How to prepare Windows 11 image on Azure to use with Morpheus

Infrastructure
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  1. Create a VM with marketplace windows 11 image and set the security type as standard as shown below:

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  1. Once the VM has been created, console into the VM via RDP.

  2. Disable Privacy Settings Experience at First Sign-in (Optional)
    a. In Windows 11 device, click Start type gpedit.msc in search to run the Local Group Policy Editor.

    b. Navigate to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > OOBE. Double click on the Don’t launch privacy settings experience on user logon policy to edit it.

    c. Select Enabled, click Apply and OK.

  3. Open a Command Prompt window as an administrator.

  4. Delete the panther directory (C:\Windows\Panther). (If the folder is in use, restart vm and try to delete the folder again)

  5. Verify that CD/DVD-ROM is enabled by checking the below registry setting. If it is disabled, the Windows VM will get stuck on out-of-box experience (OOBE).

Registry Key

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\cdrom\start (Value 4 = disabled, expected value 1 = automatic) Make sure it is set to 1.
  1. Then on command prompt change the directory to %windir%\system32\sysprep, and then run the following command:
sysprep.exe /oobe /generalize /shutdown
  1. Run the following Azure cli commands to deallocate the VM:
az vm deallocate -g <resourceGroupName> -n <VmName>
  1. Check the status of the VM and make sure it has been deallocated as shown below:

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  1. Run the following Azure cli commands to Generalize the VM:
az vm generalize -g <resourceGroupName>  -n <VmName>
  1. Click on ‘Capture’ to create an image.

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  1. Add the image into image gallery as shown below:

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  1. When the image capture deployment has completed, refresh the azure cloud in Morpheus to sync the new image.

  2. Find and edit the image in Morpheus and set the following settings.

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  1. Make sure that the administrator password has been set under Administration >> Settings >> Provisioning (tab) >> Windows Settings

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  1. Create a new node type with the newly imported windows 11 image and attach it to a layout to use this image for provisioning.

Please note: that on Azure the VM will be provisioned with user ‘azureadmin’ and the password will be what was set in the above Windows Settings section.

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