Re: [qubes-users] qvm-create-windows-qube Automatically creates

2019-08-30 Thread 'crazyqube' via qubes-users
Well, once we have Chocolatey provisioned we can easily specify for 
Sysinternals to be pre-insatlled.

As for the zeroing, there is an option in the windows-7.xml answer file that 
provides an option to zero the disk before installation but I disabled it 
because I though it would slow down the installation.

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‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐
On Thursday, August 29, 2019 1:52 PM, Brendan Hoar  
wrote:

> Couple more:
>
> - As windows 7 does not support SCSI unmap, and C and E are on virtual SCSI 
> devices: install sdelete by default and schedule sdelete.exe -z C:\ and 
> sdelete -z E:\ ... largish zero writes are caught at the lvm later and 
> unallocated from storage - plus passed on as discards to physical storage if 
> you’ve enabled this in Qubes (as per testing).
>
> - Possibly work an initial defrag run into the deployment but before sdelete 
> as it saved about 1GB of LVM storage per VM (prob related to lvm chunk size).
>
> B
>
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Re: [qubes-users] qvm-create-windows-qube Automatically creates

2019-08-30 Thread 'crazyqube' via qubes-users
Hi Brendan,

I'm not sure why you're getting only 50/50 success rate on the installations. 
For me it's been perfect every time. This will need to be investigated.

Some of that stuff about increasing I/O throughput and stub priority stuff 
sounds great as I was unaware of it. Right now when QWT is installed the 
automatic installation leaves a checkbox related to increasing I/O performance 
with an extra Xen driver unchecked. I believe I tested it before and as long as 
you have decent amount of updates installed it appears to work fine. Maybe we 
can fine a command-line switch to install that extra driver too?

As for the Windows updates do be informed that we must install a minimum of 
them or QWT will fail to install causing the system to go into recovery mode on 
next boot. Just having Service Pack 1 (SP1) isn't enough. Hence why I had to at 
least use wusa.exe to install those to WSU update packages out of the box. (The 
Servicing Stack and Convenience Rollup which is a bunch of updates in two 
update packages)

I don't see why restarting windows-mgmt would be necessary. If you look at the 
create-media.sh script I've tried to make it as safe as possible by setting a 
TRAP on exit, ^C, etc so if the process is interrupted in anyway it will do 
it's best to clean up. However, all this may be fixed by packer (package on 
Debian) which I'm looking into and could completely streamline this process.

Right now I have updates set to download and install automatically but turned 
off automatic reboots. I didn't want to turn off updates out of the box because 
as provided the machine is missing many important security updates. For 
example, it's vulnerable to MS17-010. However, this technically shouldn't 
matter as long as port 445 it's port forwarded to the LAN or another qube.

I also never had an issue with the qrexec_timeout but perhaps that's because I 
have a fast SSD.

I've been working on this lately as it would be able to easily specify programs 
to pre-install:
https://github.com/crazyqube/qvm-create-windows-qube/tree/chocolatey
(Read the todo in the README for more info about research and future changes)

It's mostly done although it requires testing. Also, this:
https://github.com/chocolatey/chocolatey.org/issues/687
is currently a big issue as I don't want people who want their Windows VM 
behind Tor to be treated like second-class citizens.

Lastly, this project is in the process of being put into official documentation!
https://github.com/QubesOS/qubes-doc/pull/854

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‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐
On Thursday, August 29, 2019 1:27 PM,  wrote:

> Hi crazyqube,
>
> I've used this to generate 20-30 VMs.
>
> I've noticed some incomplete installs (50/50). There do seem to be come 
> timing dependencies that sometimes cause failures. I'll be investigating 
> these further next week.
>
> I have some thoughts on changes I'll work on, if you're not planning to work 
> on them, that might address some of these:
>
> - Defaulting to debug=true so that boot problems can be easily diagnosed, 
> with instructions on how the user should manually disable it when finished.
> - Increasing the device-stub VM priority from 256 to 1000 during install 
> utilizing xl sched-credit. This dramatically increases the IO throughput for 
> the installation.
> - Defaulting to no-network. For the most qubes usage, I think many of us 
> won't plan to connect Windows to the internet.
> - If network is explicitly set, only set it to the given option before/after 
> the final boot cycle, to minimize interference.
> - Increasing the run-time of the final boot cycle, and possibly overlapping 
> that shutdown with the next creation. Utilize qvm-run shutdown.exe or qvm-run 
> a script instead of qvm-shutdown.
> - Refactor repeated code into bash functions.
> -  Ensure loop devices in windows-mgmt are removed when finished (keep the 
> qui-devices menu uncluttered)
> - Perhaps restart windows-mgmt between VM creations.
> - Automate installation of xenvbd 8.2.2 or 8.2.1 after appropriate Windows 7 
> updates are installed.
> - Document that xenvbd is needed for attaching block devices from qui-devices.
> - Utilize double digit counter instead of single digit.
> - Option to disable windows update permanantly.
> - Option to initiate windows update on last reboot (after QWT is installed).
> - Increase qrexec_timeout to 600 by default.
>
> Brendan
>
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Re: [qubes-users] qvm-create-windows-qube Automatically creates

