diff --git a/scripts/Readme.md b/scripts/Readme.md
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index 00000000..63f64963
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/Readme.md
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+### Requirements ###
+
+#### Clean Windows Server 2016 / 2019 or Windows 10 install with latest updates
+
+#### Python installed and added to path (with pip installed) if PythonOrigin is set to AlreadyInstalled.
+    Download link: https://www.python.org/ftp/python/3.7.7/python-3.7.7-amd64.exe
+
+#### Visual Studio 2015 Community installed, with the following components:
+    - Programming Languages -> Visual C++ (all)
+    - Windows and Web Development -> Windows 8.1 (only Tools and Windows SDKs)
+
+    VS 2015 Download page (you need to be logged in to access it): https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/vs/older-downloads/
+    If you prefer to not build pywin32, Visual Studio 2017 / 2019 can be used too.
+    Reboot after VS installation is complete.
+
+#### To build Python from source, Visual Studio 2017 Community installed with the following components:
+    - VC++ 2017 v141
+    - Windows 10 SDK (10.0.14393.0). This version of VS supports Python 3.8 build too.
+
+#### All the Python packages will be built and installed using pip flags: "--no-binary :all:"
+
+#### The full build of cloudbase-init (and dependencies) using Python from source takes around 20 minutes.
+
+#### How to run:
+
+
+```powershell
+# install Cloudbase-Init using Python already installed (Python and Python scripts folders should be added to path).
+.\build_install_from_sources.ps1
+
+# install Cloudbase-Init using Python from source (tag v3.7.7)
+.\build_install_from_sources.ps1 -PythonOrigin FromSource -PythonVersion "v3.7.7"
+
+# full command line
+.\build_install_from_sources.ps1 `
+    -CloudbaseInitRepoUrl "https://github.com/cloudbase/cloudbase-init" `
+    -PyWin32RepoUrl "https://github.com/mhammond/pywin32" `
+    -PyMiRepoUrl "https://github.com/cloudbase/PyMI" `
+    -PythonOrigin "AlreadyInstalled" `
+    -PythonVersion "v3.7.7" `
+    -SetuptoolsUrl "https://github.com/pypa/setuptools" `
+    -PipSourceUrl "https://github.com/pypa/pip/archive/20.0.2.tar.gz" `
+    -WheelSourceUrl "https://github.com/pypa/wheel/archive/0.34.2.tar.gz" `,
+    -CleanBuildArtifacts:$false,
+    -RemoveUnnecessaryExecutables:$false,
+    -RemovePyWin32Adodbapi:$false,
+    -BuildDir "build"
+```
+
+
+#### Workflow of the script:
+   - Download and set pip upper requirements from OpenStack
+   - Create / clean temporary build directory
+   - If PythonOrigin="AlreadyInstalled" is set, do nothing. Python should be already installed and added to path.
+   - If PythonOrigin="FromSource" is set, download the Python source from GitHub, build, prepare it and add it to path. Setuptools, pip and wheel will be built from source and installed.
+   - Build and install PyWin32 from sources
+   - Build and install PyMI from sources
+   - Build, install and create Cloudbase-Init binary from sources
+   - If CleanBuildArtifacts is set and PythonOrigin is FromSource, cleanup the .pdb, .pyc, header files.
+   - If RemoveUnnecessaryExecutables is set and PythonOrigin is FromSource, remove the .exe files (excluding python.exe, setuptools/pip/wheel and cloudbase-init.exe).
