Local VM creation with KVM

Local VM creation with KVM on Linux

Creating ZFS pool and base directories

This assumes a pair of SSDs are being used for the VMs data volume.

Here we’ll create the initial ZFS pool and dataset:

# List the block devices:
lsblk
NAME        MAJ:MIN RM    SIZE RO TYPE  MOUNTPOINTS
<snip>
nvme4n1     259:5    0  931.5G  0 disk
nvme5n1     259:7    0  931.5G  0 disk

# Create the ZFS pool:
sudo zpool create \
 -f \
 -o ashift=12 \
 -o autotrim=on \
 -o compatibility=openzfs-2.1-linux \
 -O compression=lz4 \
 -O acltype=posixacl \
 -O xattr=sa \
 -O relatime=off \
 -m none \
 -O encryption=aes-256-gcm \
 -O keylocation=prompt \
 -O keyformat=passphrase \
 vms_data \
 /dev/nvme4n1 /dev/nvme5n1

# Create the mountpoint for the dataset:
sudo zfs create -o mountpoint=/home/patrickmslattery/VMs vms_data/VMs

# Show our volumes and datasets:
zfs list
  NAME                USED  AVAIL  REFER  MOUNTPOINT
  vms_data            996K   899G   192K  none
  vms_data/VMs        192K   899G   192K  /home/patrickmslattery/VMs
  zroot               252G   205G   192K  none
  zroot/ROOT         14.8G   205G   192K  none

# Get ownership of the mount:
sudo chown --changes --recursive patrickmslattery: /home/patrickmslattery/VMs

And next we need a few directories created inside that dataset:

mkdir -p ~/VMs/base_images/Linux/{Fedora,Amazon}
mkdir -p ~/VMs/ISOs/Windows/{2012-R2,2016,2019,2022,2025,VirtIO-Win/{2020,latest}}

Obtaining VHD/ISOs/QCOWs

We next need to obtain the VHD/VHDX, ISO or QCOW files we’ll need for each edition of Windows Server/Linux. Note that some Windows Server editions may not have VHD files available online.

Generally we can download all of the Windows Server install files from the Windows Evaluation Center site from Microsoft. You’ll sometimes have to fill out an evaluation form to get access to the download files.

The included license on these Windows installations is valid for 180 days. After that time you’ll need to recreate the VM from scratch. While there are almost certainly ways available to bypass this 180 day license restriction, there is simply no point in doing so for our needs, we WANT to be able to automate the build, and we are not using these VMs for production in any case.

We’ll be storing all of the downloaded Windows Server VHDs and ISOs under the appropriate ~/VMs/VMs/ISOs/Windows/{edition} folders.

Windows Server 2008 R2

Microsoft no longer provide downloads for the X64 version of Windows 2008 R2, archive.org has copies of the TechNet ISOs

Windows_Server_2008_R2_x64.iso

SHA1 hash: a548d6743129f2a02c907d2758773a1f6bb1bcd7

Windows Server 2012 R2

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/evaluate-windows-server-2012-r2

Windows Server 2016

ISO only

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/evaluate-windows-server-2016

Windows Server 2019

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/evaluate-windows-server-2019

Windows Server 2022

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/evaluate-windows-server-2022

Windows Server 2025

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/evaluate-windows-server-2025

Windows 11 - 25H2

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/download-windows-11-enterprise

curl \
--location https://software-static.download.prss.microsoft.com/dbazure/888969d5-f34g-4e03-ac9d-1f9786c66749/26200.6584.250915-1905.25h2_ge_release_svc_refresh_CLIENT_CONSUMER_x64FRE_en-us.iso \
--output ~/VMs/ISOs/Windows/11/26200.6584.250915-1905.25h2_ge_release_svc_refresh_CLIENT_CONSUMER_x64FRE_en-us.iso

echo "D141F6030FED50F75E2B03E1EB2E53646C4B21E5386047CB860AF5223F102A32    26200.6584.250915-1905.25h2_ge_release_svc_refresh_CLIENT_CONSUMER_x64FRE_en-us.iso" >> ~/VMs/ISOs/Windows/11/manifest.sha256

File hashes: https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=2334901

VirtIO drivers

Windows Server builds do not include drivers for KVM so we need to install the necessary drivers to optimize the VMs.

