Preface:#
I have been using the CentOS 7 system all along, but it stopped updating some sources a while ago and couldn't be used anymore. Fortunately, this year I occasionally use the Ubuntu 22 system, which is much better than CentOS.
There are basically no scenarios that require me to dd to other systems. The reason why I want to try this today is because I thought of a privacy issue again. No matter what the server is used for, it is very easy for the service provider to obtain our information, and the VNC function is particularly abnormal. Linux servers cannot see your current operations, but if you are using a Windows server, as long as the service provider connects via VNC and can maintain your connection, they can see every operation you perform on Windows.
The purpose of dd'ing the system is to see if this kind of "monitoring" can be broken. I chose to install a Linux system and then dd it into Windows. Here, I used the dd script shared by vultr and bin456789: https://github.com/bin456789/reinstall
Process:#
Let me complain about vultr for a bit. I have been using vultr for several years. Initially, server backups were free, but now they charge for it, and the higher the configuration, the more expensive it gets...
Windows systems are charged, but you can upload your own ISO to solve it.
Connect to the server and download the script:
curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bin456789/reinstall/main/reinstall.sh
chmod +x reinstall.sh
For specific script usage, refer to GitHub: https://github.com/bin456789/reinstall
Here are the commands I used directly:
./reinstall.sh windows --image-name='Windows Server 2019 SERVERSTANDARD' --iso='https://drive.massgrave.dev/cn_windows_server_2019_x64_dvd_4de40f33.iso' --lang='zh-cn'
After reinstalling Windows, I found that I could still see the Windows lock screen through the novnc on the console. I thought again, now that the CPU, memory, and disk are separated, it's like an independent "computer." I can install Linux, Windows, or other programs on my own. So, this novnc is like an independent "monitor," and I can't disable this monitor.
The only thing I can do is change the administrator password so that the service provider cannot directly copy the password generated for me to log into my server. They can also directly clone my server to access the data on my server. There is no way to escape this kind of control, very helpless. 😮💨