+   - If RemovePyWin32Adodbapi is set, remove the Adodbapi sources and references from PyWin32 source code
diff --git a/scripts/build_install_from_sources.ps1 b/scripts/build_install_from_sources.ps1
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..0f6e2a54
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/build_install_from_sources.ps1
@@ -0,0 +1,404 @@
+#ps1
+param(
+    [string]$CloudbaseInitRepoUrl="https://github.com/cloudbase/cloudbase-init",
+    [string]$PyWin32RepoUrl="https://github.com/mhammond/pywin32",
+    [string]$PyMiRepoUrl="https://github.com/cloudbase/PyMI",
+    [ValidateSet("AlreadyInstalled", "FromSource")]
+    [string]$PythonOrigin="AlreadyInstalled",
+    # Specifies which version to use in case FromSource is used
+    # In FromSource case, the GitHub https://github.com/python/cpython branch should exist (tags also work as branches)
+    [string]$PythonVersion="v3.7.7",
+    # Specifies which setuptools git source to use in case FromSource is used
+    [string]$SetuptoolsGitUrl="https://github.com/pypa/setuptools",
+    # Specifies which pip source in tar.gz format to use in case FromSource is used
+    [string]$PipSourceUrl="https://github.com/pypa/pip/archive/20.0.2.tar.gz",
+    # Specifies which wheel source in tar.gz format to use in case FromSource is used
+    [string]$WheelSourceUrl="https://github.com/pypa/wheel/archive/0.34.2.tar.gz",
+    # If the PythonOrigin is set to FromSource, clean the Python folder (remove .pdb, .pyc, header files)
+    [switch]$CleanBuildArtifacts,
+    [switch]$RemoveUnnecessaryExecutables,
+    [switch]$RemovePyWin32Adodbapi,
+    [string]$BuildDir=""
+)
+
+$ErrorActionPreference = "Stop"
+[Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [Net.SecurityProtocolType]::Tls12
+$scriptPath = Split-Path -Parent $MyInvocation.MyCommand.Definition
+
+$PIP_BUILD_NO_BINARIES_ARGS = "--no-binary :all:"
+
+function Run-CmdWithRetry {
+    param(
+        $command,
+        [int]$maxRetryCount=3,
+        [int]$retryInterval=1
+    )
+
+    $currErrorActionPreference = $ErrorActionPreference
+    $ErrorActionPreference = "Continue"
+
+    $retryCount = 0
+    while ($true) {
+        try {
+            & $command
+            break
+        } catch [System.Exception] {
+            $retryCount++
+            if ($retryCount -ge $maxRetryCount) {
+                $ErrorActionPreference = $currErrorActionPreference
+                throw
+            } else {
+                Write-Error $_.Exception
+                Start-Sleep $retryInterval
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    $ErrorActionPreference = $currErrorActionPreference
+}
+
+function Download-File {
+    param(
+        $url,
+        $dest
+    )
+
+    Write-Host "Downloading: $url"
+
+    $webClient = New-Object System.Net.webclient
+    Run-CmdWithRetry {
+        $webClient.DownloadFile($url, $dest)
+    }
+}
+
+function Set-VCVars {
+    param(
+        $Version="14.0",
+        $Platform="x86_amd64",
+        $Sdk="8.1"
+    )
+
+    Write-Host "Setting Visual Studio version ${Version} environment variables"
+
+    Push-Location "$ENV:ProgramFiles (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio ${Version}\VC\"
+    try {
+        cmd /c "vcvarsall.bat $platform $Sdk & set" |
+            ForEach-Object {
+                if ($_ -match "=") {
+                    $v = $_.split("=")
+                    Set-Item -Force -Path "ENV:\$($v[0])" -Value "$($v[1])"
+              }
+            }
+    } finally {
+        Pop-Location
+    }
+}
+
+function Run-Command {
+    param(
+        $cmd,
+        $arguments,
+        $expectedExitCode = 0
+    )
+
+    Write-Host "Executing: $cmd $arguments"
+
+    $p = Start-Process -Wait -PassThru `
+        -NoNewWindow $cmd -ArgumentList $arguments
+    if ($p.ExitCode -ne $expectedExitCode) {
+        throw "$cmd failed with exit code: $($p.ExitCode)"
