🍫 More Packer Magic: Windows Images and Chocolatey Goodness

So you read Packer in a Nutshell and you’re feeling spicy.
So now you used Packer to build a sleek little Linux image with Nginx, tossed it in AWS, and you’re high-fiving yourself.

But now your boss walks in and says:

“Hey, can you do this for a Windows Server image, with Chocolatey installed and pre-configured?”

Yes we can!

⚙️ What You’ll Need

Before we go full Windows wizardry, make sure you’ve got:

• Packer installed
• Access to AWS (or another builder platform)
• A base Windows AMI (e.g., Windows Server 2019)
• RDP access for testing (because SSH ain’t gonna cut it)
• 🍫 A deep love for Chocolatey

🪟 Example: Packer + Windows + Chocolatey on AWS

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# windows-choco.pkr.hcl

variable "aws_region" {
  default = "us-east-1"
}

source "amazon-ebs" "windows" {
  region             = var.aws_region
  source_ami_filter {
    filters = {
      name                = "Windows_Server-2019-English-Full-Base-*"
      virtualization-type = "hvm"
    }
    owners      = ["801119661308"] # Microsoft
    most_recent = true
  }
  instance_type      = "t3.medium"
  ami_name           = "windows-choco-{{timestamp}}"
  user_data_file     = "setup-choco.ps1"
  communicator       = "winrm"
  winrm_username     = "Administrator"
  winrm_insecure     = true
  winrm_use_ssl      = false
  winrm_timeout      = "10m"
}

build {
  sources = ["source.amazon-ebs.windows"]
}

💡 What’s Going On Here?

• We use the official Windows Server 2019 base image.
• user_data_file runs a PowerShell script to install Chocolatey.
• We use WinRM for remote access, because Windows doesn’t speak SSH (it barely speaks English half the time).

🍫 Chocolatey Installer Script (setup-choco.ps1)

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# setup-choco.ps1

# Disable IE Enhanced Security (because it breaks installs)
Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap" -Name IEHarden -Value 0

# Download and install Chocolatey
Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force
[System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [System.Net.SecurityProtocolType]::Tls12
iex ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://chocolatey.org/install.ps1'))

# Install some stuff via Chocolatey
choco install -y googlechrome notepadplusplus git

💥 That script installs:

• Google Chrome (because IE is a cursed relic)
• Notepad++ (for actual editing)
• Git (because Git is life)

🔨 Build the Image

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packer init .
packer validate windows-choco.pkr.hcl
packer build windows-choco.pkr.hcl

🧪 Testing It

Once it builds successfully, spin up an instance of your new image.

• Use RDP to connect.
• Login as Administrator.
• Check that Chocolatey and all your apps are installed.
• Bask in your glorious Windows DevOps power. ⚡

🧠 Extra Tips for Windows + Packer

🤯 Bonus: Adding VS Code and Node.js

Just add to the PowerShell script:

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choco install -y vscode nodejs

And boom. You’ve got a dev-ready Windows machine image baked, seasoned, and served.

🧑‍🍳 The Bake-Off Continues…

Packer isn’t just a Linux bro — it’s fully bilingual. You can use it to create reliable, repeatable Windows images, automate your dev environments, and even standardize your infrastructure across teams.

Chocolatey + Packer is like peanut butter + jelly — or maybe more like PowerShell + sanity, which is rare but beautiful.

🔑 Key Ideas

🪄 Now go forth, build Windows images, and automate your life like it’s 2099.

Next up: Want to build Windows images locally with VirtualBox or pipe them into Vagrant? Stay tuned, it gets weirder (and cooler).

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