Here’s how to install a Windows version on your KVM server. Please note that you need a valid license key and possibly an installation image.
Preparation
In order to install Windows on your vServer, we first need a disk image of the desired Windows version in ISO format. You may already find the image you want to use in the mount options.
To provide us with an image, simply open a ticket with the download link for the desired image, the product ID of your vServer and your support PIN.
What happens now?
A support representative will now download the desired image and copy it to the vhost on which your vServer resides.
Perform the installation
Now you can start with the installation:
- Set the Disk Driver in the vServer Panel to „virtio“ for best performance.
- Mount the desired ISO in the vServer panel under „CDROM“
- Change the boot order to (1) CDROM, (2) HARDDISK
- Perform a reboot via the vServer panel (takes up to 1 minute)
- Go to the menu item „VNC“
- Use the HTML noVNC client in your browser
- or Connect with the VNC login credentials over a native VNC client
- Perform a „soft reboot“ (virtual keyboard → Ctrl + Alt + Delete)
A „hard reboot“ via the vServer panel will cause your VNC connection to break.
Since a keystroke must be made directly after the boat, a „soft reboot“ is recommended.
- In the VNC client you can see the boot process
- Windows requires pressing any key to boot from CD
- Press any key
- The Windows installation starts now
- Follow the installation instructions
- At the point of disk selection, you may need to mount the Windows Virtio drivers in the vServer Panel under „Drivers“ to recognize the disk
- If necessary, load the appropriate driver in the installation menu and select the detected hard disk
- After loading the disk driver, remove the driver CD in the menu item „Driver“. (! Important)
- Click on „Update“ in the installation in the hard drive selection
- Select the desired Parition, or create a new one and click on „Next“
- Follow the installation instructions
- After the installation, a restart is automatically performed
- DO NOT press any key while booting
Now you should see over VNC, how your vServer boots into Windows.
After logging in, you may see in the Device Manager that there are devices with driver issues, this often also affects the network driver:
- Mount the Windows Virtio drivers in the vServer Panel under „Drivers“
- Click on the affected device in the Device Manager after a right-click on „Update Driver“
- Select the drivers from the Virtio CD, make sure to open the corresponding folder up to the last folder in the file tree
- Repeat this for other devices without drivers