Can not build Windows by Packer using Qemu + Ansible + WinRM

[ruzickap]

I'm trying to build the Windows Server 2016 using Qemu + Ansible + WinRM. I would like to use Ansible for windows configuration by using winrm like it's described here: https://www.packer.io/docs/provisioners/ansible.html

I do have the packer.py installed in the ~/.ansible/plugins/connection_plugins/ directory and configured in ~/.ansible.cfg:

$ grep connection_plugins ~/.ansible.cfg
connection_plugins = ~/.ansible/plugins/connection_plugins/:/usr/share/ansible_plugins/connection_plugins

$ ls -la ~/.ansible/plugins/connection_plugins/packer.py
-rw-rw-r-- 1 ruzickap ruzickap 511 Apr  6 11:32 /home/ruzickap/.ansible/plugins/connection_plugins/packer.py

The WinRM is enabled when Windows Server (by running Autounattend.xml https://gist.github.com/ruzickap/8d5d96fbc24cda80a0ff2fc0c9b8835e) is installed and packer can use it. When the provisioning part started - ansible can not use WinRM properly and I got the error (see the log).

• Packer version: Packer v1.0.0
• Host platform: Fedora 25
• Debug log output: https://gist.github.com/ruzickap/6d76a30f4d7578b1a87b8723f5068211
• Templates + Files:

Simple ansible playbook "win.yml":

---
- hosts: all
  gather_facts: no

  tasks:
    - name: Start NTP service (w32time)
      win_service:
        name: w32time
        state: started

    - name: Configure NTP
      raw: w32tm /config /manualpeerlist:"ntp.cesnet.cz" /reliable:yes /update

    - name: Enable Remote Desktop
      raw: set-ItemProperty -Path 'HKLM:\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server'-name "fDenyTSConnections" -Value 0

    - name: Allow connections from computers running any version of Remote Desktop (less secure)
      win_regedit:
        key: 'HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\WinStations\RDP-Tcp'
        value: UserAuthentication
        data: 0
        datatype: dword

    - name: Allow RDP traffic
      raw: Enable-NetFirewallRule -DisplayGroup "Remote Desktop"

Packer template "windows-server-2016-eval-ansible.json":

{
  "builders":
  [
    {
      "name": "windows-server-2016-eval",
      "type": "qemu",
      "iso_checksum_type": "sha256",
      "iso_checksum": "1ce702a578a3cb1ac3d14873980838590f06d5b7101c5daaccbac9d73f1fb50f",
      "iso_urls": [ "http://care.dlservice.microsoft.com/dl/download/1/4/9/149D5452-9B29-4274-B6B3-5361DBDA30BC/14393.0.161119-1705.RS1_REFRESH_SERVER_EVAL_X64FRE_EN-US.ISO" ],
      "communicator": "winrm",
      "winrm_username": "Administrator",
      "winrm_password": "vagrant",
      "winrm_timeout": "12h",
      "winrm_use_ssl": "true",
      "winrm_insecure": "true",

      "qemuargs": [[ "-display", "gtk" ], [ "-m", "4G" ], [ "-smp", 2 ]],
      "disk_size": "51200",

      "disk_interface": "ide",
      "net_device": "e1000",

      "floppy_files": [
        "Autounattend.xml"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "provisioners": [
    {
      "type": "ansible",
      "user": "vagrant",
      "playbook_file": "win.yml",
      "extra_arguments": [
        "--connection", "packer",
        "--extra-vars", "ansible_shell_type=powershell ansible_shell_executable=None",
        "-vvv"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "post-processors": [
    [
      {
        "type": "vagrant",
        "output": "{{ user `name` }}-{{.Provider}}.box"
      }
    ]
  ]
}

[mwhooker]

Thanks for the report, @ruzickap. If you don't get any help here, you might have better luck sending an email to the mailing list. People who look at the github issues tend to be most helpful when it comes to bugs in the source code

[andmos]

@ruzickap have you come any way with this? I am looking to do something similar with Server 2012 on a CentOS build server, would be nice to know if I only have trouble in front of me..

[ruzickap]

I'm sorry, but I have never seen packer configuration files + ansible playbooks which I can deploy windows machine using Qemu + Ansible + WinRM.
I hope somebody will describe it properly one day (or packer will support it - like it's in the documentation)...

[rickard-von-essen]

From the logs it looks like the template in the original post works fine except that it fails on some ansible task. If you edit the playbook to just have the first task and run doesn't it work then?

[ruzickap]

Hello guys.

I just tested it with Ansible 2.4 and the bug was fixed.

Closing the issue...

[hashibot]

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