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How to Create a Guest Operating System Profile

 

Updated: May 13, 2016

Applies To: System Center 2012 SP1 - Virtual Machine Manager, System Center 2012 R2 Virtual Machine Manager, System Center 2012 - Virtual Machine Manager

You can use the following procedure to create a guest operating system profile in Virtual Machine Manager (VMM). A guest operating system profile specifies the operating system settings that you want the virtual machine to use when the virtual machine is created and deployed.

To create a guest operating system profile

  1. Open the Library workspace.

  2. On the Home tab, in the Create group, click Create, and then click Guest OS Profile.

    The New Guest OS Profile dialog box opens.

  3. On the General tab, in the Name box, enter a name for the guest operating system profile. For example, enter Domain-joined Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise.

  4. Click the Guest OS Profile tab, and then configure the desired settings. For example, you can configure the following settings:

    • Computer name

      For the computer name, you can provide a pattern to generate computer names. For example, if you type server####, the computer names that are created are server0001, server0002, and so on. Using a pattern ensures that when you add additional virtual machines to a service, unique computer names are created, and these computer names are related and identifiable. If you use this method to specify the computer name, you cannot use it in combination with a name prompt parameter (@<name>@). You can use one method or the other, but not both.

    • Local administrator account password

      Note

      If you want to use the guest operating system profile in a virtual machine template that is used in a service template, under Admin Password, do not select the No local administrator credential required option. You can either specify the password of the local administrator account, or select a Run As account. This setting does not apply to Linux-based profiles.

    • Product key

      If applicable, enter the product key to use for the virtual machine.

    • Operating system to install

      Note

      This setting lets you choose a Windows-based or a Linux-based operating system. If you choose an edition of the Windows Server 2003 operating system, you must ensure that the .NET Framework 2.0 or later is installed on the virtual hard disk before you attempt to deploy the virtual machine as part of a service. The agent that VMM uses requires the .NET Framework.

    • Domain to join

      For System Center 2012, if you want to use the guest operating system profile in a virtual machine template to be used in a service template, under Networking, you must configure Active Directory domain settings. Use the fully qualified domain name (FQDN). For example, enter contoso.com as the domain name. The domain must have a two-way trust relationship with the domain of the VMM management server. This setting does not apply to Linux-based profiles.

      Note

      As of System Center 2012 SP1, this setting does not apply. You do not need to have the virtual machine join a domain, nor do you need to have a two-way trust relationship with the VMM management server.

    • Windows Server roles or features to install

      The settings for roles or features apply only if you deploy the virtual machine as part of a service and only for Windows-based profiles. Also, the virtual machine must use a guest operating system that supports these settings, as listed in the following table:

      Product version of VMM Guest operating systems that support settings for roles or features
      System Center 2012 Windows Server 2008 R2
      Product versions starting with System Center 2012 Service Pack 1 (SP1) Server operating systems starting with Windows Server 2008 R2

    • RunOnce commands

      This setting applies only to Linux-based profiles. These commands run in the specified order during deployment after the operating system has been configured. If shell conventions such as pipes are used, we recommend wrapping each command with an explicit invocation of the shell, for example, /bin/sh –c “<your command>”. In this example, double quotes in the command must be escaped.

    • Public SSH key

      Under Root Credentials, Public SSH key is a Linux-specific option. This option sets the content of a specified public Secure Shell (SSH) key as an authorized key for authentication of the root user. Enter the name of a public key file that is stored in the VMM library, and that has the extension .sshkey.

    After you have made your selections, click OK.

  5. To verify that the profile was created, in the Library pane, expand Profiles, and then click Guest OS Profiles.

    The guest operating system profile appears in the Profiles pane.

See Also

Creating Profiles and Templates in VMM