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Windows on linode #501

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Fixed spacing issues and added image comments.
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Scott Lott authored and Scott Lott committed Jun 25, 2016
commit 9ccb69b42e2b2da464392afe4414d2b15d4576e0
194 changes: 126 additions & 68 deletions docs/tools-reference/windows-on-linode/installing-windows-on-linode-vps.md
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Expand Up @@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ description: 'Run Windows 7/Windows Server 2012 or newer on Servers.'
keywords: 'windows, windows server, windows 10, windows 8, windows 7, windows server 2012, windows server 2012 R2, windows 8.1, kvm'
license: '[CC BY-ND 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0)'
published: 'Friday, June 24th, 2016'
modified: Weekday, Month 00th, 2015
modified: Friday, June 24th, 2016
modified_by:
name: Scott Lott
title: 'Windows on Linode'
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -49,35 +49,42 @@ The first step of the process is to make a Windows based virtual machine that is
1. Head over to the [VirtualBox Website](https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads) and download a free copy of VirtualBox for the host OS you're using. Install VirtualBox and open it up.

2. Now let's make the VM. You can give it whatever name makes sense to you.
![Naming your virtual machine.](images/vm1.jpg)

![Naming your virtual machine.](images/vm1.jpg)

3. 2GB of ram is fine, this just needs to be enough to run the VM on your local machine.
![Setting the ram.](images/vm2.jpg)

![Setting the ram.](images/vm2.jpg)

4. Hit "Next" through the defaults until this screen. We need the VM to have exactly 24GB to match the Linode VPS we're going to copy this to later.
![Make a virtual disk right away.](images/vm6.jpg)

![Make a virtual disk right away.](images/vm6.jpg)

5. Now attach the Windows ISO to the VM.
![Attaching an ISO file.](images/vm7.jpg)

![Attaching an ISO file.](images/vm7.jpg)

6. Boot up the VM and setup Windows. Once you're on the Windows Desktop, you're ready for the next step.
{: .caution}
>
> * Don't install any programs or add files to the system at this point! We need it to be as light on disk space as possible.
> * If possible, don't yet activate Windows. Wait until after Windows is installed on the Linode VPS to activate it. The change in hardware will likely force the need for a second activation if you do it now.
> * Don't install the VirtualBox Guest additions, they'll just get in your way and needlessly fluff up the system.
![Windows 10 is up and running!](images/vm9.jpg)

![Windows 10 is up and running!](images/vm9.jpg)

7. Now we need to enable remote desktop. There is an [article on How-To Geek](http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/turn-on-remote-desktop-in-windows-vista/) on this for all modern Windows systems. The screenshots below outline how it can be done in Windows 10 Enterprise.

7.1 Go to the control panel, then System & Security.
![Windows 10 Control Panel.](images/vm10.jpg)

![Windows 10 Control Panel.](images/vm10.jpg)

7.2 Select "Allow Remote Access" under the "System" heading.
![System Settings in the Control Panel.](images/vm11.jpg)

![System Settings in the Control Panel.](images/vm11.jpg)

7.3 Make sure the "Allow Remote Connections" option is checked. I unchecked the secure option to keep things simple for now, this is an easy setting to adjust later in production mode.
![Make sure we can connect to this VM later.](images/vm12.jpg)

![Make sure we can connect to this VM later.](images/vm12.jpg)

8. Now that we have remote desktop enabled, lets shutdown the Windows VM and minimize VirtualBox. We're going to work on someting else for the next few minutes.

Expand All @@ -87,129 +94,180 @@ In the last step we prepared a Windows system to send over the wire to a VPS, bu
1. Create a new "2048" VPS. I know that's crazy small, we'll go over how to resize to a larger VPS later. For now, it's just easier to keep the resources identical to the local VM.

2. Once the VM is created, we're going to make a single disk using the settings below.
![VPS Disk Settings.](images/lin2.jpg)

![VPS Disk Settings.](images/lin2.jpg)

3. Now we need a Configuration Profile that will boot Windows. The settings below get it done.
![Configuratio Manager part 1.](images/lin4.jpg)
..
![Configuration Manager part 2.](images/lin5.jpg)

![Configuratio Manager part 1.](images/lin4.jpg)
...
![Configuration Manager part 2.](images/lin5.jpg)

4. Next we boot the VPS into Rescue Mode and access it via the Glish interface.
![Booting into resuce mode.](images/lin6.jpg)
The Glish option is under the "Remote Access" tab.
![Getting Glish up for us.](images/lin7.jpg)

![Booting into resuce mode.](images/lin6.jpg)

The Glish option is under the "Remote Access" tab.

