Creating a VM from a Windows public image

This section provides guidelines on how to create a VM with the Windows OS. To create a Linux-based VM, follow the instructions Creating a VM from a public Linux image.

Management console

CLI

API

Terraform

To create a VM:

In the management console, select a folder to create a VM in.
In the list of services, select Compute Cloud.
Click Create VM.
Under Basic parameters:
- Enter a name and description for the VM. Naming requirements:
  - Length — from 3 to 63 characters.
  - The name may contain lowercase Latin letters, numbers, and hyphens.
  - The first character must be a letter. The last character can't be a hyphen.
  Note
  
  The VM name is used to generate the FQDN only once, when creating the VM. If the FQDN is important to you, choose an appropriate name for the VM at the creation stage.
- Select the availability zone to host the VM in.
- (optional) Select or create a service account. By using a service account, you can flexibly configure access rights for your resources.
Under Images from Cloud Marketplace:
- Select Windows.
- Select the operating system version and edition.
(optional) Configure the boot disk under Disks:
- Specify the necessary disk size.
- Select a disk type.
(optional) If you want to create an instance from an existing disk, go to Disks to add a disk.
Under Computing resources:
- Choose the platform.
- Specify the guaranteed share and number of vCPUs and RAM you need.
- If necessary, make your VM preemptible.
Under Network settings:
- Specify the subnet ID or select a cloud network from the list. If you don't have a network, click Create a new network to create one:
  - In the window that opens, enter a name for the new network and choose a subnet to connect the virtual machine to. Each network must have at least one subnet (if there's no subnet, create one). Then click Create.
- In the Public IP field, choose a method for assigning an IP address:
  - Auto: Assign a random IP address from the Yandex.Cloud IP pool.
  - List: Select a public IP address from the list of previously reserved static addresses. For more information, see Making a dynamic public IP address static.
  - No address: Don't assign a public IP address.
- (optional) Enable DDoS protection.
When you create a VM, the Administrator user is automatically created in the operating system. In the Password field, set a password for this user to log in to the VM via RDP.

Do not use passwords that are easy to guess. Passwords must meet the Windows security policy.

In Windows Server images from Yandex.Cloud, the Administrator user's password expiration is disabled by default.
Click Create VM.

The virtual machine appears in the list. When a VM is being created, it is assigned an IP address and hostname (FQDN). You can use this data to access the VM via RDP.

If you don't have the Yandex.Cloud command line interface yet, install and initialize it.

The folder specified in the CLI profile is used by default. You can specify a different folder using the --folder-name or --folder-id parameter.

View the description of the CLI's create VM command:
```
$ yc compute instance create --help
```

Select one of the public images on Windows.

To get a list of available images, run the following command:

yc compute image list --folder-id standard-images

Command execution result:

+----------------------+-------------------------------------+--------------------------+----------------------+--------+
|          ID          |                NAME                 |          FAMILY          |     PRODUCT IDS      | STATUS |
+----------------------+-------------------------------------+--------------------------+----------------------+--------+
...
| fdvk34al8k5nltb58shr | centos-7-1549279494                 | centos-7                 | dqni65lfhvv2den5gtv9 | READY  |
| fdv7ooobjfl3ts9gqp0q | windows-2016-gvlk-1548913814        | windows-2016-gvlk        | dqnnc72gj2ist3ktjj1p | READY  |
| fdv4f5kv5cvf3ohu4flt | ubuntu-1604-lts-1549457823          | ubuntu-1604-lts          | dqnnb6dc7640c5i968ro | READY  |
...
+----------------------+-------------------------------------+--------------------------+----------------------+--------+

Create a YAML file (for example, metadata.yaml) and specify the following:
```
#ps1
net user administrator "<password>"
```
Create a VM in the default folder:
```
$ yc compute instance create \
    --name second-instance \
    --metadata-from-file user-data=metadata.yaml \
    --zone ru-central1-a \
    --public-ip \
    --create-boot-disk image-folder-id=standard-images,image-family=windows-2016-gvlk
```
This command creates a VM instance with the following characteristics:
- Named second-instance.
- With the Windows Server 2016 OS.
- In the ru-central1-a availability zone.
- With the administrator user.
- With a public IP address.
To create a VM without a public IP, remove the --public-ip flag.