+    }
+}
+
+function Clone-Repo {
+    param(
+        $Url,
+        $Destination,
+        $Branch="master"
+    )
+
+    Write-Host "Cloning ${Url} to ${Destination}"
+
+    Run-CmdWithRetry {
+        try {
+            Push-Location $BuildDir
+            git clone --single-branch -b $Branch $Url $Destination
+            if ($LastExitCode) {
+                throw "git clone --single-branch -b $Url $Branch $Destination failed"
+            }
+        } finally {
+            Pop-Location
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+function Install-PythonRequirements {
+    param([string]$SourcePath,
+          [switch]$BuildWithoutBinaries
+    )
+
+    Write-Host "Installing Python requirements from ${SourcePath}"
+
+    $cmdArgs = @("-m", "pip", "install")
+    if ($BuildWithoutBinaries) {
+        $cmdArgs += $PIP_BUILD_NO_BINARIES_ARGS
+    }
+    $cmdArgs += @("-r", ".\requirements.txt")
+
+    Run-CmdWithRetry {
+        try {
+            Push-Location (Join-Path $BuildDir $SourcePath)
+            Run-Command -Cmd "python" -Arguments $cmdArgs
+        } finally {
+            Pop-Location
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+function Install-PythonPackage {
+    param([string]$SourcePath,
+          [switch]$BuildWithoutBinaries
+    )
+
+    Write-Host "Installing Python package from ${SourcePath}"
+
+    Run-CmdWithRetry {
+        try {
+            Push-Location (Join-Path $BuildDir $SourcePath)
+            if ($BuildWithoutBinaries) {
+                & python -m pip install --no-binary :all: .
+            } else {
+                & python -m pip install .
+            }
+            if ($LastExitCode) {
+                throw "Failed to install python package $SourcePath"
+            }
+        } finally {
+            Pop-Location
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+function Expand-Archive {
+    param([string]$archive,
+          [string]$outputDir
+    )
+
+    Push-Location $outputDir
+    try {
+        & "C:\Program Files\7-Zip\7z.exe" x -y $archive
+        if ($LastExitCode) {
+            throw "7z.exe failed on archive: $archive"
+        }
+    } finally {
+        Pop-Location
+    }
+}
+
+function Prepare-BuildDir {
+    Write-Host "Creating / Cleaning up build directory ${BuildDir}"
+
+    if ($BuildDir -and (Test-Path $BuildDir)) {
+        Remove-Item -Recurse -Force $BuildDir
+    }
+    New-Item -Type Directory -Path $BuildDir -Force | Out-Null
+}
+
+function Setup-PythonPip {
+    $env:PIP_CONSTRAINT = ""
+    $env:PIP_NO_BINARY = ""
+
+    # Cloudbase-Init Python requirements should respect the OpenStack upper constraints
+    Clone-Repo "https://github.com/openstack/requirements" "requirements"
+    $constraintsFilePath = Join-Path $BuildDir "requirements/upper-constraints.txt"
+
+    $env:PIP_CONSTRAINT = $constraintsFilePath
+}
+
+function Install-PyWin32FromSource {
+    param($Url)
+
+    $sourcePath = "pywin32"
+
+    Clone-Repo $Url $sourcePath
+    if ($RemovePyWin32Adodbapi) {
+        try{
+            Write-Host "Remove PyWin32Adodbapi sources and references"
+            Push-Location "${BuildDir}/${sourcePath}"
+            Remove-Item -Force -Recurse "adodbapi"
+            Get-Content "setup.py" | Where-Object {!($_ -like "*adodbapi*")} | `
+                Out-File "setup.py.bak" -Encoding ascii
+            Move-Item -Force "setup.py.bak" "setup.py"
+        } finally {
+            Pop-Location
+        }
+    }
+    Install-PythonPackage -SourcePath $sourcePath
+}
+
+function Install-PyMI {
+    param($Url)
+
+    $sourcePath = "PyMI"
+
+    Clone-Repo $Url $sourcePath
+    Install-PythonRequirements -SourcePath $sourcePath -BuildWithoutBinaries
+    Install-PythonPackage -SourcePath $sourcePath
+    Write-Host "PyMI installed successfully"
+}
+
+function Install-CloudbaseInit {
+    param($Url)
+
+    Write-Host "Installing CloudbaseInit..."