![Getting Glish up for us.](images/lin7.jpg)

5. Set a password using the `passwd` command.
![Getting Glish up for us.](images/lin8.jpg)

![Setting VPS Password for SSH.](images/lin8.jpg)

6. Now start up the SSH server with `service ssh start`.
![Getting Glish up for us.](images/lin9.jpg)

![Starting up SSH.](images/lin9.jpg)

7. We're almost done here! Before the next step, we need to know where are primary disk is. We can do that with `fdisk -l`.
![Getting Glish up for us.](images/lin10.jpg)
We can see a few disks here, but only one of them is 24 GiB, the exact size we set our primary disk before! Knowing the size, we can see above that the primary disk is located at "/dev/sda". Let's write that down and label it "Remote Disk Location". Once you write it down, go ahead and close the Glish window but keep your VPS running.

![Checking out the disks on the VPS.](images/lin10.jpg)

We can see a few disks here, but only one of them is 24 GiB, the exact size we set our primary disk before! Knowing the size, we can see above that the primary disk is located at "/dev/sda". Let's write that down and label it "Remote Disk Location". Once you write it down, go ahead and close the Glish window but keep your VPS running.

## We Need To Move Your Windows, All Of Them
Okay, we've got both ends setup now and we're ready to copy the Windows system over to VPS.

We're going back to the local Windows Virtual Machine. We need to boot it up with Finnix instead of Windows. If you haven't already downloaded Finnix you can do so [here](http://www.finnix.org/Download).

1. Select the Finnix ISO to boot in VirtualBox.
![Selecting the Finnix ISO.](images/vm13.jpg)

![Selecting the Finnix ISO.](images/vm13.jpg)

2. Bootup Finnix and select the 64-bit boot option.
![Finnix boot screen.](images/vm14.jpg)
Once you get the command line you're good to go.
![Finnix command line.](images/vm15.jpg)

![Finnix boot screen.](images/vm14.jpg)

Once you get the command line you're good to go.

![Finnix command line.](images/vm15.jpg)

3. We need to know what disk to copy, let's see what disks are present with `fdisk -l`.
![Getting Glish up for us.](images/tran1.jpg)
We can see that "/dev/sda" has a 24 GiB size, this is our primary disk! Write down that disk location and label it "Local Disk Location". On this virtual machine we can see it's "/dev/sda", yours is probably the same but we still need to make 100% sure.

![Getting Glish up for us.](images/tran1.jpg)

We can see that "/dev/sda" has a 24 GiB size, this is our primary disk! Write down that disk location and label it "Local Disk Location". On this virtual machine we can see it's "/dev/sda", yours is probably the same but we still need to make 100% sure.

4. Alright, we're ready to transfer the Windows HDD over to the VPS with the following command:
dd if={Local Disk Location} | pv | gzip -9 | ssh root@{VPS IP} "gzip -d | dd of={Remote Disk Location}"
Where {Local Disk Location} \== your local disk location we found, {Remote Disk Location} \== the remote disk location we found, and {VPS IP} \== the IP address of your Linode VPS. For example, my command looks like this:
dd if=/dev/sda | pv | gzip -9 | ssh root@45.33.41.131 "gzip -d | dd of=/dev/sda"
Once you start the command, you'll likely get asked to accept a certficiate. Type "yes" and enter, then type the password you set earlier for the VPS when prompted. The transfer will begin once the password is accepted.
![Starting the transfer.](images/tran2.jpg)
This can take a while, up to a few hours. Take a nap, let this run overnight, walk the dog, etc.
*The command used in this step was originally contributed by [Nathan Sweet](https://github.com/NathanSweet).*
dd if={Local Disk Location} | pv | gzip -9 | ssh root@{VPS IP} "gzip -d | dd of={Remote Disk Location}"
Where {Local Disk Location} \== your local disk location we found, {Remote Disk Location} \== the remote disk location we found, and {VPS IP} \== the IP address of your Linode VPS. For example, my command looks like this:
dd if=/dev/sda | pv | gzip -9 | ssh root@45.33.41.131 "gzip -d | dd of=/dev/sda"
Once you start the command, you'll likely get asked to accept a certficiate. Type "yes" and enter, then type the password you set earlier for the VPS when prompted. The transfer will begin once the password is accepted.

