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I have a Headless Ubuntu 11.10 Server running with KMV installed. I was able to install and run several VMs with the vmbuilder.

However, now I want to install and run several Windows (XP & Win7) VMs in this server as it is necessary for some of the users. My problems are;

  1. How do I install Windows guests in a headless server from *.iso files locating in a different place? (provided that the host containing *.iso files has Apache web server running thus it is possible to give .iso file location as http://someserver/path/file.iso)

  2. Unlike Linux/Unix, Windows installation is graphical. Therefore, how do I transfer those graphical outputs to a remote machine (i.e. to the controlling host)??

  3. How do I give access to clients to those installed Windows VMs in a similar way in LTSP (Linux Terminal Server Project)???

Your help with ideas/commands/tutorials are very much appreciated. Thank you in advanced.

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  • I am not sure whether the ubuntu VM builder can build machines with windows on it. I can recommend you using virtualbox which can easily be setup in a headless mode. All you then have to do is create the hard disk, run the VM in headless mode, connect to it and select the iso file for installation. You then can do the graphical installation on your screen.
    – Michael K
    Oct 24, 2011 at 6:36
  • I am doing bare metal virtualization. The server (host) and the controlling PC (my PC) are in two different locations. Further, I am seeking some alternatives here and not limited to vmbuilder
    – nobody
    Oct 24, 2011 at 12:25
  • There is now a tool designed to assist with this (and other) use-cases: Oz. It is available in the package repositories for Ubuntu and several other mainstream GNU/Linux distributions, so you can install it on your host by doing e.g. sudo apt install oz. You can use the key parameter to pass your Windows product key to Oz when creating your guest Windows image.
    – user13975
    Nov 20, 2017 at 13:28

1 Answer 1

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You've setup quite a challenge for yourself, I'll answer your questions point by point.

  1. You have to use a technology that can forward that ISO image to the remote server. It could be as simple as using NFS or SMB to share a directory of ISOs or using iSCSI to forward a single ISO image.

  2. KVM will let you use VNC to connect to the video anywhere. There's an up and coming protocol called SPICE that should be more responsive and flexible than VNC though I haven't tried it yet.

  3. Well, it's Windows. Even allowing the forwarding of the Video console using VNC, only one user can log in at a time. Unless it's a Windows Terminal Server you will not be able to have multiple users logged in to the best of my knowledge.

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