Specify:
- The VM name in the --name flag.
  
  The name must be unique within the folder. It may contain lowercase Latin letters, numbers, and hyphens. The first character must be a letter. The last character can't be a hyphen. The maximum length of the name is 63 characters.
  
  Note
  
  The VM name is used to generate the FQDN only once, when creating the VM. If the FQDN is important to you, choose an appropriate name for the VM at the creation stage.
- The administrator password in the metadata.yaml file. A password is required for accessing the VM via RDP.
  
  Do not use passwords that are easy to guess. Passwords must meet the Windows security policy.
  
  In Windows Server images from Yandex.Cloud, the Administrator user's password expiration is disabled by default.

Create a VM using the method Create for the resource Instance:

Get an IAM token for authenticating in the examples:
- Instructions for users with a Yandex account.
- Instructions for a service account.
Get the ID of the folder.

Get information about the image to create your virtual machine from (image ID and minimum disk size):

If you know the image family, get information about the latest image in this family:

$ export IAM_TOKEN=CggaATEVAgA...
$ export FAMILY=windows-2016-gvlk
$ curl -H "Authorization: Bearer ${IAM_TOKEN}" \
  "https://compute.api.cloud.yandex.net/compute/v1/images:latestByFamily?folderId=standard-images&family=${FAMILY}"

{
 "productIds": [
  "f2eu62v659or2tqv28l0"
 ],
 "os": {
  "type": "WINDOWS"
 },
 "id": "fd85s1nlcavgdpc16hj3",
 "folderId": "standard-images",
 "createdAt": "2019-04-30T10:53:56Z",
 "name": "windows-2016-gvlk-1556619485",
 "description": "Windows Server 2016 Datacenter is a operating system for virtualized private cloud environments. This version is activated with GVLK. Website and documentation: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/cloud-platform/windows-server",
 "family": "windows-2016-gvlk",
 "storageSize": "26344423424",
 "minDiskSize": "26843545600",
 "status": "READY"
}

You can get information about the image from the list of public images.

Get the subnet ID and availability zone ID. Specify the ID of the folder where the subnet was created in your request:

$ export IAM_TOKEN=CggaATEVAgA...
$ export FOLDER_ID=b1gvmob95yysaplct532
$ curl -H "Authorization: Bearer ${IAM_TOKEN}" \
  "https://vpc.api.cloud.yandex.net/vpc/v1/subnets?folderId=${FOLDER_ID}"
{
 "subnets": [
  {
   "v4CidrBlocks": [
    "10.130.0.0/24"
   ],
   "id": "b0c6n43ftldh30l0vfg2",
   "folderId": "b1gvmob95yysaplct532",
   "createdAt": "2018-09-23T12:15:00Z",
   "name": "default-ru-central1-c",
   "description": "Auto-created default subnet for zone ru-central1-c",
   "networkId": "enpe3m3fagludao8aslg",
   "zoneId": "ru-central1-c"
  },
  ...
 ]
}

Create a file where the body contains your request for VM creation (for example, body.json). Specify the following parameters:
- folderId: ID of the folder.
- name: Name to be assigned to the VM when it's created.
- zoneId: Availability zone that corresponds to the selected subnet.
- platformId: The platform.
- resourceSpec: Resources available to the VM. The values must match the selected platform.
- metadata: In the metadata user-data property, you need to pass the script with the administrator password, for example:
```
"metadata": {
  "user-data": "#ps1\nnet user Administrator Passw0rd"
},
```
  Do not use passwords that are easy to guess. Passwords must meet the Windows security policy.
  
  In Windows Server images from Yandex.Cloud, the Administrator user's password expiration is disabled by default.
- bootDiskSpec: Boot disk settings. Specify the ID of the selected image and disk size. The disk size must not be below the minimum value specified in the image details.
- networkInterfaceSpecs: Network settings.
  - subnetId: ID of the selected subnet.
  - primaryV4AddressSpec: IP address to be assigned to the VM. To add a public IP address to your virtual machine, specify:
```
"primaryV4AddressSpec": {
    "oneToOneNatSpec": {
      "ipVersion": "IPV4"
    }
  }
```
Read more about the request body format in the API reference API method.

