Cloudbase-init running in Windows Azure VM

Question

Cloudbase-init running in Windows Azure VM

Francisco Cardarelli 25

Hi. I have created a template based on an Azure gallery template, then installed cloudbase-init, did the generalize process, created an image but when I deploy the machine and cloudbase-init runs I get the following error. I tested and I can reach the metadata services running on 168.63.129.16

2025-04-01 06:44:22.972 4160 DEBUG cloudbaseinit.metadata.services.base [-] Executing http request GET at http://168.63.129.16?comp=Versions _http_request C:\Program Files\Cloudbase Solutions\Cloudbase-Init\Python\lib\site-packages\cloudbaseinit\metadata\services\base.py:315
2025-04-01 06:44:23.066 4160 ERROR cloudbaseinit.metadata.services.azureservice [-] No drive containing file E6DA6616-8EC4-48E0-BE93-58CE6ACE3CFB.tag could be found: cloudbaseinit.exception.ItemNotFoundException: No drive containing file E6DA6616-8EC4-48E0-BE93-58CE6ACE3CFB.tag could be found
2025-04-01 06:44:23.066 4160 ERROR cloudbaseinit.metadata.services.azureservice Traceback (most recent call last):
2025-04-01 06:44:23.066 4160 ERROR cloudbaseinit.metadata.services.azureservice   File "C:\Program Files\Cloudbase Solutions\Cloudbase-Init\Python\lib\site-packages\cloudbaseinit\metadata\services\azureservice.py", line 468, in load
2025-04-01 06:44:23.066 4160 ERROR cloudbaseinit.metadata.services.azureservice     self._get_ovf_env()
2025-04-01 06:44:23.066 4160 ERROR cloudbaseinit.metadata.services.azureservice   File "C:\Program Files\Cloudbase Solutions\Cloudbase-Init\Python\lib\site-packages\cloudbaseinit\metadata\services\azureservice.py", line 346, in _get_ovf_env
2025-04-01 06:44:23.066 4160 ERROR cloudbaseinit.metadata.services.azureservice     ovf_env_path = self._get_ovf_env_path()
2025-04-01 06:44:23.066 4160 ERROR cloudbaseinit.metadata.services.azureservice   File "C:\Program Files\Cloudbase Solutions\Cloudbase-Init\Python\lib\site-packages\cloudbaseinit\metadata\services\azureservice.py", line 334, in _get_ovf_env_path
2025-04-01 06:44:23.066 4160 ERROR cloudbaseinit.metadata.services.azureservice     base_path = self._get_config_set_drive_path()
2025-04-01 06:44:23.066 4160 ERROR cloudbaseinit.metadata.services.azureservice   File "C:\Program Files\Cloudbase Solutions\Cloudbase-Init\Python\lib\site-packages\cloudbaseinit\metadata\services\azureservice.py", line 328, in _get_config_set_drive_path
2025-04-01 06:44:23.066 4160 ERROR cloudbaseinit.metadata.services.azureservice     raise exception.ItemNotFoundException(
2025-04-01 06:44:23.066 4160 ERROR cloudbaseinit.metadata.services.azureservice cloudbaseinit.exception.ItemNotFoundException: No drive containing file E6DA6616-8EC4-48E0-BE93-58CE6ACE3CFB.tag could be found
2025-04-01 06:44:23.066 4160 ERROR cloudbaseinit.metadata.services.azureservice 
2025-04-01 06:44:23.066 4160 ERROR cloudbaseinit.init [-] No metadata service found: cloudbaseinit.exception.MetadataNotFoundException: No available service found

Any ideas how to troubleshoot it?

Mounika Reddy Anumandla 4,300 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2025-04-09T05:35:19.67+00:00

Hi Francisco Cardarelli,

Just checking in to see if you had a chance to review the response provided to your question.

Let me know if you have any further queries!

If the information is helpful, please click "upvote" to let us know.

Accepted answer

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Mounika Reddy Anumandla 4,300 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2025-04-09T05:35:19.67+00:00

Hi Francisco Cardarelli,

Just checking in to see if you had a chance to review the response provided to your question.

Let me know if you have any further queries!

If the information is helpful, please click "upvote" to let us know.

Answer 1

Mounika Reddy Anumandla 4,300 Microsoft External Staff

Hi Francisco Cardarelli,

The error you're encountering with Cloudbase-Init indicates it's trying to load the provisioning OVF data from a virtual drive, but it can’t find the expected .tag file. This happens because by default, Cloudbase-Init expects provisioning to be done via an attached ISO that contains the OVF environment.