![Starting the transfer.](images/tran2.jpg)

This can take a while, up to a few hours. Take a nap, let this run overnight, walk the dog, etc.
*The command used in this step was originally contributed by [Nathan Sweet](https://github.com/NathanSweet).*

5. When the transfer completes, we should see something like this:
![Starting the transfer.](images/tran3.jpg)
At this point we can shutdown the local vm with `shutdown -h now` and delete the VM completely from our computer.
![Starting the transfer.](images/tran4.jpg)

![Transfer completed!](images/tran3.jpg)

At this point we can shutdown the local vm with `shutdown -h now` and delete the VM completely from our computer.

![Removing the local VM.](images/tran4.jpg)

## Finishing Up & RDP
1. We need to go back to our Glish window for the VPS. When you bring the Glish window back up the screen will just be black, press a button to wake it up and see the command line like we left it. Lets do a restart with `reboot`.
![Starting the transfer.](images/fin1.jpg)

![Restarting Linode VPS.](images/fin1.jpg)

2. Once the VPS shuts down it's going to cancel the current Glish session so close the Glish window when this happens. Then, reopen the Glish window. You should be seeing a Windows boot logo and finally a login screen. Success!
![Starting the transfer.](images/fin2.jpg)
Your mouse doesn't work, that's okay because we're going to use a different protocol from here on out for remote access to your VPS, RDP. Let's close the Glish window one last time.

![Windows login on Linode! Woohoo!](images/fin2.jpg)

Your mouse doesn't work, that's okay because we're going to use a different protocol from here on out for remote access to your VPS, RDP. Let's close the Glish window one last time.

3. Time to connect to your VPS with RDP. We have to setup an RDP Client on our host computer.
3.1 **Windows Host**: Press the Windows Key + R and type "mstsc" then press enter.
3.2 **OS X Host**: Download the free [Remote Desktop App](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/microsoft-remote-desktop/id715768417?mt=12) from the App Store.
3.3 **Linux Host**: Visit [this page](https://github.com/FreeRDP/Remmina/wiki) and follow the instructions to install Remmina RDP client.

4. Once you get the RDP application up, it's time to connect to your VPS. The "Computer" we're connecting to is the IP Address for your VPS. The OS X and Linux RDP clients will look different, but configuration should be identical.
![Starting the transfer.](images/fin3.jpg)

![Standard Windows RDP application.](images/fin3.jpg)

5. The next few images are just going through the final connection steps:
![Starting the transfer.](images/fin4.jpg)
![Starting the transfer.](images/fin5.jpg)
![Starting the transfer.](images/fin6.jpg)
And Voila! We should now be remotely connected to Windows running on your VPS. Technically you could stop here but there's some more loose ends we should take care of.
![Starting the transfer.](images/fin7.jpg)

![Trusting the RDP Connection](images/fin4.jpg)

We use the manually login option, using the login details we set for our Windows system when we installed it.

![Logging in using the details we set for the windows install.](images/fin5.jpg)

![Accepting the certificate.](images/fin6.jpg)

And Voila! We should now be remotely connected to Windows running on your VPS. Technically you could stop here but there's some more loose ends we should take care of.

![Windows 10 settings on Linode VPS.](images/fin7.jpg)

## Making the Drive Bigger
Now that we've got Windows running on our VPS we need to give it some extra space. 25 GB will get filled up instantly on any Windows install so let's do this.

1. Disconnect your RDP session, then go into the Linode Manager and disable Lassie for your VPS.

2. Reconnect to the VPS using Glish like we did before. Once the black Glish window appears, hit the spacebar to bring the screen to life and show the login page. We need to perform a proper Windows shutdown since we're resizing the disks. By tapping the "Tab" and arrow keys you can navigate to the power icon and press enter. Then select shutdown from the dropdown list using the arrows and enter key once again.
![Starting the transfer.](images/res1.jpg)
Close the glish window once it shuts down.

![Windows login on Glish.](images/res1.jpg)

Close the glish window once it shuts down.

3. Resize your VPS to whatever size you'd like now that it's shut down. I'm just going to bump up to the 4096.
![Starting the transfer.](images/res2.jpg)

![Resizing the Linode.](images/res2.jpg)

4. Edit the single disk on your VPS to make it larger to acomodate the bigger disk size.
![Starting the transfer.](images/res3.jpg)

![Make the disk bigger!](images/res3.jpg)

5. Once that's all done it's time to reboot into rescue mode again, we're going to use Finnix to resize the Windows partition. Once it boots up, bring up the Glish console.
![Starting the transfer.](images/lin6.jpg)
Then on the Remote Access tab...
![Starting the transfer.](images/lin7.jpg)

![Back into rescue mode.](images/lin6.jpg)

Then on the Remote Access tab...