2019-08-30 Thread Brendan Hoar
On Fri, Aug 30, 2019 at 2:14 AM 799  wrote:

> Hello Brendan,
>
> Thanks for the improvement list. Some questions:
>
>  schrieb am Do., 29. Aug. 2019, 15:27:
>
>> - Increasing the device-stub VM priority from 256 to 1000 during install
>> utilizing xl sched-credit. This dramatically increases the IO throughput
>> for the installation.
>>
>
> How can this be done? what is the device-stub VM priority? Can this be set
> via qvm-prefs?
>

xl sched-credit -d ${current_name}-dm -w 1000 # execute after sleep nn
seconds after each VM startup. -dm is the stub device VM for HVMs. It is
temporary until next restart.

- Increasing the run-time of the final boot cycle, and possibly overlapping
>> that shutdown with the next creation. Utilize qvm-run shutdown.exe or
>> qvm-run a script instead of qvm-shutdown.
>>
>
> How can this be done?
>

$( sleep 360; qvm-run “${current_name}” “shutdown.exe /s /t 0” )& # I think

- Automate installation of xenvbd 8.2.2 or 8.2.1 after appropriate Windows
>> 7 updates are installed.
>>
>
> xenvbd = Qubes Tools ?
>

It’s in Xen tools, installed by Qubes tools but that module is not
installed by default by Qubes tools as it is buggy with unpatched win 7.
Since the script patches Win 7 it should be ok. I downloaded the 8.2.2
version of the xenvbd driver (don’t use unsigned daily build) from the xen
site and installed that manually. Then you can use qui-devices widget to
attach devices.

It’d be nice to add automating that to the winmgmt VM downloads, iso
mounting and installing steps.

B

>

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Re: [qubes-users] qvm-create-windows-qube Automatically creates

2019-08-30 Thread 799
Hello Brendan,

Thanks for the improvement list. Some questions:

 schrieb am Do., 29. Aug. 2019, 15:27:

> - Increasing the device-stub VM priority from 256 to 1000 during install
> utilizing xl sched-credit. This dramatically increases the IO throughput
> for the installation.
>

How can this be done? what is the device-stub VM priority? Can this be set
via qvm-prefs?

- Increasing the run-time of the final boot cycle, and possibly overlapping
> that shutdown with the next creation. Utilize qvm-run shutdown.exe or
> qvm-run a script instead of qvm-shutdown.
>

How can this be done?

- Automate installation of xenvbd 8.2.2 or 8.2.1 after appropriate Windows
> 7 updates are installed.
>

xenvbd = Qubes Tools ?

[799]

>

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Re: [qubes-users] qvm-create-windows-qube Automatically creates

2019-08-29 Thread Brendan Hoar
Couple more:

- As windows 7 does not support SCSI unmap, and C and E are on virtual SCSI
devices: install sdelete by default and schedule sdelete.exe -z C:\ and
sdelete -z E:\ ... largish zero writes are caught at the lvm later and
unallocated from storage - plus passed on as discards to physical storage
if you’ve enabled this in Qubes (as per testing).

- Possibly work an initial defrag run into the deployment but before
sdelete as it saved about 1GB of LVM storage per VM (prob related to lvm
chunk size).

B

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Re: [qubes-users] qvm-create-windows-qube Automatically creates

2019-08-29 Thread brendan . hoar
Hi crazyqube,

I've used this to generate 20-30 VMs. 

I've noticed some incomplete installs (50/50). There do seem to be come 
timing dependencies that sometimes cause failures. I'll be investigating 
these further next week.

I have some thoughts on changes I'll work on, if you're not planning to 
work on them, that might address some of these:

- Defaulting to debug=true so that boot problems can be easily diagnosed, 
with instructions on how the user should manually disable it when finished.
- Increasing the device-stub VM priority from 256 to 1000 during install 
utilizing xl sched-credit. This dramatically increases the IO throughput 
for the installation.
- Defaulting to no-network. For the most qubes usage, I think many of us 
won't plan to connect Windows to the internet.
- If network is explicitly set, only set it to the given option 
before/after the final boot cycle, to minimize interference.
- Increasing the run-time of the final boot cycle, and possibly overlapping 
that shutdown with the next creation. Utilize qvm-run shutdown.exe or 
qvm-run a script instead of qvm-shutdown.
- Refactor repeated code into bash functions.
-  Ensure loop devices in windows-mgmt are removed when finished (keep the 
qui-devices menu uncluttered)
- Perhaps restart windows-mgmt between VM creations.
- Automate installation of xenvbd 8.2.2 or 8.2.1 after appropriate Windows 
7 updates are installed.
- Document that xenvbd is needed for attaching block devices from 
qui-devices.
- Utilize double digit counter instead of single digit.
- Option to disable windows update permanantly.
- Option to initiate windows update on last reboot (after QWT is installed).
- Increase qrexec_timeout to 600 by default.

