Elastic Desktop Service:Import an image

Limits

Before you create a custom image and import it to the EDS console, take note of the following items:

• Alibaba Cloud does not ensure the security of custom images that you create and import. Before you import images, make sure that the images are safe for your business.

• You can import only Windows images.

• Only Windows Pro and Windows Enterprise are supported.

• The following Windows versions are not supported:

  • Windows XP

  • Windows 7

  • Windows 8

  • Windows 8.1

  • Windows 11

• You cannot import ISO images.

  • If you have an ISO image, perform the operations described in the following sections to create a VM, install and configure an operating system, and then import the image to EDS.

  • If you have a VDI image, convert the image to a valid format before you import the image to EDS. For more information, see Convert the format of an image.

• Image files in Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) boot mode are not supported. We recommend that you select an image file in Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) boot mode.

Preparations

• Install VirtualBox.

  To download VirtualBox, visit the official website of VirtualBox.

• Install ossbrowser.

  Obtain an ossbrowser installation package based on your operating system and operating system version. Then, install ossbrowser. For more information, see Install and log on to ossbrowser.

• Prepare the raw ISO image that runs Windows.

  You can download a Windows ISO image file that is not of the Windows Home edition from the Microsoft official website. For more information, visit Download Windows 10.

Step 1: Create a VM

In this example, VirtualBox 7.0.4 is used to create a virtual disk on VirtualBox. The steps to create a VM may vary based on the VirtualBox version. In an actual business scenario, create the VM as prompted.

1. Launch VirtualBox.

2. In the upper-right corner of the page, click New.

3. Click Name and Operating System, enter a name for the VM, and then select an operating system and an operating system version.

4. Click Hardware and specify the memory size and number of vCPUs based on your business requirements.

   Important

   • The memory size and number of vCPUs are irrelevant to the specifications of a cloud computer.

   • Do not select Enable EFI. EDS does not support the EFI boot mode.

5. Click Hard Disk, select the file location, and then configure the disk capacity and disk type.

   Note

   • We recommend that you set the disk capacity to 40 GB. If you want to resize the disk, you can perform related operations in the EDS console.

   • You can import only RAW, VHD, and QCOW2 images to EDS. Otherwise, you must convert the image format before you import images. We recommend that you select VHD for the Hard Disk File Type and Variant parameter.

6. Confirm the information about the VM and click Finish.

Step 2: Install a Windows operating system on the VM

After you create a VM, you must install a Windows operating system on the VM.

1. Launch VirtualBox.

2. Select the VM that you created and click Start to start the VM.

3. Install a Windows operating system on the VM and specify the required parameters for installation. Wait until the Windows operating system is installed.

4. Delete a recovery partition of the Windows system.

   Warning

   A system disk can have only the boot partition (drive C). If the system disk has other partitions, the instance to which the system disk is attached cannot be started or the disk cannot be resized.

   FAQ: When I import an image to create a cloud computer, I set the capacity of the system disk to 100 GiB. Why is the system disk capacity of the created cloud computer only 40 GiB?

   This issue occurs because the system recovery partition is not deleted. A system disk can have only the boot partition (drive C). If the system disk has other partitions, the instance to which the system disk is attached cannot be started or the disk cannot be resized. In this case, if you use a disk partitioning tool to manually allocate disk space in the cloud computer, the cloud computer will be completely unavailable.

   1. Open the DiskPart window.

      You can enter diskpart or Windows PowerShell in the search box and run the diskpart command.

   2. Run the list disk command to view the disk list.

      

   3. Run the select disk <Disk number> command to select the disk whose recovery partition you want to delete.

      Example: select disk 0. Replace <Disk number> with the actual disk number.

      

   4. Run the list volume command to view disk partitions.

      

      • If a recovery partition is displayed in the Volume list in the command output, run the following command:

        1. Run the select volume <Disk partition number> command to select the disk partition that you want to delete.

           Example: select volume 1. Replace <Disk partition number> with the actual disk partition number.

        2. Run the delete part override command to delete the recovery partition.

           If the recovery partition fails to be deleted, we recommend that you use a disk tool to format the disk and then delete the partition.

      • If no recovery partition is displayed in the Volume list in the command output, no operation is required.

Step 3: Configure the system

1. Install Cloud Assistant Agent on the VM.

   Obtain the Cloud Assistant Agent installation package and install Cloud Assistant Agent.

