ws-creator init

Creates a machine folder from a template, with your own user, SSH key, port and subnet. Get-Help Initialize-WsCreatorMachine -Full

Syntax

Initialize-WsCreatorMachine [-Template] <String> [-Name] <String> [[-User] <String>] [[-PublicKey] <String>] [[-Port] <Int32>] [[-Subnet] <String>] [[-Location] <String>] [-Apply]

Description

Copies the template into <WS_CREATOR_MACHINES>\<Name>\, rewrites the identity values where ws-creator checks them (user, hostname, SSH port and key, podman subnet, Location), records where the copy comes from (Template, TemplateSource, TemplateVersion, TemplateHash), then validates the result. Nothing is written if validation fails. The machine is yours afterwards: edit it freely, then create the distro with ‘ws-creator new <Name> -Apply’. Templates come from WS_CREATOR_TEMPLATES (local folders or git repos), then the module.

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Position	Description
-Template	String	true	1	Template name, as shown by ‘ws-creator list’.
-Name	String	true	2	Name of the new machine: folder, distro and hostname.
-User	String	false	3	Linux user. Default: the Windows user name in lowercase, reduced to [a-z0-9_-].
-PublicKey	String	false	4	Public key file in ~\.ssh. Default: id_ed25519.pub.
-Port	Int32	false	5	SSH port, unique per machine. Default: the first free one from 2222.
-Subnet	String	false	6	Podman subnet, unique per machine. Default: the first free 10.89.N.0/24.
-Location	String	false	7	Folder of the virtual disk. Default: WS_CREATOR_LOCATION, otherwise C:\WSL.
-Apply	SwitchParameter	false	named	Write the machine folder. Without it, only shows what would be written.

Examples

ws-creator init dev my-machine

Shows the values init would use.

ws-creator init agent-sandbox sandbox -Port 2250 -Apply