Deploy Windows Nano Server 2016 in vSphere

/ April 25, 2017/ VMware

While studying for my MCSA 2016, i was reading a chapter about deploying a Nano server 2016. In this blog I will describe how you can deploy a Nano server on ESXi.

With other versions of Windows Server standard or datacenter, you can install the core or desktop ui version while booting/mounting the iso.
Because Nano server is smaller than the core Version, it’s only possible to deploy a Nano server while configuring a vhdx or vhd file.

Create a VHDX

Copy the folder “NanoServerImageGenerator” from the 2016 Iso to a local folder ( c:\temp\ )
Start Powershell as an administrator, change the directory to the local folder ( c:\temp\ NanoServerImageGenerator )
PS: Import-Module .\NanoServerImageGenerator -Verbose
Mount the Server 2016 Iso

New-NanoServerImage -Edition Standard -DeploymentType Guest -MediaPath <path to root of media> -BasePath .\Base -TargetPath .\NanoServerVM\NanoServerVM.vhd -ComputerName <computer name>

-Edition = “standard”
-MediaPath = “Root directory of the server 2016 iso”
-Targetpath = “TargetPath for the output file (.vhd or .vhdx )

#Additional, you can add drivers with the -DriversPath command#

In my test lab the following drivers are included ( C:\temp\nano\Drivers\ ) :

VMXNET3;
PVSCSI;

[code language=”Powershell”]

PS C:\Temp\NanoServerImageGenerator> New-NanoServerImage -Edition Standard -DeploymentType Host
-MediaPath C:\temp\Server2016\Core_and_DataCtr_Core_2016_64Bit\ -TargetPath C:\temp\Nano\file\NanoServer5.vhdx
-ComputerName TSTNano5 -DriverPath C:\temp\nano\Drivers\

[/code]

Set the administrator password;

Done, The file is created with the correct file format

Create VM

Create a new VM with the following options;

Guest OS “Windows server 2016”
Change the SCSI controller to VMware Paravirtual ( pvscsi )
Delete the disk
Change the boot firmware to EFI

After creating the vhdx file and vm, you must convert the vhdx file to a VMDK file, For converting this format there are several tools;

StartWind v2v Converter ( https://www.starwindsoftware.com/converter)
WinImage ( 30 days free trail “http://www.winimage.com/download.htm” )

At my home lab I used StartWind v2v Converter, because it is a free tool and straight forward with a lot of options. One of the option is to connect directly to the ESXi host, and convert and upload the vhdx file.

Source Image Location;