   Important

   • After you install Cloud Assistant Agent, start the agent. Make sure that Aliyun Assist Service is started on the VM. Aliyun Assist Service is the process of Cloud Assistant Agent. If Aliyun Assist Service fails to be started, restart the VM and Aliyun Assist Service.

     You can check the status of the AliyunService process in Task Manager. If the process is in the Running state, the process is started as expected.

   • For specific Windows versions, Aliyun Assist Service cannot be started on the cloud. In this case, you can save the shortcut of Aliyun Assist Service to the Windows startup folder to ensure that Aliyun Assist Service can be started.

     • Cloud Assistant Agent path: C:\ProgramData\aliyun\assist\Cloud Assistant Agent version\aliyun_assist_service.exe

     • Windows startup folder path: C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp

2. Open Windows PowerShell and run the following command to disable User Account Control (UAC):

   reg.exe add HKLM\Software\MicroSoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System /v EnableLUA /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

3. Run the netsh advfirewall set allprofiles state off command to disable the built-in firewall on the Windows system.

Step 4: Obtain a Windows image file

After you configure the VM, you must obtain the created Windows image file.

You can obtain the image file from the Folder path in which your VM was located when you created the VM.

Step 5: Upload the image file to OSS

Before you import a custom image to the EDS console, you must upload the image file to an OSS bucket.

1. Obtain the address of the OSS bucket in the EDS console.

   1. Log on to the Elastic Desktop Service (EDS) console.

   2. In the left-side navigation pane, choose Deployment > Images.

   3. In the upper-left corner of the top navigation bar, select a region.

   4. On the Images page, click Create Image.

   5. In the Create Image panel, click the Import Image tab.

   6. In the OSS Bucket Address section, click Obtain and record the address.

2. Log on to ossbrowser. For more information, see Install and log on to ossbrowser.

   • Endpoint: The default value of this parameter is Public Cloud (Default). If you use an Alibaba Finance Cloud or Alibaba Gov Cloud, you must enter a custom domain name. For more information, see Install and log on to ossbrowser.

   • AccessKeyId and AccessKeySecret: You can use your Alibaba Cloud account or a RAM user to obtain an AccessKey pair, which consists of an AccessKey ID and an AccessKey secret. For more information, see Create an AccessKey pair.

     Important

     The AccessKey ID and AccessKey secret must belong to the same Alibaba Cloud account or RAM user that is used to log on to the EDS console.

     • If you log on to the EDS console by using an Alibaba Cloud account, you must use an AccessKey pair of the Alibaba Cloud account.

     • If you log on to the EDS console as a RAM user, you must use an AccessKey pair of the RAM user.

   • Preset OSS Path: the OSS bucket address that you obtain in the EDS console.

   • Region: the region in which the OSS bucket is deployed.

3. Upload a prepared image file to the bucket.

   Important

   You can import images only in the RAW, VHD, or QCOW2 format to EDS. You cannot compress images. If your image file is in another format, convert the file to a valid format. For more information, see Convert the format of an image.

4. Find the uploaded image and click Address in the Actions column to obtain and record the address of the OSS object.

Step 6: Import the image

1. Log on to the Elastic Desktop Service (EDS) console.

2. In the left-side navigation pane, choose Deployment > Images.

3. In the upper-left corner of the top navigation bar, select a region.

4. On the Images page, click Create Image.

5. In the Create Image panel, click the Import Image tab.

6. Configure the required parameters. The following table describes the parameters.

   Parameter	Description
   Region	The region of the OSS bucket to which the image is uploaded.
   OSS Object Address	The address of the OSS object that you obtained in the previous step.
   Image Name	The name of the image. Enter the name as prompted.
   OS	The operating system of the image. Only Windows images are supported.
   System Disk Size (GiB)	The size of the system disk. The value must be greater than the size of the image file. Valid values: 5 to 500.
   GPU Driver	Specifies whether to install a GPU driver. If you want to use the image to create a GPU-accelerated cloud computer of the Enterprise Graphics type, select Yes and configure the GPU Driver Type parameter as prompted.
   Protocol type	The protocol of the image. You can use the default value.
   License Type	The method that you want to use to activate the image. Bring Your Own License (BYOL): Uses your own license.
   Description	The description of the image.

7. Click Create.

   After you import the image to the EDS console, you can view the image details on the Custom Image tab.

FAQ