To resolve this in Azure, you should disable OVF-based provisioning and rely solely on the Azure metadata service (reachable at 168.63.129.16).https://cloudbase-init.readthedocs.io/en/latest/services.html#cloudbaseinit-metadata-services-azureservice-azureservice

Francisco Cardarelli 25

Hi @Mounika Reddy Anumandla it is configured like that to reach the Azure Metadata service,, it is also trying to reach the Azure metadata service as you can see in line 1 of the log. Check the cloudbase-init config file below

[DEFAULT]
username=Administrator
groups=Administrators
inject_user_password=true
config_drive_raw_hhd=true
config_drive_cdrom=true
config_drive_vfat=true
bsdtar_path=C:\Program Files\Cloudbase Solutions\Cloudbase-Init\bin\bsdtar.exe
mtools_path=C:\Program Files\Cloudbase Solutions\Cloudbase-Init\bin\
verbose=true
debug=true
log_dir=C:\Program Files\Cloudbase Solutions\Cloudbase-Init\log\
log_file=cloudbase-init.log
metadata_services=cloudbaseinit.metadata.services.azureservice.AzureService
plugins=cloudbaseinit.plugins.windows.rdp.RDPPostCertificateThumbprintPlugin,cloudbaseinit.plugins.windows.azureguestagent.AzureGuestAgentPlugin,cloudbaseinit.plugins.common.ephemeraldisk.EphemeralDiskPlugin, cloudbaseinit.plugins.common.trim.TrimConfigPlugin, cloudbaseinit.plugins.windows.sanpolicy.SANPolicyPlugin, cloudbaseinit.plugins.common.mtu.MTUPlugin, cloudbaseinit.plugins.windows.ntpclient.NTPClientPlugin, cloudbaseinit.plugins.common.sethostname.SetHostNamePlugin, cloudbaseinit.plugins.windows.createuser.CreateUserPlugin, cloudbaseinit.plugins.common.networkconfig.NetworkConfigPlugin, cloudbaseinit.plugins.windows.licensing.WindowsLicensingPlugin, cloudbaseinit.plugins.common.sshpublickeys.SetUserSSHPublicKeysPlugin, cloudbaseinit.plugins.windows.extendvolumes.ExtendVolumesPlugin, cloudbaseinit.plugins.common.userdata.UserDataPlugin, cloudbaseinit.plugins.common.setuserpassword.SetUserPasswordPlugin, cloudbaseinit.plugins.windows.winrmlistener.ConfigWinRMListenerPlugin, cloudbaseinit.plugins.windows.winrmcertificateauth.ConfigWinRMCertificateAuthPlugin, cloudbaseinit.plugins.common.localscripts.LocalScriptsPlugin
winrm_enable_basic_auth=true
default_log_levels=comtypes=INFO,suds=INFO,iso8601=WARN,requests=WARN
logging_serial_port_settings=
mtu_use_dhcp_config=true
ntp_use_dhcp_config=true
local_scripts_path=C:\Program Files\Cloudbase Solutions\Cloudbase-Init\LocalScripts\
check_latest_version=true

Mounika Reddy Anumandla 4,300 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2025-04-08T05:53:19.1366667+00:00

Hi Francisco Cardarelli,Despite reaching out to the metadata endpoint, cloudbase-init falls back to the config drive method, which fails because Azure doesn't attach a config drive.

This fallback happens because of the way AzureService is designed — it still tries to detect ovf-env.xml from a config drive as part of its metadata detection logic.

Specifically, this line in your logs explains it all:

ERROR cloudbaseinit.metadata.services.azureservice [-] No drive containing file E6DA6616-8EC4-48E

That .tag file is looked for on a virtual CD-ROM/RAW/VFAT disk to detect ovf-env.xml, even though you don’t actually need config drive access in Azure unless you're using custom OVF provisioning.

To fix the issue, you need to explicitly configure the AzureService to use only IMDS and skip the config drive.

Update your config to include this: azure.use_config_drive=false

You can also remove these lines since you're not using config drive:

config_drive_raw_hhd=true

config_drive_cdrom=true

config_drive_vfat=true

Please try the above suggestion and tag me in the comments for further queries!
Mounika Reddy Anumandla 4,300 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2025-04-10T05:59:04.0933333+00:00

Hi Francisco Cardarelli,

Cloudbase-Init is designed to work with Azure’s native metadata service, that might be the reason making config drive settings irrelevant in this environment. Azure uses an HTTP-based metadata service to deliver provisioning data to virtual machines.

