I have used salt-cloud to create a VM in my vSphere instance and am wanting to carry out a completely unattended Windows server 2022 install.

From research I have found out about windows answer files but I am not sure where this answer file needs to go in my iso file, or even if that is the correct way to do this. Does it need to be attached to my VM separately? I'm sure there must be a way for a completely unattended windows install but I am at a loss at the moment.

Also, I'm not completely set on the idea of an answer file. I'm more than happy to use another method.

The end goal here is to create a VM, install windows and other software and then delete the VM. The only sticking point at the moment is the windows install.

Any help greatly appreciated.

Thanks

I have used salt-cloud to create a VM in my vSphere instance and am wanting to carry out a completely unattended Windows server 2022 install.

From research I have found out about windows answer files but I am not sure where this answer file needs to go in my iso file, or even if that is the correct way to do this. Does it need to be attached to my VM separately? I'm sure there must be a way for a completely unattended windows install but I am at a loss at the moment.

Also, I'm not completely set on the idea of an answer file. I'm more than happy to use another method.

The end goal here is to create a VM, install windows and other software and then delete the VM. The only sticking point at the moment is the windows install.

If this question should be asked on a different "stack" site, please let me know which one is appropriate.

Any help greatly appreciated.

Thanks