A Windows template is a VM image where a Windows VM instance with installed necessary software such as drives and QGA removes and then regenerates its security identifier (SID, a unique identifier of a user, user group, or computer account). This template can be mainly used to create VM instances in bulk in a custom manner.

• This tutorial uses Windows 10 Enterprise Evaluation 22H2 x64 as an example.
• This tutorial applies to ZStack Cloud V5.5.38.

Prepare the following software and tools for template creation:

• Cloud platform：ZStack Cloud V5.5.38
• Windows image：Obtain the Windows image from the Microsoft website and follow the license terms. This tutorial uses Windows 10 Enterprise Evaluation 22H2 x64.
• GuestTools：Use the GuestTools media provided by the cloud platform. This tutorial uses version 5.5.0.

The following details the whole process of how to encapsulate a Windows 10 template.

Add a Windows 10 image to ZStack Cloud. This image is used to install the operating system.

Create a VM instance and install the operating system by using the Windows 10 image you added in the previous step.

Create a VM Instance

On the main menu of ZStack Cloud, choose Resource Center > Resource Pool > Virtual Resource > VM Instance. On the VM Instance page, click Create VM Instance. On the displayed, click on Standard Creation. Then, follow these steps to create a VM instance.

1. Complete the basic configurations.
   Set the following parameters:

   • Name: Enter a name for the VM instance.
   • Description: Optional. Enter a description for the VM instance.
   • Quantity: Enter the number of VM instances to be created. You can create VM instances in bulk.
   • Tag: Optional. Bind one or more tags to the VM instance.
   • Group：Choose a group for the VM instance. If not selected, the VM instance will go to the default group.
   • Set the VM offering by using one of the following methods:
     • Basic Offering: Set the VM offering by selecting an existing instance offering and disk offering.
       • Instance Offering: Select an existing instance offering.
       • Image: Select an existing image.
       • BIOS Mode: Select an BIOS mode for the VM instance. By default, the VM BIOS mode is consistent with the image.
       • Data Volume: Optional. Choose whether to create a data volume and attach it to the VM instance. Here, you do not need to create a data volume.
     • Custom Offering: Set the VM offering by customizing the following VM configurations:
       • CPU: Set the number of CPU cores of the VM instance.
       • Memory: Set the memory size of the VM instance.
       • Image: Select an existing image.
       • BIOS Mode: Select an BIOS mode for the VM instance. By default, the VM BIOS mode is consistent with the image.
       • Data Volume: Optional. Choose whether to create a data volume and attach it to the VM instance. Here, you do not need to create a data volume.
2. Complete the resource configurations.
   Set the following parameters:

   • Network Configurations: Select an L3 network used by the VM instance and complete the network configurations.
     • Network: Select an L3 network used by the VM instance. Supported network types: public network, flat network, and VPC network.
     • Make Default: If you add multiple network configurations, set one of the networks as the default network.
     • Enable SR-IOV: Optional. Choose whether to use SR-IOV to generate a VF NIC and pass it through to the VM instance.
     • Assign IP: Optional. Choose whether to assign an IP address to the VM NIC.
     • MAC Address: Optional. Choose whether to configure a MAC address for the VM instance.
     • Security Group: Optional. Associate a security group with the VM instance.
   • Cluster: Optional. Specify a cluster for the host on which the VM instance is to be started.
   • Storage Allocation Policy: Specify how the Cloud allocates a primary storage.
   • Host: Optional. Select the host on which the VM instance is to be started. If you specified a cluster, select a host from the cluster.
   • vDrive: Optional. Add a virtual drive (vDrive) for the VM instance.
   • GPU: Add a GPU device for the VM instance by specifying a GPU specification or device. The GPU device can be either a physical GPU (pGPU) or a virtual GPU (vGPU).
   • CPU Pinning: Specify the association between the pCPU of the host and the vCPU of the VM instance. Then, the Cloud allocates a pCPU to the VM instance accordingly. This helps to improve the VM performance.
3. Complete the system configurations.
   Set the following parameters:

   • Hostname: Set a hostname for the VM instance.
   • User Data: Optional. Inject user-defined parameters or scripts to customize configurations for the VM instance or to accomplish specific tasks.
   • Console Password: Set a console password for the VM instance.
   • Console Mode: Set the console mode. Options: VNC, SPICE, and VNC+SPICE. Default: VNC.
4. Confirm the information.

   View the information about the VM instance. You can edit the information by clicking the Edit icon.

On the Preview page, click OK. Then, the Windows 10 VM instance is created.

In this example, select 2 vCPUs, 4 GiB memory, an 80 GiB root volume, and UEFI. Disable VirtIO.

Install the Operating System

Click Launch Console on the VM instance details page. Select the language and keyboard settings and accept the license terms as applicable. Select Custom: Install Windows only (advanced), select the new root volume, and click Next.

The system restarts during installation. Reopen the console if disconnected. At OOBE, press Ctrl+Shift+F3 to restart into Audit Mode. When the Sysprep dialog appears, click Cancel and continue with GuestTools installation.

Operating system preparation is designed for generalizing and removing system-specific information such as hardware of a computer via Windows-native System Preparation Tool (Sysprep). To prepare the operating system, follow these steps:

1. Remove temporary files, test data, and personal information. Complete system updates and restart.
2. Open Command Prompt as administrator and run the following commands. This example uses the Cloudbase-Init answer file. Adjust the path if installed elsewhere.

   cd /d "C:\Program Files\Cloudbase Solutions\Cloudbase-Init"
   %WINDIR%\System32\Sysprep\Sysprep.exe /generalize /oobe /shutdown ^
     /unattend:"%CD%\conf\Unattend.xml"

3. Wait for Sysprep to complete and shut down the VM instance automatically. If it fails, resolve the error; a manual shutdown does not replace system preparation. Detach installation and tool ISOs, keep the VM instance stopped, and create the image.

After you create the operating system template successfully, you can create VM instances in bulk in a custom manner by using this image. Also, you can export this image to create VM instances in other cloud platforms.

Create a VM Image

On the VM Instance page, select the target VM instance and choose Actions > Snapshot and Image > Create Image.

On the Create Image page, set the following parameters:

• Name: Enter a name for the image.
• Description: Optional. Enter a description for the image.
• Image Type: Select system image.
• Image Storage: Select an existing image storage.

Click OK. Wait for the creation task to complete and confirm that the image is available.

Note: Keep the source VM instance stopped after system preparation to avoid triggering first-boot initialization again.