Build Windows images with Packer using WinRM communicator and PowerShell provisioners. Use when creating Windows AMIs, Azure images, or VMware templates.
npx skills add https://github.com/hashicorp/agent-skills --skill windows-builder
Platform-agnostic patterns for building Windows images with Packer.
Reference: Windows Builders
> Note: Windows builds incur significant costs and time. Expect 45-120 minutes per build due to Windows Updates. Failed builds may leave resources running - always verify cleanup.
Windows requires WinRM for Packer communication.
source "amazon-ebs" "windows" {
region = "us-west-2"
instance_type = "t3.medium"
source_ami_filter {
filters = {
name = "Windows_Server-2022-English-Full-Base-*"
}
most_recent = true
owners = ["amazon"]
}
ami_name = "windows-server-2022-${local.timestamp}"
communicator = "winrm"
winrm_username = "Administrator"
winrm_use_ssl = true
winrm_insecure = true
winrm_timeout = "15m"
user_data_file = "scripts/setup-winrm.ps1"
}
<powershell>
# Configure WinRM
winrm quickconfig -q
winrm set winrm/config '@{MaxTimeoutms="1800000"}'
winrm set winrm/config/service '@{AllowUnencrypted="true"}'
winrm set winrm/config/service/auth '@{Basic="true"}'
# Configure firewall
netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="WinRM 5985" protocol=TCP dir=in localport=5985 action=allow
netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="WinRM 5986" protocol=TCP dir=in localport=5986 action=allow
# Restart WinRM
net stop winrm
net start winrm
</powershell>
source "azure-arm" "windows" {
client_id = var.client_id
client_secret = var.client_secret
subscription_id = var.subscription_id
tenant_id = var.tenant_id
managed_image_resource_group_name = "images-rg"
managed_image_name = "windows-${local.timestamp}"
os_type = "Windows"
image_publisher = "MicrosoftWindowsServer"
image_offer = "WindowsServer"
image_sku = "2022-datacenter-g2"
location = "East US"
vm_size = "Standard_D2s_v3"
# Azure auto-configures WinRM
communicator = "winrm"
winrm_use_ssl = true
winrm_insecure = true
winrm_timeout = "15m"
winrm_username = "packer"
}
build {
sources = ["source.amazon-ebs.windows"]
# Install Chocolatey
provisioner "powershell" {
inline = [
"Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force",
"iex ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://community.chocolatey.org/install.ps1'))"
]
}
# Install applications
provisioner "powershell" {
inline = [
"choco install -y googlechrome",
"choco install -y 7zip",
]
}
# Install IIS
provisioner "powershell" {
inline = [
"Install-WindowsFeature -Name Web-Server -IncludeManagementTools"
]
}
}
provisioner "powershell" {
inline = [
"Install-PackageProvider -Name NuGet -Force",
"Install-Module -Name PSWindowsUpdate -Force",
"Import-Module PSWindowsUpdate",
"Get-WindowsUpdate -Install -AcceptAll -AutoReboot",
]
timeout = "2h"
}
# Wait for reboots
provisioner "windows-restart" {
restart_timeout = "30m"
}
provisioner "powershell" {
inline = [
"# Clear temp files",
"Remove-Item -Path 'C:\\Windows\\Temp\\*' -Recurse -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue",
"# Clear Windows Update cache",
"Stop-Service -Name wuauserv -Force",
"Remove-Item -Path 'C:\\Windows\\SoftwareDistribution\\*' -Recurse -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue",
"Start-Service -Name wuauserv",
]
}
WinRM Timeout
winrm_timeout to 15m or morePowerShell Execution Policy
provisioner "powershell" {
inline = [
"Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force",
"# Your commands here",
]
}
Long Build Times
timeout = "2h"Analyze text and images for harmful content with customizable blocklists.
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Take hashicorp/windows-builder from the repository into ~/.claude/skills for personal
use, or into .claude/skills inside a project.
The agent identifies a skill by the name field in its header. Two skills with the
same name cannot sit side by side — one of them will be ignored.