Creating and Uploading a Virtual Hard Disk that Contains the Windows Server Operating System

A virtual machine in Windows Azure runs the operating system that you choose when you create the virtual machine. The operating systems are stored in virtual hard disk (.vhd) files. When you create a virtual machine, you can choose a .vhd file that is supplied for you in the Image Gallery, or you can use one that you have uploaded to Windows Azure. This article shows you how to create and upload a .vhd file. For more information about disks and images in Windows Azure, see Manage Disks and Images.

Note: When you create the virtual machine, you can customize the operating system settings to facilitate running your application. The configuration that you set is stored on disk for that virtual machine. For instructions, see How to Create a Custom Virtual Machine.

The following resources must be available to complete this task:

• Server running Hyper-V, with Hyper-V Manager installed. This task depends on using the Hyper-V Manager that is a part of the Hyper-V role in the Windows Server. Multiple tools exist to create .vhd files. This article uses Hyper-V Manager to create the .vhd file that is uploaded to Windows Azure. For more information, see Hyper-V.
• Window Server operating system media.This task requires an .iso file that contains the Windows Server operating system. The following are supported Windows Server distributions:

  OS	SKU	Service Pack	Architecture
  Windows Server 2012	All editions	N/A	x64
  Windows Server 2008 R2	All editions	SP1	x64

• CSUpload command-line tool. This tool is a part of the Windows Azure SDK. You use this tool to set the connection to Windows Azure and upload the .vhd file. You must use the tools available in Windows Azure SDK - June 2012 or later to upload .vhds to Windows Azure. To download the SDK and the tools, see Windows Azure Downloads.

This task includes the following steps:

• Step 1: Install the Hyper-V role on your server
• Step 2: Create the image
• Step 3: Create a storage account in Windows Azure
• Step 4: Prepare the image to be uploaded
• Step 5: Upload the image to Windows Azure

Step 1: Install the Hyper-V role on your server

1. On your server that is running Windows Server 2008, click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Server Manager.

2. In the Roles Summary area, click Add Roles.

   

3. On the Select Server Roles page, click Hyper-V.

4. On the Create Virtual Networks page, click one or more network adapters if you want to make their network connection available to virtual machines.

5. On the Confirm Installation Selections page, click Install.

6. The computer must be restarted to complete the installation. Click Close to finish the wizard, and then click Yes to restart the computer.

7. After you restart the computer, log on with the same account you used to install the role. When the installation is complete, click Close to finish the wizard.

   You can now see the Hyper-V role installed on the server:

   

Step 2: Create the image

An image is a virtual hard disk (.vhd) file that you can use as a template to create a new virtual machine. An image is a template because it doesn’t have specific settings like a configured virtual machine, such as the computer name and user account settings. The .vhd contains the operating system, any operating system customizations, and your applications. You can create the .vhd by completing the following steps in Hyper-V.

1. On your server, click Start, click All Programs, click Administrative Tools, and then click Hyper-V Manager.

2. In the Actions pane of Hyper-V Manager, click New, and then click Virtual Machine.

   

3. In the New Virtual Machine Wizard, provide a name and a location for the virtual machine, the amount of memory that you want the virtual machine to use, and the network adapter that you want the virtual machine to use.

   You will be asked to provide information for the virtual hard disk that is used for creating the virtual machine.

   

4. On the Connect Virtual Hard Disk page, select Create a virtual hard disk. Provide the following information, and then click Next:

   • Name - the name of the .vhd file. This is the file that you upload to Windows Azure.
   • Location - the folder where the .vhd file is located. You should store the .vhd file in a secure location.
   • Size - the size of the virtual hard disk. The maximum size for a virtual hard disk that is intended for an operating system disk in Windows Azure is 127 GB.

5. On the Installation Options page, select Install an operating system from a boot CD/DVD –ROM media, and then choose the method that is appropriate for your installation media.

   

6. Finish the wizard to create the virtual machine.

After the virtual machine is created it is not started by default. You must start the virtual machine to complete the installation of the operating system.

1. In the center pane of Hyper-V Manager, select the virtual machine that you created in the previous procedure.

2. In the Actions pane, click Start.

   

3. Click Connect to open the window for the virtual machine.

   

4. Finish the installation of the operating system. For more information about installing the operating system, see Install and Deploy Windows Server.

Step 3: Create a storage account in Windows Azure

A storage account represents the highest level of the namespace for accessing the storage services and is associated with your Windows Azure subscription. You need a storage account in Windows Azure to upload a .vhd file to Windows Azure that can be used for creating a virtual machine. You can create a storage account by using the Windows Azure Management Portal.

