The guide in this article describes the installation of Windows for VPS ON servers. You can find the guide for VPS SSD in the article VPS SSD – Installing Windows server with VirtIO. A general guide for connecting your own ISO and installing the OS can be found in the guide VPS ON – Connecting your own ISO and installing the OS.
In this article you will learn:
- How to prepare VPS ON for Windows installation
- How to start the installation process
- How to load VirtIO drivers:
- Common problems
- Frequently asked questions
Preparing VPS ON for Windows installation
To install Windows on VPS ON with the appropriate configuration, you will need:
- Installation ISO of the selected version of Windows
- Windows VirtIO driver ISO (available for download for example here ⧉)
Obtaining the Windows installation files and licenses is the customer’s responsibility, as is the installation itself. For installation errors that are not described in this guide, please contact Microsoft customer support.
Attach all required ISO files to VPS according to the guide VPS ON – Connecting your own ISO and installing the OS. Make sure you have the following disks attached:
- Empty Image of type OS (the basic Empty Image for VPS ON)
- Selected Windows ISO of type Readonly CD-ROM
- VirtIO driver ISO of type Readonly CD-ROM
Starting the installation
Follow the Booting the operating system from ISO section in the guide VPS ON – Connecting your own ISO and installing the OS.
Loading VirtIO drivers
With VirtIO, you mainly load drivers for disks and network adapters.
Disk drivers
During the installation, the installer will ask you to choose the system location. If you do not see any disk here, load the VirtIO drivers using the following procedure:
- In the installation window, select Load driver (Load driver).
- In the pop-up window, click the Browse button
- In the next window, select the drive containing the VirtIO drivers.
- On the VirtIO CD, find the amd64 folder and then the folder with drivers corresponding to your version of the system.
- Confirm the driver selection by pressing Next (Next).
- In the installation window, select the disk that appears here.
- Click the Next (Next) button to continue the installation.
Network adapter drivers
Install the network adapter drivers using these steps:
- Open the Device Manager application.
- Select the Ethernet Controller item, which has a yellow exclamation mark.
- Click Update Driver Software and choose manual installation.
- Find and install the driver on the connected VirtIO disk.
After installing the driver, complete the network setup:
- The server IP addresses can be found in the service provisioning email and in the service details in the customer administration.
- The DNS servers and gateway IP address can be found in the SunStone interface, VPS details, Info tab.
Common problems
Common problems with installing Windows on VPS ON include:
Outdated VirtIO Driver
Problem: We are installing Windows 11, but VirtIO only has drivers for Windows 10.
Solution: Based on our experience so far, Win10 drivers also work with Win11. If this is not the case for you, unfortunately we cannot help you from our side.
Frequently asked questions
How do I upload an ISO file to VPS ON and attach it to the virtual machine?
Follow the instructions in this link.
Where can I get the Windows installation ISO?
We do not provide Windows distribution ourselves, nor do we mediate contacts to other distributors.