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Packer: "press any key to boot from CD/DVD" issue

  • July 9, 2024
  • 3 replies
  • 1362 views
T

Hi,

I have a successful gold image build for Windows Server 2022 that runs all the way through - building from ISO’s in the image library all run from Packer and ending up with a sysprep’d ‘disk’ in the Image library able to be deployed from…  All apart from I manually have to catch the first boot of the Packer build and hit ‘any key’ to enable the initial boot from the attached ISO.

In the ESXi version of the Packer plugin, there’s “boot_command” and boot_wait” options, but nothing like this seems to exist in the Nutanix Packer plugin (0.9.0)

Has anyone got a solution to this problem?  Seems pretty basic!

Thanks in advance

Tim

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3 replies

mikkisse
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  • mikkisse
  • Vanguard
  • 99 replies
  • July 9, 2024

Hello

Apart from everything, if we’re talking about AHV, not ESXi, “press any key to boot from CD/DVD” in Windows, looks like a missing VirtIO driver - it’s a common problem when running Windows images/templates from other non-kvm hypervisors on AHV.

 

JeroenTielen
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  • JeroenTielen
  • Vanguard
  • 1788 replies
  • July 10, 2024

The “press any key to boot from CD/DVD” comes from the windows installation media. Eject the cd and it will be gone. Or just ignore it and it will boot from disk. 

Nutanix NTC 2022+2023+2024+2025 || Nutanix NUG Champion || Nutanix Certified Instructor
T
  • TimLang
  • Author
  • Voyager
  • 2 replies
  • July 10, 2024

Hello

Apart from everything, if we’re talking about AHV, not ESXi, “press any key to boot from CD/DVD” in Windows, looks like a missing VirtIO driver - it’s a common problem when running Windows images/templates from other non-kvm hypervisors on AHV.

 

Nope - it’s before the drives stage (they load fine from another ISO) - it’s the very first power up start on first boot.

The “press any key to boot from CD/DVD” comes from the windows installation media. Eject the cd and it will be gone. Or just ignore it and it will boot from disk. 

Wrong way round - I need it to boot from the ISO - this is a build from ISO using Packer…

 

So I’ve followed this advice:

Extract Windows ISO to a folder and:

1) Delete efisys.bin and cdboot.efi in extracted setup media in \efi\microsoft\boot
2) Rename efisys_noprompt.bin to efisys.bin
3) Rename cdboot_noprompt.efi to cdboot.efi
4) Build ISO again

(How to remove "Press any key to boot from CD or DVD" | NTLite Forums)

This works now - the system boots straight into the ISO and starts the Packer build - through the PE section, then reboots and boots from ISO afresh and starts the whole process again!

I’m locked in a loop of Windows ‘Starting Setup’ over and over…

Any ideas?

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