+    $sourcePath = "cloudbase-init"
+
+    Clone-Repo $Url $sourcePath
+    Install-PythonRequirements -SourcePath $sourcePath -BuildWithoutBinaries
+    Install-PythonPackage -SourcePath $sourcePath
+    Write-Host "CloudbaseInit installed successfully"
+}
+
+function Install-SetuptoolsFromSource {
+    param($Url)
+
+    $sourcePath = "setuptools"
+
+    Clone-Repo $Url $sourcePath
+
+    Run-CmdWithRetry {
+        try {
+            Push-Location (Join-Path $BuildDir $SourcePath)
+            Run-Command -Cmd "python" -Arguments @("-W ignore", ".\bootstrap.py")
+            Run-Command -Cmd "python" -Arguments @("-W ignore", "setup.py", "install")
+            Run-Command -Cmd "python" -Arguments @("-W ignore", "-m", "easy_install", $PipSourceUrl)
+            Run-Command -Cmd "python" -Arguments @("-W ignore", "-m", "easy_install", $WheelSourceUrl)
+        } finally {
+            Pop-Location
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+function Setup-FromSourcePythonEnvironment {
+    param($FromSourcePythonVersion)
+
+    $sourceFolder = "python-source"
+    $pythonSourceFolderPath = "$BuildDir\$sourceFolder"
+    $pythonTempBuildDir = "$pythonSourceFolderPath\PCbuild\amd64"
+    $pythonSourceRepo = "https://github.com/python/cpython"
+
+    Clone-Repo -Url $pythonSourceRepo -Destination $sourceFolder -Branch $FromSourcePythonVersion
+    Push-Location $pythonSourceFolderPath
+    try {
+        cmd.exe /c PCbuild\build.bat -p x64 --no-tkinter -e
+        if ($LastExitCode) {
+            throw "Failed to build Python from source"
+        }
+    } finally {
+        Pop-Location
+    }
+
+    Move-Item $pythonTempBuildDir $PythonDir
+    Copy-Item -Recurse "$pythonSourceFolderPath\Include" "$PythonDir"
+    Copy-Item "$pythonSourceFolderPath\PC\pyconfig.h" "$PythonDir\Include\"
+
+    Copy-Item -Recurse "$pythonSourceFolderPath\Lib" "$PythonDir"
+
+    New-Item -Type Directory -Path "${PythonDir}\libs\"
+    Copy-Item "$PythonDir\python*.lib" "${PythonDir}\libs\"
+}
+
+function Clean-BuildArtifacts {
+    Write-Host "Cleaning build artifacts"
+
+    # Remove the Include folder
+    Remove-Item -Force -Recurse "${PythonDir}\Include"
+    # Remove all the __pycache__ folders
+    Get-ChildItem -Recurse -Include "__pycache__" $PythonDir | Remove-Item -Force -Recurse
+    # Remove all the .pdb files
+    Get-ChildItem -Recurse -Include "*.pdb" $PythonDir | Remove-Item -Force
+    # Remove lib and exp files
+    Get-ChildItem -Include @("*.lib", "*.exp") -Exclude "python*" "$PythonDir\*" | Remove-Item -Force
+}
+
+function Remove-UnnecessaryExecutables {
+    $excludeList = @("python.exe", "cloudbase-init*",
+                     "pip*", "easy_install*", "wheel*",
+                     "t64.exe", "w64.exe", "t32.exe", "w32.exe")
+
+    Write-Host "Removing unnecessary scripts and executables"
+
+    # Remove unnecessary scripts
+    Get-ChildItem -Exclude $excludeList "$PythonDir\Scripts\" | `
+        Remove-Item -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
+    # Remove unnecessary executables
+    Get-ChildItem -Recurse -Include "*.exe" -Exclude $excludeList $PythonDir | `
+        Remove-Item -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
+}
+
+function Clean-PipCacheDir {
+    if ($env:APPDATA) {
+        $pipCacheDir = Join-Path (Split-Path -Parent $env:APPDATA) "Local\pip"
+        if (Test-Path $pipCacheDir) {
+            Write-Host "Cleaning pip cache dir $pipCacheDir"
+            Remove-Item -Recurse -Force $pipCacheDir
+        }
+    }
+}
+### Main ###
+
+try {
+    $startDate = Get-Date
+    Write-Host "Cloudbase-Init build started."
