Quick Guide #
In XOAP, the Operating System represents the base image that will be used as the foundation for your custom virtual machine image.
Add a new Cloud Operating System #
1. Click + Add Base Image and select Cloud.
2. Specify the Provider, Region, and Platform details.
3. Select one or more operating systems and click Add.
Add a new On-Premises Operating System #
1. Click + Add Base Image and select On-Premises.
2. Define the ISO-related parameters.
3. Select the Autounattend file and setup files for your OS, then click Add.
Edit an Operating System #
1. Right-click the Operating System and select Details.
2. Update the configurable parameters and click Save.
Delete an Operating System #
1. Right-click the Operating System and select Delete.
2. Confirm the deletion.
Additional useful information #
• XOAP retrieves updated OS lists from supported cloud providers on a weekly basis.
• Operating systems can be deprecated and removed by cloud providers, which may cause Image Definition runs to fail. To avoid this, keep your Operating Systems up to date by adding the latest versions and updating your Image Definitions accordingly.
Technical documentation #
In XOAP, the Operating System represents the base image that will be used as the foundation for your custom virtual machine image. You can select one or more OS versions from your cloud provider (e.g., Azure, AWS, GCP) to match your infrastructure requirements.This step is essential because all provisioning, customization, and image building will be performed on top of this base OS.
When adding an Cloud Operating System in XOAP, you define:
• Provider – Select the cloud or platform provider (e.g., Azure, AWS, Google Cloud)
• Region – Specify the region where the base image is available
• Platform Details – Choose the OS version, architecture (x64/ARM), hypervisor generation, and SKU
• Tags – Optionally add tags to help organize or categorize the OS for future reference
When adding an On-Premisses Operating System in XOAP you define:
• Name – Name of your Operating System. You can define the name by your own naming convention
• ISO File Name – provide the name of your ISO file which will be used as base Operating System for your Image Definition
• ISO Path – full location to the your ISO file
• ISO Checksum – checksum of your ISO as additional security feature
• Autounattend – file which is used to modify windows settings during Setup. This file must be uploaded to XOAP resource area.
• Setup Files – defines which extra files XOAP mounts into the virtual machine during operating system installation.
These files are typically used by the unattend.xml to install drivers, tools, or to run custom PowerShell scripts during or immediately after the first boot.
On-premisses tips #
For on-premises operating systems, XOAP does not upload/store the ISO itself. Instead, you register the ISO by providing its path and checksum, and the build infrastructure (hypervisor / storage) must be able to access that ISO at runtime.
What this means in practice:
• The ISO is stored in your hypervisor storage (e.g., vSphere datastore / Hyper-V library) or on a file share (e.g., SMB/UNC path).
• XOAP stores metadata about the ISO (name, path, checksum) and uses that information during image builds.
• Ensure the build components (e.g., the host running the on-prem builder) have network access and permissions to read the ISO from the specified path.
Use Get-FileHash to generate the checksum for the ISO file:
Get-FileHash -Path “\fileserver\isos\Windows11_24H2.iso” -Algorithm SHA256. Copy the returned Hash value into the ISO Checksum field in XOAP.
Use unique filenames if you plan to upload multiple autounattend files for the same OS (e.g., different languages, environments, driver sets).
Example naming convention:
• Autounattend_W11_23H2_EN.xml
• Autounattend_W11_23H2_DE.xml
• Autounattend_W11_23H2_WithDrivers.xml
Important: Autounattend resources are renamed during the deployment/build process (as part of how XOAP stages resources into the temporary VM).Because of that, having distinct filenames in XOAP Resources is essential to keep them manageable and avoid confusion when selecting the correct file.
Ensure the Autounattend file matches the target OS (edition/SKU, architecture, expected install flow) and references any setup files/drivers using paths that are valid in your setup process.