Brendan

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Re: [qubes-users] qvm-create-windows-qube Automatically creates

2019-08-24 Thread brendan . hoar
On Tuesday, August 20, 2019 at 6:54:02 PM UTC-4, 799 wrote:
>
> Hello,
> On Tue, 20 Aug 2019 at 21:34, 'awokd' via qubes-users <
> qubes...@googlegroups.com > wrote:
>
>> 'crazyqube' via qubes-users:
>> > I just made my solution for fully automatically creating and installing 
>> new Windows qubes from scratch public! It pre-installs Qubes Windows Tools 
>> and Firefox so now you don't even have to open Internet Explorer to 
>> download a good browser! (lol)
>> > 
>> > If you have any issues or suggestions then by all means create an issue 
>> and I'll look into it.
>> > 
>
> I am trying to run through the process but want to do it by CLI from dom0 
> only.
> This would even allow more automation as we can write a script which will 
> do the last manuell steps like creating the windows-mgmt qube etc.
>

cq appears to have added your dom0 initiation steps, so kudos to both of 
you.

I opened an issue with dom0's $HOME value being passed to windows-mgmt, 
which fails to find the iso (admin vs user account name), but with a quick 
edit it's running now. Will report back.

Brendan

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Re: [qubes-users] qvm-create-windows-qube Automatically creates

2019-08-20 Thread 799
Hello,

On Tue, 20 Aug 2019 at 21:34, 'awokd' via qubes-users <
qubes-users@googlegroups.com> wrote:

> 'crazyqube' via qubes-users:
> > I just made my solution for fully automatically creating and installing
> new Windows qubes from scratch public! It pre-installs Qubes Windows Tools
> and Firefox so now you don't even have to open Internet Explorer to
> download a good browser! (lol)
> >
> > It's currently ready for use at:
> > https://github.com/crazyqube/qvm-create-windows-qube
> >
> > If you have any issues or suggestions then by all means create an issue
> and I'll look into it.
> >
> > -crazyqube
> >
> > P.S. If you use it and find it good then please give it a well-deserved
> star!
>

if this works,it would be great.
I am trying to run through the process but want to do it by CLI from dom0
only.
This would even allow more automation as we can write a script which will
do the last manuell steps like creating the windows-mgmt qube etc.

You should be able to run all steps to setup, via dom0:

# create a new AppVM
qvm-create --class AppVM --template fedora-30 --label black windows-mgmt

# Increase storage capacity
qvm-volume extend windows-mgmt:private 20480M

# Install Git in the AppVM (will be gone on next reboot)
qvm-run --auto --pass-io --no-gui --user root windows-mgmt 'dnf install -y
git'

# Clone repository of qvm-create-windows-qube
qvm-run --auto --pass-io --no-gui windows-mgmt 'cd Documents && git clone
https://github.com/crazyqube/qvm-create-windows-qube'

# Run the script to download all files
qvm-run --auto --pass-io --no-gui windows-mgmt 'cd
Documents/qvm-create-windows-qube && ./download-windows.sh'

#  install windows tools
sudo qubes-dom0-update --enablerepo=qubes-dom0-current-testing
qubes-windows-tools

# copy script to dom0
qvm-run --pass-io windows-mgmt 'cat
$HOME/Documents/qvm-create-windows-qube/qvm-create-windows-qube.sh' >
qvm-create-windows-qube.sh


Feel free to add this to your script/repo.

[799]

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Re: [qubes-users] qvm-create-windows-qube Automatically creates

2019-08-20 Thread 'awokd' via qubes-users
'crazyqube' via qubes-users:
> I just made my solution for fully automatically creating and installing new 
> Windows qubes from scratch public! It pre-installs Qubes Windows Tools and 
> Firefox so now you don't even have to open Internet Explorer to download a 
> good browser! (lol)
> 
> It's currently ready for use at:
> https://github.com/crazyqube/qvm-create-windows-qube
> 
> If you have any issues or suggestions then by all means create an issue and 
> I'll look into it.
> 
> -crazyqube
> 
> P.S. If you use it and find it good then please give it a well-deserved star!
> 
Nice script. What is auto-tools or where does it come from? Also, would
it be possible to make available a deterministic/reproducible
slipstreamed ISO with the Windows updates and QWT drivers integrated?
With a SHA256 sum, it could save some steps.

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[qubes-users] qvm-create-windows-qube Automatically creates

2019-08-19 Thread 'crazyqube' via qubes-users
I just made my solution for fully automatically creating and installing new 
Windows qubes from scratch public! It pre-installs Qubes Windows Tools and 
Firefox so now you don't even have to open Internet Explorer to download a good 
browser! (lol)

It's currently ready for use at:
https://github.com/crazyqube/qvm-create-windows-qube

If you have any issues or suggestions then by all means create an issue and 
I'll look into it.

-crazyqube

P.S. If you use it and find it good then please give it a well-deserved star!

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