.com/files/Git-1.9.0-preview20140217.exe", "$HOME\Git-1.9.0-preview20140217.exe")
PS> cmd.exe /C call $HOME\Git-1.9.0-preview20140217.exe /SILENT

For , download and install the latest tools(as of the making of this article, build date 08.01.2014):

PS> (New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadFile("http://qemu.weilnetz.de/w64/qemu-w64-setup-20140801.exe", "$HOME\qemu-w64-setup-20140801.exe")
PS> cmd.exe /C call $HOME\qemu-w64-setup-20140801.exe /SILENT

Add all dependencies to path, both to the environment variable and for the current session:

PS> $newPath = "$env:Path;${env:ProgramFiles(x86)}\Git\cmd;${env:ProgramFiles}\qemu"
PS> $env:Path = $newPath
PS> setx PATH $newPath

Getting the script:

PS> cd $HOME
PS> git clone https://github.com/slokesh184/windows-diskimage-builder

Running the script:

Start a new PowerShell session as administrator:

PS> Start-Process PowerShell -Verb RunAs

Getting at the file of an :

PS> $mountpoint = Mount-DiskImage -ImagePath C:\Absolute\Path\To\Your\Iso\Image.iso -PassThru
PS> $wimfilePath = ($mountpoint | Get-Volume).DriveLetter + ":\sources\install.wim"

# AFTER succesfully using the .wim in the script, don't forget to dismount the .iso:
PS> Dismount-DiskImage -ImagePath C:\Absolute\Path\To\Your\Iso\Image.iso

Creating a or :

• Note: For .vhdx output, simply provide a VHDFile name with the .vhdx extension.

  PS> cd $HOME\windows-diskimage-builder\windows-diskimage-builder
  # previous steps for obtaining the $wimfilePath are assumed to have been done
  PS> .\diskimagebuilder.ps1 -SourceFile $wimfilePath -VHDFile $HOME\resultingDiskImage.vhd -VHDSize 16

• Notes:

  • The script tries to use tools from the HyperV module by default.
  • If for some reason HyperV is unavailable for import, the script will revert to using DiskPart which is present on all Windows systems.
  • Should the above occur, the script will initially spew out a couple of errors but will continue to run properly after the fallback to DiskPart.

Creating a :

PS> .\diskimagebuilder.ps1 -SourceFile $wimfilePath -VHDFile $HOME\resultingDiskImage.vhd -VHDSize 16 -OutputFormat qcow2 -VirtIOPath C:\Absolute\Path\To\VirtIO.iso

• Notes:

  • If operating on qcow2's; applyiong the drivers from the VirtIO .iso is absolutely necessary
  • Even when creating a .qcow2, the name of the resulting file must have the .vhd extension, lest DiskPart will fail at processing it.
  • After the execution of the script, the result will indeed be a .qcow2 as the script puts the proper extension towards the end of its execution.

FAILURE NOTICE:

• If for some reason after attempting to create a .qcow2 diskimage you see that no output file was produced, it is because of a failure to call qemu and the script deleting the output by default. To try and debug such a problem, type "qemu-img.exe" in the PowerShell prompt and see what happens:

  • if PowerShell says it cannot find it, recheck to make sure the qemu tools are installed/set to path (review initial instructions).
  • if there is no output whatsoever, it means that there was a problem with the qemu-img binary; in which case you should either try reinstalling the above or another one from their downloads page (choose any one of the "qemu-w64-setup-release_date.exe"'s).

Script parameters and options:

• -SourceFile C:\Path\To\Wim\File.wim

  • absolute path to the .wim file which will be used as input.
• -VHDFile C:\Path\To\Output\File.vhd

  • absolute path to the script's output file;
  • must have the .vhd extension initially, even when creating a qcow2.
  • if qcow2 is selected, output's extention is changed to ".qcow2" automatically.
  • represents the exact path to the output file, which must NOT exist beforehand.
• -VHDSize 16

  • maximum size in GB of the resulting vhd/qcow2 image
  • for most Windows installations, I reccommend at the very least 12, prefferably 16.
  • all output disks are resizeable, so initial size of output may be a lot less than this value.
• -CloudbaseInitMsiUrl http://someplace.net/someothercloudbaseinit.msi

  • link to the CloudBaseInit.msi that is to be added to the image.
  • default is http://www.cloudbase.it/downloads/CloudbaseInitSetup_Beta.msi
  • the .msi together with a .cmd to execute it are put in the resulting disk under Disk:\Windows\Setup\Scripts
• -UnattendedPath C:\Absolute\Path\To\Unattended.xml

  • path to the .xml file which is to be used in unattended mode.
  • default is the Unattended.mxl that can be found right beside the script.
  • the .xml file is placed directly in the root directory of the created image.
• -DriversPath C:\Absolute\Path\To\Drivers\Folder

  • path to a folder containing drivers that are to be added to the disk.
  • default is none, in which case no additional drivers will be added to the disk image.
• -VirtIOPath C:\Absolute\Path\To\VirtIO.iso

  • path to a VirtIO .iso from which VirtIO drivers mean to be installed.
  • default is none, in which case no additional drivers will be installed to the disk image.
• -Feature feature

  • feature to be enabled in the final disk image (ex: TFTP, IIS-WebServer, etc...)
  • this script only specifically enables one feature per image, the default being none.
  • the feature are enabled in the image by DISM.exe, for a full list of features, please review this webpage.
• -DiskLayout UEFI

  • the layout of the resulting disk, used if booting the disk in UEFI mode is desired.
  • default value is BIOS.
• -Index 3

  • index of the .wim supplied as input, if applicable.
  • default value is 1 and it will work in the vast majority of cases.
• -SerialBaudRate 8400

  • baudrate of the serial port that is to be added to the disk.
  • default is 9600 and will work fine in the vast majority of cases.