Build a custom Windows AMI on AWS using Packer

README.md

Windows AWS Packer example

An example of building a Windows Server 2019 AMI on AWS with Packer. The AMI will include Firefox, Putty, VSCode and extensions.

This is heavily based on the AWS Windows examples from https://www.packer.io/docs/builders/amazon/ebs

1. Configure your environment with some AWS credentials
2. Run packer build custom-windows.pkr.hcl

custom-windows.pkr.hcl

variable "ami_name" {
  type = string
  default = "custom-windows-{{timestamp}}"
}

variable "region" {
  type    = string
  default = "eu-west-1"
}

# https://www.packer.io/docs/builders/amazon/ebs
source "amazon-ebs" "windows" {
  ami_name = "${var.ami_name}"
  instance_type = "t3.medium"
  region = "${var.region}"
  source_ami_filter {
    filters = {
      name = "Windows_Server-2019-English-Full-Base-*"
      root-device-type = "ebs"
      virtualization-type = "hvm"
    }
    most_recent = true
    owners = ["amazon"]
  }
  communicator = "winrm"
  winrm_username = "Administrator"
  winrm_use_ssl = true
  winrm_insecure = true

  # This user data file sets up winrm and configures it so that the connection
  # from Packer is allowed. Without this file being set, Packer will not
  # connect to the instance.
  user_data_file = "winrm_bootstrap.txt"
}

# https://www.packer.io/docs/provisioners
build {
  sources = ["source.amazon-ebs.windows"]

  provisioner "powershell" {
    script = "install.ps1"
  }

  provisioner "powershell" {
    inline = [
      # Re-initialise the AWS instance on startup
      "C:/ProgramData/Amazon/EC2-Windows/Launch/Scripts/InitializeInstance.ps1 -Schedule",
      # Remove system specific information from this image
      "C:/ProgramData/Amazon/EC2-Windows/Launch/Scripts/SysprepInstance.ps1 -NoShutdown"
    ]
  }
}

install.ps1

# Install Firefox, Putty, VSCode
#
# https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/microsoft.powershell.utility/invoke-webrequest?view=powershell-7.1
# https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/microsoft.powershell.management/start-process?view=powershell-7.1
# https://leanpub.com/thebigbookofpowershellerrorhandling/read

try {
  Write-Host "Downloading Firefox"
  Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://download.mozilla.org/?product=firefox-msi-latest-ssl&os=win64&lang=en-GB" -OutFile FirefoxSetup.msi

  Write-Host "Installing Firefox"
  $firefox = (Start-Process msiexec.exe -ArgumentList "/i","FirefoxSetup.msi","/passive" -NoNewWindow -Wait -PassThru)
  if ($firefox.ExitCode -ne 0) {
    Write-Error "Error installing Firefox"
    exit 1
  }

  Write-Host "Downloading Putty"
  Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://the.earth.li/~sgtatham/putty/0.74/w64/putty-64bit-0.74-installer.msi" -OutFile putty-installer.msi

  Write-Host "Installing Putty"
  $putty = (Start-Process msiexec.exe -ArgumentList "/i","putty-installer.msi","/passive" -NoNewWindow -Wait -PassThru)
  if ($putty.ExitCode -ne 0) {
    Write-Error "Error installing Putty"
    exit 1
  }

  Write-Host "Downloading VSCode"
  Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://code.visualstudio.com/sha/download?build=stable&os=win32-x64" -OutFile VSCodeSetup.exe

  Write-Host "Installing VSCode"
  $vscode = (Start-Process .\VSCodeSetup.exe -ArgumentList "/SILENT","/NORESTART","/MERGETASKS=!runcode" -NoNewWindow -Wait -PassThru)
  if ($vscode.ExitCode -ne 0) {
    Write-Error "Error installing VSCode"
    exit 1
  }

  $vscode_extensions = @("ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh")
  foreach ($vse in $vscode_extensions) {
    Write-Host "Installing VSCode extension $vse"
    # Unfortunately this always seems to return 0 even if there's an error
    $vscodeext = (Start-Process "C:\Program Files\Microsoft VS Code\bin\code.cmd" -ArgumentList "--install-extension",$vse,"--force" -NoNewWindow -Wait -PassThru)
    if ($vscodeext.ExitCode -ne 0) {
      Write-Error "Error installing VSCode extension"
      exit 1
    }
  }
}
catch
{
  Write-Error $_.Exception
  exit 1
}

winrm_bootstrap.txt

<powershell>
# https://www.packer.io/docs/builders/amazon/ebs

write-output "Running User Data Script"
write-host "(host) Running User Data Script"

Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Scope LocalMachine -Force -ErrorAction Ignore

# Don't set this before Set-ExecutionPolicy as it throws an error
$ErrorActionPreference = "stop"

# Remove HTTP listener
Remove-Item -Path WSMan:\Localhost\listener\listener* -Recurse

# Create a self-signed certificate to let ssl work
$Cert = New-SelfSignedCertificate -CertstoreLocation Cert:\LocalMachine\My -DnsName "packer"
New-Item -Path WSMan:\LocalHost\Listener -Transport HTTPS -Address * -CertificateThumbPrint $Cert.Thumbprint -Force

# WinRM
write-output "Setting up WinRM"
write-host "(host) setting up WinRM"

cmd.exe /c winrm quickconfig -q
cmd.exe /c winrm set "winrm/config" '@{MaxTimeoutms="1800000"}'
cmd.exe /c winrm set "winrm/config/winrs" '@{MaxMemoryPerShellMB="1024"}'
cmd.exe /c winrm set "winrm/config/service" '@{AllowUnencrypted="true"}'
cmd.exe /c winrm set "winrm/config/client" '@{AllowUnencrypted="true"}'
cmd.exe /c winrm set "winrm/config/service/auth" '@{Basic="true"}'
cmd.exe /c winrm set "winrm/config/client/auth" '@{Basic="true"}'
cmd.exe /c winrm set "winrm/config/service/auth" '@{CredSSP="true"}'
cmd.exe /c winrm set "winrm/config/listener?Address=*+Transport=HTTPS" "@{Port=`"5986`";Hostname=`"packer`";CertificateThumbprint=`"$($Cert.Thumbprint)`"}"
cmd.exe /c netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group="remote administration" new enable=yes
cmd.exe /c netsh firewall add portopening TCP 5986 "Port 5986"
cmd.exe /c net stop winrm
cmd.exe /c sc config winrm start= auto
cmd.exe /c net start winrm

</powershell>