Creating an image from a Compute Cloud Linux instance

In Cloud Desktop, you can create desktops from pre-installed system images or your own custom images.

Currently, you can add a Linux-based image. Later on, we are going to add support for Windows images.

A custom image is created from a Compute Cloud instance.

To add a custom image to Cloud Desktop:

1. Create or select a previously created VM instance with the following parameters:

   • Access: Via an SSH key. Cloud Desktop does not support access via OS Login.
   • Connecting to the internet to install additional software.

2. Configure the instance to create the image you need.

3. Configure remote RDP access:

   1. Install xrdp and xorgxrdp or other relevant software.
   2. Install system audio management packages to enable audio and a microphone. For example, install pipewire-module-xrdp or pulseaudio-module-xrdp for xrdp.

   Example of RDP and audio configuration for Debian 12:

   sudo apt-get update
   sudo apt-get install -y xfce4 pipewire pipewire-pulse xorgxrdp xrdp pipewire-module-xrdp
   sudo systemctl enable xrdp
   sudo systemctl enable xrdp-sesman
   

4. Set the incoming connections on all network interfaces for:

   • RDP: To TCP port 3389.
   • Yandex Cloud Desktop Agent: To TCP port 5050.

5. Check VM availability over RDP.

6. Install the Yandex Cloud Desktop agent for Linux using the following series of commands:

   WORKDIR=$(mktemp -d -p $HOME)
   cd ${WORKDIR}
   curl -sSL https://storage.yandexcloud.net/yandexcloud-vdi-agent/install.sh > desktop-agent-install.sh
   chmod +x desktop-agent-install.sh
   ./desktop-agent-install.sh -i ${WORKDIR}
   sudo mkdir -p /opt/yandex-cloud/cloud-desktops
   sudo rm -rf /opt/yandex-cloud/cloud-desktops/desktopagent
   sudo cp ${WORKDIR}/bin/desktopagent /opt/yandex-cloud/cloud-desktops/
   sudo chown root:root /opt/yandex-cloud/cloud-desktops/desktopagent
   sudo chmod +x /opt/yandex-cloud/cloud-desktops/desktopagent
   

7. Enable agent autorun on VM OS boot.

   Example of enabling autorun for an OS with the SystemD init system (Ubuntu, Debian, CentOS, Fedora, openSUSE, other):

   sudo cat >/etc/systemd/system/desktop-agent.service <<EOF
   [Unit]
   Description=Yandex Cloud Desktop Agent
   Wants=networking.service
   After=networking.service cloud-init.service
   
   ConditionFileIsExecutable=/opt/yandex-cloud/cloud-desktops/desktopagent
   
   [Service]
   Type=simple
   ExecStart=/opt/yandex-cloud/cloud-desktops/desktopagent start --log-level debug
   Restart=always
   RestartSec=30
   
   [Install]
   WantedBy=multi-user.target cloud-init.target
   EOF
   
   sudo systemctl daemon-reload
   sudo systemctl enable desktop-agent.service
   

8. Reboot the VM and make sure the agent starts automatically.

   Example of checking autorun for an OS with the SystemD init system:

   1. Run this command:

      sudo systemctl status desktop-agent-updater
      

   2. Make sure the command output contains Active: active (running) or Active: activating (auto-restart).

9. Before creating a boot disk image, clean the instance’s OS from the data you do not need. For example, in distributions with the apt package manager, you can clear the cache:

   sudo apt-get clean
   

10. Create an image from the instance's disk.

    Management console

    1. In the management console, select Compute Cloud.
    2. Next to your instance, click → Stop.
    3. In the left-hand panel, select Disks.
    4. In the line with the instance boot disk, click → Create image.
    5. Enter the image name and give some description, if needed.
    6. Click Create.

11. Add the image to Cloud Desktop:

    Management console

    1. In the management console, select Cloud Desktop.
    2. In the left-hand panel, select Images.
    3. Click Add image.
    4. In the Image source field, select Compute Cloud.
    5. In the Image in Compute Cloud field, select the previously created image.
    6. Enter a name for the image.
    7. Click Add.

Once the image is created, you can use it as a boot disk image for desktop groups.

If you no longer need the image and the instance, delete them to avoid paying for them:

• Deleting a VM
• Deleting a disk image