Let me know if you have any queries!

If the information is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and "Upvote it."

Answer 2

Worked with this cloudbase conf file. Set those 3 you mentioned to false and that worked. I'm using packer to build the image. The azure.use_config_drive looks like does not exist.

[DEFAULT]
username=Admin
groups=Administrators
inject_user_password=true
config_drive_raw_hhd=false
config_drive_cdrom=false
config_drive_vfat=false
bsdtar_path=C:\Program Files\Cloudbase Solutions\Cloudbase-Init\bin\bsdtar.exe
mtools_path=C:\Program Files\Cloudbase Solutions\Cloudbase-Init\bin\
verbose=true
debug=true
logdir=C:\Program Files\Cloudbase Solutions\Cloudbase-Init\log\
logfile=cloudbase-init.log
default_log_levels=comtypes=INFO,suds=INFO,iso8601=WARN,requests=WARN
logging_serial_port_settings=COM2,115200,N,8
mtu_use_dhcp_config=true
ntp_use_dhcp_config=true
local_scripts_path=C:\Program Files\Cloudbase Solutions\Cloudbase-Init\LocalScripts\
first_logon_behaviour=no
san_policy=OnlineAll
trim_enabled=True
metadata_report_provisioning_started=True
metadata_report_provisioning_completed=True
ephemeral_disk_volume_label="Temporary Storage"
netbios_host_name_compatibility=True
metadata_services=cloudbaseinit.metadata.services.azureservice.AzureService
plugins=cloudbaseinit.plugins.windows.rdp.RDPPostCertificateThumbprintPlugin,
        cloudbaseinit.plugins.windows.azureguestagent.AzureGuestAgentPlugin,
        cloudbaseinit.plugins.common.ephemeraldisk.EphemeralDiskPlugin,
        cloudbaseinit.plugins.common.trim.TrimConfigPlugin,
        cloudbaseinit.plugins.windows.sanpolicy.SANPolicyPlugin,
        cloudbaseinit.plugins.common.mtu.MTUPlugin,
        cloudbaseinit.plugins.windows.ntpclient.NTPClientPlugin,
        cloudbaseinit.plugins.common.sethostname.SetHostNamePlugin,
        cloudbaseinit.plugins.windows.createuser.CreateUserPlugin,
        cloudbaseinit.plugins.common.networkconfig.NetworkConfigPlugin,
        cloudbaseinit.plugins.windows.licensing.WindowsLicensingPlugin,
        cloudbaseinit.plugins.common.sshpublickeys.SetUserSSHPublicKeysPlugin,
        cloudbaseinit.plugins.windows.extendvolumes.ExtendVolumesPlugin,
        cloudbaseinit.plugins.common.userdata.UserDataPlugin,
        cloudbaseinit.plugins.common.setuserpassword.SetUserPasswordPlugin,
        cloudbaseinit.plugins.windows.winrmlistener.ConfigWinRMListenerPlugin,
        cloudbaseinit.plugins.windows.winrmcertificateauth.ConfigWinRMCertificateAuthPlugin,
        cloudbaseinit.plugins.common.localscripts.LocalScriptsPlugin

And this other one for the unattend conf

[DEFAULT]
username=Admin
groups=Administrators
inject_user_password=true
config_drive_raw_hhd=false
config_drive_cdrom=false
config_drive_vfat=false
bsdtar_path=C:\Program Files\Cloudbase Solutions\Cloudbase-Init\bin\bsdtar.exe
mtools_path=C:\Program Files\Cloudbase Solutions\Cloudbase-Init\bin\
verbose=true
debug=true
logdir=C:\Program Files\Cloudbase Solutions\Cloudbase-Init\log\
logfile=cloudbase-init-unattend.log
default_log_levels=comtypes=INFO,suds=INFO,iso8601=WARN,requests=WARN
logging_serial_port_settings=COM2,115200,N,8
mtu_use_dhcp_config=true
ntp_use_dhcp_config=true
local_scripts_path=C:\Program Files\Cloudbase Solutions\Cloudbase-Init\LocalScripts\
metadata_services=cloudbaseinit.metadata.services.base.EmptyMetadataService
plugins=cloudbaseinit.plugins.common.mtu.MTUPlugin
allow_reboot=false
stop_service_on_exit=false
check_latest_version=false

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Cloudbase-init running in Windows Azure VM

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