![Confirming the drive to edit.](images/lin7.jpg)

6. We need to resize the partition container first, fdisk is the best tool for this. Our Windows partition should be at /dev/sda2 but lets just confirm that with a `fdisk -l`
![Starting the transfer.](images/res4.jpg)
We can see that our primary disk is still at /dev/sda by seeing that it's 48 GiB in size, exactly how big we set in the Linode Manager in step 4. Under /dev/sda we see two partitions, one of them is 23.5G, that's almost exactly the same size we set our original Windows partition a while ago. So sure enough, /dev/sda2 is our primary partition. Let's get to work on it.

![Use FDisk to find the right partition.](images/res4.jpg)

We can see that our primary disk is still at /dev/sda by seeing that it's 48 GiB in size, exactly how big we set in the Linode Manager in step 4. Under /dev/sda we see two partitions, one of them is 23.5G, that's almost exactly the same size we set our original Windows partition a while ago. So sure enough, /dev/sda2 is our primary partition. Let's get to work on it.

7. Lets dive into the primary disk, type `fdisk /dev/sda`. Replace '/dev/sda' with the primary disk you found in the previous step. Next press 'd'. You'll be asked for a partition number. The partition number is the last number of the partition location in the last step, for example we'd type a '2' here to target /dev/sda2. Once we press enter the command will get executed.
![Starting the transfer.](images/res5.jpg)
Don't worry about the whole "Partition has been deleted" message. We'll take care of that in the next step.

![Removing the existing partition.](images/res5.jpg)

Don't worry about the whole "Partition has been deleted" message. We'll take care of that in the next step.

8. Okay, now lets remake the partition at a larger size. Type 'n', then enter, 'p', then enter. Next give it the partition number we've been using (probably 2). For the First Sector just press enter to apply the default, finally the Last Sector should be as high as possible, also usually the default so just press enter again.
![Starting the transfer.](images/res6.jpg)
8. Okay, now lets remake the partition at a larger size. Type 'n', then enter, 'p', then enter. Next give it the partition number we've been using (probably 2). For the First Sector it needs to stay exactly the same as it was before. Just press enter to apply the default, finally the Last Sector should be as high as possible, also usually the default so just press enter again.

![Putting the partition back.](images/res6.jpg)

9. To finish up with fdisk we'll set the partition type then write the changes to disk. Type "t" to go into partition type mode, select the same partition as before, then provide "7" as the partition type. Finally, type "w" to commit changes and press enter. All done with fdisk!
![Starting the transfer.](images/res8.jpg)

![Setting the partition type correctly.](images/res8.jpg)

10. Now that we've resized the physical disk and the partition container, we need to resize the partition itself. Let's type `ntfsresize --info /dev/sda2` (replace /dev/sda2 with whatver the primary partition is) into the Glish window to see how things are going.
![Starting the transfer.](images/res9.jpg)
Notice space in use shows 49%, exactly what we want to see since we doubled the disk size from it's original. Let's go ahead and resize the NTFS partition.

![Resizing the NTFS partition.](images/res9.jpg)

Notice space in use shows 49%, exactly what we want to see since we doubled the disk size from it's original. Let's go ahead and resize the NTFS partition.

11. I resized to a 48GB VPS, so the command I'm going to use is:
ntfsresize --size 48G /dev/sda2
You'll replace "48G" with the GB size of the VPS you have and "/dev/sda2" with your primary partition. When prompted to confirm accept with the enter key and the resize will happen.
![Starting the transfer.](images/res11.jpg)
Don't worry about oversizing the partition, ntfsresize won't let you. It's possible to play with the GB number a little to get a bit more space out of the system, your mileage may vary.
ntfsresize --size 48G /dev/sda2

You'll replace "48G" with the GB size of the VPS you have and "/dev/sda2" with your primary partition. When prompted to confirm accept with the enter key and the resize will happen.

![Applying the resize to our partition.](images/res11.jpg)

Don't worry about oversizing the partition, ntfsresize won't let you. It's possible to play with the GB number a little to get a bit more space out of the system, your mileage may vary.

12. That's it! The resize is complete, shutdown with `shutdown -h now`, turn Lassie back on, then boot up your Windows VPS normally with the new larger disk! Once you access it via RDP you should see all the new space and other resouces!
![Starting the transfer.](images/res12.jpg)

![Showing the larger resources available to this VPS.](images/res12.jpg)

{: .caution}
>
>This process almost always causes windows to do a chkdsk on startup and show the startup recovery options. You can use Glish to skip past most of it or just expect to wait a few minutes for the first boot to finish.

<hr>
Expand Down