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Overview

An ISO is installation media. A machine booted from one starts the OS installer and you complete the installation by hand — as opposed to a template, which is already installed.
Navigation: Images → ISOs. Titled ISOs, subtitled “Bootable ISO images for virtual machine installation”.

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When to use an ISO

An ISO is usually a means to an end. Install once from the ISO, configure the machine, then capture it as a template — every machine after that is a fast template deploy rather than a manual install.

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Columns

ISOs always show a generic disc icon rather than a branded OS logo, even for an operating system Simnet has artwork for. The OS type appears in the expanded row and the details panel instead of getting its own column — Display Text takes that slot.
Only ISO Name and Status actually sort. The Display Text, Size, and Created headers look clickable but do nothing — they’re bound to columns that aren’t defined. Clicking them isn’t broken so much as inert.

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Status

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Feature flags

In the expanded row:
ISOs have Extractable and Cross-Zone where templates have Password. Cross-Zone is why ISOs have no “copy to zone” action — a cross-zone ISO is already available everywhere, unlike a template.

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Filtering

The Status filter is broken. Selecting Ready or Not Ready returns an empty list regardless of what you have, because the filter compares mismatched values internally. Leave it on All ISOs and use search or the Status column instead.This is a defect, not a configuration issue. Reported for fixing.
Search matches only the name and identifier — not display text, OS type, or zone. Narrower than the Templates search.

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Row actions

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Permissions — sharing with other accounts

Permissions opens a dialog unique to ISOs, titled Permissions — {name}. It’s how you share installation media with other accounts without making it fully public.
Operation decides what happens to the account list, and Reset is the destructive one — it clears existing shares rather than adding to them. Use Add to grant access to more accounts and Remove to revoke specific ones.
Success reports ISO permissions updated.

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Registering an ISO

Register ISO takes either a provided image or your own URL. For a custom URL:
The URL must be reachable by the platform. A link that works in your browser but sits behind your VPN, or on your own machine, will fail to download.

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Booting a machine from an ISO

1

Register the ISO and wait for Ready

A machine can’t boot media that’s still downloading.
2

Create a machine with ISO Image as the source

On the create wizard’s Basics step, choose the ISO Image tab. See Virtual Machines.
3

Set the OS Type yourself

An ISO source requires OS Type explicitly — the platform can’t infer it from installation media.
4

Complete the installation through the console

The machine boots the installer. Use Open Console on its detail page to work through it. There’s no SSH yet — nothing is installed to accept a key.
5

Capture the result as a template

Once configured, snapshot the root volume and turn it into a template so you never do this by hand again.
A machine installed from an ISO has no SSH key injected and no password set until you configure them during installation. Plan your access before you start: the console is your only way in, and you must create a user and enable SSH yourself as part of the install.

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Empty and error states

Templates

The faster path, and where ISO installs should end up.

Virtual Machines

Booting from an ISO, and console access.