How do I install Windows 7 or 10 on a server from my ISO?

This tutorial demonstrates the process of installing Windows from your own image. All versions of Windows starting with Windows 7 64bit have been tested.

Different operating systems have minor driver installation issues.

To install Windows Server 2012, 2016, 2019 or 2022, you can use our ready-made image in the control panel, so installing Windows Server is not described in this manual.

To install and continue using Windows on a server with KVM virtualization, you need to use special drivers for disks, network and other devices. During Windows installation, you must select the disk drivers, and after installation, additionally install the network driver and configure Internet access.

Our control panel supports connecting multiple ISO images. Therefore, to install Windows, you need to connect 2 images to the server - one directly with the operating system, and the second with VirtIO drivers.

Log in to the Control Panel and download the Windows image.

Next, download the image with VirtIO drivers from the ISO library

We select the Windows image when ordering or reinstalling an existing server.

After that, we additionally connect the image with the drivers

Log in to VNC (via the panel or any VNC program). After starting the Windows installation process, you will need to select the disk on which the OS will be installed. There won't be any disks in the list, so you need to install the drivers. Click "Download" and select the path to the driver.

After downloading the driver, we will see the disk and its logical breakdown. It is necessary to delete all logical disks so that one empty space remains and create a logical partition

The Windows installation will begin.

After installing Windows, you need to install the network driver and configure the Internet. To do this, log into the Device Manager in the control panel and find the Ethernet controller in the list.

Now you need to set up the Internet. To do this, you need to log in to the "Network and Internet" in the control panel. Go to "Network connections" and select the desired adapter to configure.

In the window that appears, you must specify the IP address of your server, subnet mask, gateway and DNS. The IP and gateway will differ from this example and you can find out which gateway to specify in the billing (select your server in the "My Servers" section > select it > click on the "IP" button).

The subnet mask and DNS must be specified from this example.

After that, you can open the browser and make sure that the Internet is working.