1. Sign in to the Windows Azure Management Portal.

2. On the command bar, click New.

   

3. Click Storage Account, and then click Quick Create.

   

   The Create a New Storage Account dialog box appears.

   

4. Enter a subdomain name to use in the URL for the storage account. The entry can contain from 3-24 lowercase letters and numbers. This value becomes the host name within the URL that is used to address Blob, Queue, or Table resources for the subscription.

5. Choose the region or affinity group that will contain the storage account. By specifying an affinity group, you can co-locate your cloud services in the same data center with your storage.

6. Choose whether you need geo-replication for the storage account. Geo-replication is turned on by default. During geo-replication, your data is replicated to a secondary location, at no cost to you, so that your storage fails over seamlessly to a secondary location in the event of a major failure that can't be handled in the primary location. The secondary location is assigned automatically, and can't be changed. If legal requirements or organizational policy requires tighter control over the location of your cloud-based storage, you can turn off geo-replication. However, be aware that if you later turn on geo-replication, you will be charged a one-time data transfer fee to replicate your existing data to the secondary location. Storage services without geo-replication are offered at a discount.

7. Click Create Storage Account.

   The account is now listed under Storage Accounts.

   

Step 4: Prepare the image to be uploaded

Before the image can be uploaded to Windows Azure, it must be generalized by using the Sysprep command. For more information about using Sysprep, see How to Use Sysprep: An Introduction.

In the virtual machine that you just created, complete the following procedure:

1. Open a Command Prompt window as an administrator.

   

2. Change the directory to %windir%\system32\sysprep, and then run sysprep.exe.

   The System Preparation Tool dialog box appears.

   

3. In System Cleanup Action, select Enter System Out-of-Box Experience (OOBE) and make sure that Generalize is checked.

4. In Shutdown Options, select Shutdown.

5. Click OK.

Step 5: Upload the image to Windows Azure

To upload an image contained in a .vhd file to Windows Azure, perform the following steps:

1. Create and install a management certificate.
2. Obtain the thumbprint of the certificate and the subscription ID.
3. Set the connection.
4. Upload the .vhd file.

Create and install the management certificate

You can create a management certificate in a variety of ways. For more information about creating certificates, see Create a Management Certificate for Windows Azure. After you create the certificate, add it to your subscription in Windows Azure.

1. Sign in to the Windows Azure Management Portal.

2. In the navigation pane, click Settings.

3. Under Management Certificates, click Upload a management certificate.

4. In Upload a management certificate, browse to the certificate file, and then click OK.

Obtain the thumbprint of the certificate and the subscription ID

You need the thumbprint of the management certificate that you added and you need the subscription ID to be able to upload the .vhd file to Windows Azure.

1. From the Management Portal, click Settings.

2. Under Management Certificates, click your certificate, and then record the thumbprint from the Properties pane by copying and pasting it to a location where you can retrieve it later.

You also need the ID of your subscription to upload the .vhd file.

1. From the Management Portal, click All Items.

2. In the center pane, under Subscription, copy the subscription and paste it to a location where you can retrieve it later.

Set the connection

You must set the connection string that is used to access the subscription. The CSUpload Command-Line Tool is used to set the connection string that is used. For more information, see CSUpload Command-Line Tool.

1. Open a Windows Azure SDK Command Prompt window as an administrator.

2. Set the connection string by using the following command and replacing Subscriptionid and CertThumbprint with the values that you obtained earlier:

   csupload Set-Connection "SubscriptionID=<Subscriptionid>; CertificateThumbprint=<Thumbprint>; ServiceManagementEndpoint=https:/management.core.windows.net"

Upload the .vhd file

For this task, you upload the .vhd file to be used as an image for creating virtual machines. You use the CSUpload command-line tool be used to upload a .vhd file to the Image Gallery in Windows Azure.

1. Use the same Command Prompt window that you opened to set the connection string.

2. Upload the .vhd file by using the following command and replacing Subscriptionid and CertThumbprint with the values that you obtained earlier and where BlobStorageURL is the URL for the storage account that you created earlier:

   csupload Add-PersistentVMImage -Destination "<BlobStorageURL>/<YourImagesFolder>/<VHDName>" -Label <VHDName> -LiteralPath <PathToVHDFile> -OS Windows

You can place the .vhd file anywhere within your Blog storage. YourImagesFolder is the container within blob storage where you want to store your images. VHDName is the label that appears in the Management Portal to identify the virtual hard disk. PathToVHDFile is the full path and name of the .vhd file.