Install Windows with your own licence

We do not offer Windows servers and do not sell Windows licences. On a VPS you can install Windows Server yourself from an ISO, with a licence you bring. Read the Licence section below first: not every licence is allowed for this.

What you need

• A VPS. A container does not start a system of its own from a disc.
• The Windows Server 2022 ISO.
• The virtio-win driver disc, which we provide in the ISO image tab. If it is not listed there, open a ticket.
• A licence that is allowed on our servers (see Licence).
• Enough resources: Microsoft names at least 32 GB of disk and, with the Desktop Experience, 2 GB of memory for Windows Server. With one core and 4 GB the install took about a quarter of an hour for us; more is sensible for daily use.

Provide the Windows ISO

Fetch the ISO in the ISO image tab under Fetch an image of your own from an https address, for example a download link from your Microsoft account. The page names the size limit. If you have no suitable address, open a ticket; we check whether we can provide the image for you. More on images: ISO image.

Insert it, with the driver disc

1. 1

   Under Settings · Console keyboard layout, choose the same layout you are about to choose in setup. The console then types text from Type text and Ctrl+V so that special characters arrive correctly.

2. 2

   In the ISO image tab, under Choose an image, choose your Windows ISO.

3. 3

   Below it, under Second drive, choose the virtio-win disc. Nothing starts from it; setup and Windows only read the drivers.

4. 4

   Keep Start from it once and confirm Insert and restart by holding.

5. 5

   Open the console under Graphical. Setup starts by itself. If Press any key to boot from CD or DVD does appear, press a key.

Setup

1. 1

   Choose language, format and keyboard, then Next and Install now.

2. 2

   If setup asks for a product key, enter yours.

3. 3

   Choose an edition with (Desktop Experience). Without it, Windows has no graphical interface, only a command line.

4. 4

   Accept the licence terms and choose Custom, not Upgrade.

5. 5

   The disk (Drive 0) still holds the partitions of our system. Select one after the other and choose Delete until only Unallocated Space is left. Select it and choose Next. This deletes all data on the server.

6. 6

   After copying, Windows restarts and asks for the password of Administrator. Then sign in with Ctrl+Alt+Del from the console's toolbar.

Drivers and guest agent

On our servers setup sees the disk without another driver. If it shows none, choose Load driver and then Browse. On the virtio-win disc open the folder vioscsi, in it the folder of your Windows version (2k22 for Windows Server 2022) and amd64.

Windows recognises the network card only with the NetKVM driver from the same disc. After signing in, open the virtio-win disc in Explorer and run virtio-win-guest-tools.exe. Accept the licence and install all parts. Windows then has a network card and the guest agent runs: the customer area shows the addresses, and Stop and Restart shut Windows down cleanly.

Set up the network

The ISO image tab shows, under Network for a system of your own, at Windows the commands with your server's values. Copy them, open Windows PowerShell in Windows and paste them in the console with Type the clipboard. The commands:

• give the network card the internal address with its gateway and, in addition, the public IPv4 as an extra address with the mask 255.255.255.255 (/32);
• make Windows send from the public address. Otherwise Windows takes the internal one, and your traffic does not reach the internet with your public address;
• enter the DNS servers and set the MTU 1400; without this step the network card uses a larger one;
• turn off Windows' random IPv6 addresses. Our network lets through only the address formed from the MAC address; IPv6 then comes automatically.

The settings stay after a restart. If the network card is not called Ethernet, change the first line.

Remote access with Remote Desktop

In Windows, turn on Remote Desktop under Settings · System · Remote Desktop; the Windows firewall then opens TCP 3389. Then connect to your server's public IPv4 as Administrator. If you use our firewall for the server, allow incoming TCP 3389 there, ideally only from your own address. Remote Desktop on the open internet is attacked all the time: use a long password of its own and keep Windows up to date.

Afterwards

• Eject both discs in the ISO image tab; an image of your own is deleted with it.
• Password and SSH keys from the customer area do not reach Windows. You set the administrator password yourself in setup.
• With Windows the console keyboard layout applies to the console only. The line saying it could not be set in the server concerns our systems only; the layout inside Windows is set in Windows.
• A reinstall from the customer area replaces Windows with one of our systems again.
• Our servers start with a classic BIOS. Windows Server 2022 installs that way.

Licence

You alone are responsible for the licence. We do not sell Windows licences and can neither check nor confirm yours. Our servers are a provider's shared hardware, and there Microsoft's licensing terms allow Windows only in certain cases:

• Windows Server only with a licence with active Software Assurance or a subscription licence, under Microsoft's "Flexible Virtualization Benefit". You license the VPS's cores, at least 8 cores per VPS, even if it has fewer. Client access licences (CALs) also need Software Assurance or a subscription.
• Ordinary retail or OEM keys are not enough for this, not for Windows Server either.
• Windows 10 and Windows 11 (desktop) must not run on our servers.