In order to maximize the infrastructure you should use Images to deploy your virtual machines. Images reduce the Operating System Deployment time substantially.
- Add the Windows 2012 ISO to the Virtual Machine
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Turn On the Virtual Machine
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In the Windows Setup screen press the desired language and press Next.
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Press the Install Now button.
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Select the appropriate version of Windows 2012 for your image. In this example we will select Windows Server 2012 Datacenter.
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Accept the license terms and press Next
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Select to Custom: Install Windows only (advanced).
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Configure your disk. Select to use the default partitions for the installation. You should have a 350MB partition for System and the rest of the disk for Primary.
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Wait until the installation finishes.
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Press Restart Now to finish the installation.
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Type the password for the administrator account.
- Install all required Windows updates and applications.
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Open a Windows Explorer by clicking on the Windows Explorer icon in the taskbar.
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Browse to C:WindowsSystem32Sysprep. Execute sysprep.exe
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In the Sysprep tool Select: Enter System Out-Of-Box Experience (OOBE), Generalize and Shutdown. Then press OK.
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The sysprep tool will prepare the image and will shut down the VM.
- After the VM is shutdown, copy the VHD or VHDX file to a central location so you can share it with other VMs.
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Rename the file to something descriptive . Example Win2012RTM.vhdx and change the image to read only.
How do you “add the Server 2012 ISO to the virtual machine”?
Click File > Settings > DVD Drive and point it to the ISO
thank you