We can download the latest stable drivers ISO from: https://fedorapeople.org/groups/virt/virtio-win/direct-downloads/stable-virtio/virtio-win.iso

Save this ISO in the ~/VMs/ISOs/Windows/VirtIO-Win/latest folder. You should refresh this ISO from time to time, there is not a regular release cadence for this ISO but there is generally at one or more release per quarter.

For older Windows Server editions, such as Windows Server 2012 R2, we need to download an older version of the ISO as the latest version of the ISO has dropped support for Windows Server 2012 R2, this one works well for it though:

https://fedorapeople.org/groups/virt/virtio-win/direct-downloads/archive-virtio/virtio-win-0.1.173-4/virtio-win-0.1.173.iso

Save this ISO in the ~/VMs/ISOs/Windows/VirtIO-Win/2020 folder.

Fedora 44

https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/releases/44/

Workstation

https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/releases/43/Workstation/x86_64/iso/

Server

Qcow2: https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/releases/43/Server/x86_64/images/

ISO: https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/releases/43/Server/x86_64/iso/

Cloud

https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/releases/43/Cloud/x86_64/images/

Amazon Linux 2

The AWS Linux 2 images are regularly updated, the latest images can be found at: https://cdn.amazonlinux.com/os-images/latest/ Pull the latest KVM image and validate the image via the provided SHA256 hash:

# Create directories
mkdir -p ~/VMs/ISOs/Linux/AWS/{2,2023}
# Set an appropriate folder icon:
gio set -t string ~/VMs/ISOs/Linux/AWS metadata::custom-icon file://"${HOME}"/Pictures/icons/folder-aws.svg

# Download
curl --location \
  https://cdn.amazonlinux.com/os-images/2.0.20260202.2/kvm/SHA256SUMS \
  --output ~/VMs/ISOs/Linux/AWS/2/SHA256SUMS
curl --location \
  https://cdn.amazonlinux.com/os-images/2.0.20260202.2/kvm/amzn2-kvm-2.0.20260202.2-x86_64.xfs.gpt.qcow2 \
  --output ~/VMs/ISOs/Linux/AWS/2/amzn2-kvm-2.0.20260202.2-x86_64.xfs.gpt.qcow2

# Validate hash
cd ~/VMs/ISOs/Linux/AWS/2
sha256sum -c ~/VMs/ISOs/Linux/AWS/2/SHA256SUMS

Expected result:

amzn2-kvm-2.0.20260202.2-x86_64.xfs.gpt.qcow2: OK

Amazon Linux 2023

Note that the release ID constantly changes, it’s pretty easy to update an older release to a newer release and have it exactly the same config as the new release. https://cdn.amazonlinux.com/al2023/os-images/2023.9.20251208.0/kvm/

---

Convert VHD/VHDX files to a format (qcow2) that is usable with KVM

KVM can’t use the VHD/VHDX files that Microsoft provides for base OS images, therefore we need to convert these images to a format (qcow2) that KVM understands.

Windows Server 2012 R2

qemu-img convert \
  -f vpc \
  -O qcow2 \
  ~/VMs/ISOs/Windows/2012-R2/9600.16415.amd64fre.winblue_refresh.130928-2229_server_serverdatacentereval_en-us.vhd \
  ~/VMs/base_images/win-serv-2012R2-c-base.qcow2

Windows Server 2016

There is no official VHD available for Windows Server 2016 as of mid 2026. We have to install the OS via the ISO image.

Windows Server 2019

qemu-img convert \
  -f vpc \
  -O qcow2 \
  ~/VMs/ISOs/Windows/2019/17763.737.amd64fre.rs5_release_svc_refresh.190906-2324_server_serverdatacentereval_en-us_1.vhd \
  ~/VMs/base_images/win-serv-2019-c-base.qcow2

Windows Server 2022

qemu-img convert \
  -f vpc \
  -O qcow2 \
  ~/ISOs/Windows/2022/20348.169.amd64fre.fe_release_svc_refresh.210806-2348_server_serverdatacentereval_en-us.vhd \
  ~/VMs/base_images/win-serv-2022-c.qcow2

Windows Server 2025

Note that this is using the newer VHDX format and therefore uses a slightly different command switch.

qemu-img convert \
  -f vhdx \
  -O qcow2 \
  ~/ISOs/Windows/2025/26100.1742.amd64fre.ge_release_svc_refresh.240906-0331_server_serverdatacentereval_en-us.vhdx \
  ~/VMs/base_images/windows-server-2025-base.qcow2

Windows 11

There is no official VHD/VHDX currently available for Windows 11 that I can find. We have to install the OS via the ISO image.

