Introduction

For main Linux distributions, it is easy to download a generic "QCOW2" file for creating the instances in a cloud environment. The same does not apply to Windows due to licensing limitations.

In this article, we explain how to download and install Windows image on IDrive Compute with the help of Cloudbase solutions.

In cloudbase solutions, Microsoft has provided the rights to distribute Windows trial images for OpenStack along with a specific End User License Agreement, which limits usage to evaluation purposes only.

Below are steps to download and upload the image into IDrive Compute VM:

1. Go to the URL and download the image with the qcow2 extension.
2. After a successful download, unzip the file to the preferred location.
3. Login to IDrive Compute account and Navigate to Images -> Custom Images Tab.
   

   Note:
   You can refer to the below steps for upload and download image or See the articles
   a. How do I upload custom image.
   b. How to create an instance using a custom image.

4. Click the 'Upload Image' button and choose the preferred region where you want to create a windows server instance.
5. Provide the desired name and choose the unzipped windows image from the locally saved location.
6. After the image is uploaded and active, create an instance by selecting the create an instance action menu item.
7. Once the instance is created with the Windows server.
8. Open the instance and on the overview page, click the 'Launch console' link.
9. You will observe the Windows server admin login screen.
10. Click the 'OK' button and set the desired password for the administrator login.
11. Once after setting the password, the user will be logged into the Windows Server home screen page.

Note: The user can also log in via a Remote desktop connection by providing the IP address of the instance, administrator username and password details.

Below is an example of how to connect to the windows server using a Remote desktop connection

1. Open a Remote desktop connection application on your local machine and enter the IP address of the windows server instance.
   
2. Enter the username as "Administrator" and the password details then click the "OK" button.
3. After successful login, the user will be logged into the Windows Server home screen page.