Example body.json file:
```
{
  "folderId": "b1gvmob95yysaplct532",
  "name": "instance-demo-no-pwauth",
  "zoneId": "ru-central1-c",
  "platformId": "standard-v1",
  "resourcesSpec": {
    "memory": "4294967296",
    "cores": "2",
  },
  "metadata": {
    "user-data": "#ps1\nnet user Administrator Passw0rd"
  },
  "bootDiskSpec": {
    "diskSpec": {
      "size": "26843545600",
      "imageId": "fd85s1nlcavgdpc16hj3"
    }
  },
  "networkInterfaceSpecs": [
    {
      "subnetId": "b0c6n43ftldh30l0vfg2",
      "primaryV4AddressSpec": {
        "oneToOneNatSpec": {
          "ipVersion": "IPV4"
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}
```

Create a virtual machine:

$ export IAM_TOKEN=CggaATEVAgA...
$ curl -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ${IAM_TOKEN}" \
  -d '@body.json' \
  https://compute.api.cloud.yandex.net/compute/v1/instances

If you don't have Terraform yet, install it and configure the Yandex.Cloud provider.

In the configuration file, describe the parameters of resources that you want to create:

Note

If you already have suitable resources, such as a cloud network and subnet, you don't need to describe them again. Use their names and IDs in the appropriate parameters.
- yandex_compute_instance: Description of the VM:
  - name: VM name.
  - platform_id: The platform.
  - resources: The number of vCPU cores and the amount of RAM available to the VM. The values must match the selected platform.
  - boot_disk: Boot disk settings. Specify the ID of the selected image. You can get the image ID from the list of public images.
  - network_interface: Network settings. Specify the ID of the selected subnet. To automatically assign a public IP address to the VM, set nat = true.
  - metadata: In the metadata in the user-data parameter, pass the script with the administrator password.
- yandex_vpc_network: Description of the cloud network.
- yandex_vpc_subnet: Description of the subnet that the VM will be connected to.
Example configuration file structure:
```
resource "yandex_compute_instance" "vm-1" {

  name        = "windows-vm"
  platform_id = "standard-v2"

  resources {
    cores  = <number of vCPU cores>
    memory = <RAM in GB>
  }

  boot_disk {
    initialize_params {
      image_id = "<image ID>"
    }
  }

  network_interface {
    subnet_id = "${yandex_vpc_subnet.subnet-1.id}"
    nat       = true
  }

  metadata = {
    user-data = "#ps1\nnet user Administrator <administrator password>"
  }
}

resource "yandex_vpc_network" "network-1" {
  name = "network1"
}

resource "yandex_vpc_subnet" "subnet-1" {
  name       = "subnet1"
  zone       = "<availability zone>"
  network_id = "${yandex_vpc_network.<network name>.id}"
}
```
For more information about the resources you can create using Terraform, see the provider documentation.
Make sure that the configuration files are correct.
1. In the command line, go to the directory where you created the configuration file.
2. Run the check using the command:
```
$ terraform plan
```
If the configuration is described correctly, the terminal displays a list of created resources and their parameters. If there are errors in the configuration, Terraform points them out.
Deploy the cloud resources.
1. If the configuration doesn't contain any errors, run the command:
```
$ terraform apply
```
2. Confirm that you want to create the resources.
Afterwards, all the necessary resources are created in the specified folder. You can check resource availability and their settings in management console.

You can monitor VM instance statuses in the list of VMs in your folder.

Note

It usually takes up to 6 minutes to start a VM and initialize the RDP. In rare cases, loading may take much longer than the time specified. For example, when using:

VMs with less than 100% guaranteed vCPU performance.
VMs that generate a load that exceeds the boot disk IOPS limit.
Network HDD drives with small storage capacity.

You can make a public IP address static. Learn more in Making a VM's public IP address static.

Creating a VM from a Windows public image

See also