Linux VPS to Windows OS conversion Process

1) Prepare an Ubuntu 22 or up, must be Ubuntu, not Debian

2) Must be a kvm vps

VPS RAM 4 GB = Windows 7

VPS RAM 8 GB = Windows 10

VPS RAM 16 GB = Windows 11

3) Login as a sudo user

Use the lsblk command: Type lsblk and press Enter. This will display a list of all block devices, including their names, sizes, and mount points.

Identify your drive: Look for the entry that corresponds to your hard drive. It will likely be /dev/vda or /dev/sda .

Example output of lsblk:

Output

NAME   MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
vda      8:0    0 931.5G  0 disk
├─vda1   8:1    0   512M  0 part /boot/efi
├─vda2   8:2    0   7.8G  0 part [SWAP]
└─vda3   8:3    0 923.2G  0 part /

In this example, /dev/vda is the primary drive.

Note down your drive name.

4) Install qemu and wget

sudo apt install qemu-system-x86 wget -y

5) Prepare ISO file, in your personal Windows PC

From your personal PC, download the Windows 11,  ISO file from official Microsoft website.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows11

Additionally, download the VirtIO drivers software ISO file from Fedora site, don't worry this file is trusted.

https://fedorapeople.org/groups/virt/virtio-win/direct-downloads/stable-virtio/virtio-win.iso

Extract the virtio-win.iso to your PC. You need to insert the extracted contents to the Windows bootable ISO.

You may need a bootable iso creator software. I personally use PowerISO software.

Now, insert the VirtIO drivers content to the Windows ISO to get the all in one ISO.

Now, upload the ISO to a Amazon AWS S3 folder or to a FTP site of yours. Make sure the file has public download permission. After downloaded in your Ubuntu vps, you may delete the file from S3 or your FTP.

6) Back to Ubuntu terminal

wget -O windows.iso "https://your-s3-or-ftp-iso-file-download-link-URL-here"

7) Start the conversion

sudo qemu-system-x86_64 \

  -enable-kvm \

  -m 4096 \

  -hda /dev/vda \

  -cdrom windows.iso \

  -boot d \

  -vnc 0.0.0.0:0

* Make sure the port 5900 is opened in your vps. And allow only your own real IPs.

* The prompt "Press any key to boot from CD/DVD" may passed if you connect the vnc at late !

8) Connect the secondary vnc and get the Windows installation screen (Back to your personal PC)

Run a VNC client software

your-vps-ip:5900

Password is blank, no password needed.

* The prompt "Press any key to boot from CD/DVD" may passed if you connect the vnc at late !

Follow on screen instruction...

To get hard-disk in the installation step, load driver from iso image drive, the driver name is "Red Hat VirtIO SCSI controller"

Complete the installation every step... including several restart within your vnc session...

9) Back to Ubuntu terminal

Press Ctrl+C to quit QEMU

reboot