---

os-variant

To obtain the correct os-variant string for virt-install, run the following command:

osinfo-query --fields=name,short-id,version os

You should get something like the following:

Short ID             | Name                                               | Version
----------------------+----------------------------------------------------+---------
win2k12              | Microsoft Windows Server 2012                      | 6.3
win2k12r2            | Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2                   | 6.3
win2k16              | Microsoft Windows Server 2016                      | 10.0
win2k19              | Microsoft Windows Server 2019                      | 10.0
win2k22              | Microsoft Windows Server 2022                      | 10.0
win2k25              | Microsoft Windows Server 2025                      | 10.0
win2k3               | Microsoft Windows Server 2003                      | 5.2
win2k3r2             | Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2                   | 5.2
win2k8               | Microsoft Windows Server 2008                      | 6.0
win2k8r2             | Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2                   | 6.1

Use the Short ID like so:

--os-variant "win2k25"

---

Set background colors for Windows desktops

Clear the default wallpaper and set a consistent background color per OS version

function SetBackgroundColor {
    param (
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
        [string]$RGBColor
    )
    Write-Host "Set desktop to: $RGBColor"
    Write-Host "You must restart the system to update the desktop"

# Clear the wallpaper:
  reg add "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop" /v Wallpaper /t REG_SZ /d " " /f
  reg add "HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop" /v Wallpaper /t REG_SZ /d " " /f

# Set background color:
  reg add "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Colors" /v Background /t REG_SZ /d $RGBColor /f
  reg add "HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Colors" /v Background /t REG_SZ /d $RGBColor /f
  RUNDLL32.EXE user32.dll,UpdatePerUserSystemParameters
}

# Call the function (will prompt for missing mandatory parameters if not provided)
# Create-NewFile -Path "C:\Temp" -FileName "MyDocument.txt"
$WindowsProductName = (Get-ComputerInfo | Select-Object).WindowsProductName
if ($windowsProductName -like "Windows Server 2025*") {
    Write-Host "This is Windows Server 2025."
    # Green
    SetBackgroundColor -RGBColor "60 220 20"
} elseif ($windowsProductName -like "Windows 10*") {
    Write-Host "This is Windows 10 or maybe Windows 11."
    # Purple
    SetBackgroundColor -RGBColor "107 105 214"
} elseif ($windowsProductName -like "Windows 11*") {
    Write-Host "This is Windows 11."
    # Purple
    SetBackgroundColor -RGBColor "107 105 214"
} elseif ($windowsProductName -like "Windows Server 2022*") {
    Write-Host "This is Windows Server 2022."
    # Royal Blue
    SetBackgroundColor -RGBColor "60 20 220"
} elseif ($windowsProductName -like "Windows Server 2019*") {
    Write-Host "This is Windows Server 2019."
    # Orange
    SetBackgroundColor -RGBColor "255 190 0"
} elseif ($windowsProductName -like "Windows Server 2016*") {
    Write-Host "This is Windows Server 2016."
    # Pink
    SetBackgroundColor -RGBColor "255 180 210"
} elseif ($windowsProductName -like "Windows Server 2012*") {
    Write-Host "This is Windows Server 2012 R2."
    # Crimson
    SetBackgroundColor -RGBColor "220 20 60"
} else {
    Write-Host "This is an unknown Windows operating system: $windowsProductName"
    # Add commands for other Windows versions here
}

Background colors by Windows version
Windows 11	Purple
Windows Server 2025	Green
Windows Server 2022	Blue
Windows Server 2019	Orange
Windows Server 2016	Pink
Windows Server 2012 R2	Red

---

Links

(What is KVM?)[https://www.redhat.com/en/topics/virtualization/what-is-KVM] (KVM - ArchWiki)[https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/KVM] (virt-manager - ArchWiki)[https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Virt-manager] (virt-install - ArchWiki)[https://man.archlinux.org/man/virt-install.1] (Install PowerShell 7 on Red Hat Enterprise Linux)[https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/scripting/install/install-rhel?view=powershell-7.5] (All cloud config examples)[https://docs.cloud-init.io/en/latest/reference/examples.html] (cloud-init: What is the execution order of cloud-config directives?)[https://stackoverflow.com/questions/34095839/cloud-init-what-is-the-execution-order-of-cloud-config-directives]