Windows Server 2022 Install - Palworld Dedicated Server Setup

[ShinobiRen]

 

Creating a Palworld server in TrueNAS VMs

 

I wanted to write this out in case anyone else came across the need for a Windows Server install and couldn't find a resource for it. 

I pieced this together from several guides and just pushing buttons. 

1. Create the virtual disk
   1. Navigate to the TrueNAS admin page
   2. Navigate to Datasets
   3. Click Add Zvol
   4. Insert the Name, Comments (optional), and Size
   5. 
2. Navigate to Network
3. Click Add
4. Create a bridge for the VM to use (images to come later)
5. 
6. In Bridge Members select your interface (eno1).
7. Navigate to virtualization
8. Pre-req: have your ISO loaded into a store that libvirt-qemu has full access to
   1. NOTE: If you don't allow this to have full access the VM creation will fail as it needs the ISO access to install the guest operating system.
9. Have the virtio drivers needed to show up the disk to install in Windows. The drivers can be found here: https://github.com/virtio-win/virtio-win-pkg-scripts/blob/master/README.md - the stable build.
10. Configure the VM with the following options:
    1. 
    2. Leave Enable Display checked so you can login to it via Spice - it will not have networking when it starts.
    3. 
    4. I gave it 2 cores, 4 threads because everything I could find on the internet said it needed that, and 32 GiB of RAM with 16 GiB as the minimum.
    5. Select the disk you created
    6. 
    7. Select the bridge you created
    8. 
    9. Select your installation media -we will add the VirtIO ISO later.
    10. I left Ensure Display Device checked - was unsure if needed it or not but left it there.
11. Before booting click on the VM and select Devices
12. 
13. Select Add in the top right corner and add a CD-ROM device and set the device order to lower than everything else (1003 for me).
14. Boot the machine and connect with Spice.
15. 
    1. NOTE: If you miss the prompt to boot from CD you will have this screen here:
    2. 
    3. Simply type Exit and it will drop you into a BIOs page. Select reset and then press your keyboard to boot from CD
    4. 
16. Navigate through startup until you get to disk selection, select Install Windows Only.
17. 
18. You will notice on the next screen it cannot detect a disk - this is where the virtIO ISO comes into play. Steps below.
19. Let it do it's initial setup of what it thinks you need. You will need to be selective otherwise it will hang. Below are the drivers I chose to install:
    1. 
    2. Click Browse on the next screen
    3. 
    4. Find your virtIO ISO and expand it.
    5. 
    6. Expand amd64 and select 2k22 from the options.
    7. 
    8. The listed driver should appear there now:
    9. 
    10. Install the driver and the disk will appear.
20. Next, we will install the network driver as well. Same steps as before, Load driver, navigate to the ISO, then select this option: 
21. 
22. 
23. All other drivers we can install with the guest tools from the ISO inside of the guest OS.
24. Continue with the Windows installer. Select the empty disk for it to install it's files to.
25. Once booted into the OS follow these steps:
26. Navigate to the CD that has your virtIO ISO on it and double click on this file:
27. 
28. Let it run. It will take a LONG TIME to install everything and will require you to interact with it somewhat.
29. Reboot the server (Other:Unplanned)
30. Install the Palworld dedicated server via SteamCMD located here: https://docs.palworldgame.com/getting-started/deploy-dedicated-server/

I hope this helps anyone else that might have been struggling with it.

 

 

Massive shoutout to @Mobius for pointing out all my images were broken on my first post - finally figured it out!