here is the json file
{
"variables": {
"vsphere_server": "",
"vsphere_user": "",
"vsphere_password": "",
"vsphere_template_name": "",
"vsphere_folder": "",
"vsphere_dc_name": "",
"vsphere_compute_cluster": "",
"vsphere_host": "",
"vsphere_portgroup_name": "",
"vsphere_datastore": "",
"winadmin_password": "",
"cpu_num": "",
"mem_size": "",
"disk_size": "",
"os_iso_path": "",
"vmtools_iso_path":""
},
"sensitive-variables": ["vsphere_password", "winadmin_password"],
"builders": [
{
"type": "vsphere-iso",
"vcenter_server": "{{user `vsphere_server`}}",
"username": "{{user `vsphere_user`}}",
"password": "{{user `vsphere_password`}}",
"insecure_connection": "true",
"vm_name": "{{user `vsphere_template_name`}}",
"folder": "{{user `vsphere_folder`}}",
"datacenter": "{{user `vsphere_dc_name`}}",
"cluster": "{{user `vsphere_compute_cluster`}}",
"host": "{{user `vsphere_host`}}",
"network": "{{user `vsphere_portgroup_name`}}",
"datastore": "{{user `vsphere_datastore`}}",
"convert_to_template": "true",
"guest_os_type": "windows9Server64Guest",
"communicator": "winrm",
"winrm_username": "Administrator",
"winrm_password": "{{user `winadmin_password`}}",
"CPUs": "{{user `cpu_num`}}",
"RAM": "{{user `mem_size`}}",
"RAM_reserve_all": true,
"firmware": "bios",
"disk_controller_type": "lsilogic-sas",
"boot_order": "disk,cdrom",
"disk_size": "{{user `disk_size`}}",
"disk_thin_provisioned": true,
"network_card": "vmxnet3",
"iso_paths": [
"{{user `os_iso_path`}}",
"{{user `vmtools_iso_path`}}"
],
"floppy_files": [
"setup/autounattend.xml",
"setup/setup.ps1",
"setup/vmtools.cmd"
]
}
],
"provisioners": [
{
"type": "windows-shell",
"inline": ["dir c:\\"]
}
]
}
and my vars.json
{
"vsphere_server": "vcenter",
"vsphere_user": "admini...@vsphere.local",
"vsphere_password": "Password123@",
"vsphere_template_name": "Win2016_Packer",
"vsphere_folder": "Templates/Packer",
"vsphere_dc_name": "RW-VA",
"vsphere_compute_cluster": "RW-VA",
"vsphere_host": "esx.domain",
"vsphere_portgroup_name": "vlan200",
"vsphere_datastore": "RW-VA-NIM-VOL1",
"winadmin_password": "xxxxxx",
"cpu_num": "2",
"mem_size": "4096",
"disk_size": "60000",
"os_iso_path": "[RW-VA-NIM-ISO] MS/SW_DVD9_Win_Svr_STD_Core_and_DataCtr_Core_2016_64Bit_English_-3_MLF_X21-30350.ISO",
"vmtools_iso_path":"[RW-VA-NIM-ISO] VMware/windows.iso"
}