+
+    # Make sure that BuildDir is created and cleaned up properly
+    if (!$BuildDir) {
+        $BuildDir = "build"
+    }
+    if (![System.IO.Path]::IsPathRooted($BuildDir)) {
+        # There are used as global variables and their value do not change
+        $BuildDir = Join-Path $scriptPath $BuildDir
+        $PythonDir = Join-Path $BuildDir "python"
+    }
+    Prepare-BuildDir
+    Clean-PipCacheDir
+
+    # Make sure VS 2015 and Windows 8.1 SDK are used
+    Set-VCVars -Version "14.0" -Sdk "8.1"
+
+    # Setup pip upper requirements
+    Setup-PythonPip
+
+    if (@("FromSource") -contains $PythonOrigin) {
+        if (!($PythonVersion -and $SetuptoolsGitUrl -and $PipSourceUrl -and $WheelSourceUrl)) {
+            throw "If PythonOrigin is set to ${PythonOrigin}, SetuptoolsGitUrl, PipSourceUrl and WheelSourceUrl must be set"
+        }
+        Setup-FromSourcePythonEnvironment $PythonVersion
+        $env:path = "${PythonDir};${PythonDir}\scripts;" + $env:path
+    }
+
+    Install-SetuptoolsFromSource $SetuptoolsGitUrl
+
+    # Install PyWin32 from source
+    Install-PyWin32FromSource $PyWin32RepoUrl
+    # TODO. Comment the following line and uncomment the line before. Keep this line for faster script testing (it takes more than 10 minutes to build the pywin32).
+    # python -m pip install pywin32
+
+    # PyMI setup can be skipped once the upstream version is published on pypi
+    Install-PyMI $PyMiRepoUrl
+
+    Install-CloudbaseInit $CloudbaseInitRepoUrl
+
+    if (@("FromSource") -contains $PythonOrigin) {
+        if ($CleanBuildArtifacts) {
+            Clean-BuildArtifacts
+        }
+        if ($RemoveUnnecessaryExecutables) {
+            Remove-UnnecessaryExecutables
+        }
+    }
+} finally {
+    $endDate = Get-Date
+    Write-Host "Cloudbase-Init build finished after $(($endDate - $StartDate).Minutes + 1) minutes."
+}
+
diff --git a/scripts/cloudbase-init-empty-source.conf b/scripts/cloudbase-init-empty-source.conf
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..62149fc4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/cloudbase-init-empty-source.conf
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+[DEFAULT]
+debug = true
+logfile = 
+allow_reboot = false
+stop_service_on_exit = false
+metadata_services = cloudbaseinit.metadata.services.base.EmptyMetadataService
+plugins = cloudbaseinit.plugins.common.mtu.MTUPlugin,cloudbaseinit.plugins.windows.ntpclient.NTPClientPlugin,cloudbaseinit.plugins.windows.sanpolicy.SANPolicyPlugin,cloudbaseinit.plugins.windows.displayidletimeout.DisplayIdleTimeoutConfigPlugin,cloudbaseinit.plugins.windows.bootconfig.BootStatusPolicyPlugin,cloudbaseinit.plugins.common.sethostname.SetHostNamePlugin,cloudbaseinit.plugins.windows.extendvolumes.ExtendVolumesPlugin,cloudbaseinit.plugins.common.userdata.UserDataPlugin,cloudbaseinit.plugins.windows.winrmlistener.ConfigWinRMListenerPlugin,cloudbaseinit.plugins.common.localscripts.LocalScriptsPlugin,cloudbaseinit.plugins.common.trim.TrimConfigPlugin,