diff --git a/site-cookbooks/kosmos_kvm/attributes/default.rb b/site-cookbooks/kosmos_kvm/attributes/default.rb
index 08bc201..6dc8c18 100644
--- a/site-cookbooks/kosmos_kvm/attributes/default.rb
+++ b/site-cookbooks/kosmos_kvm/attributes/default.rb
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
-ubuntu_server_cloud_image_release = "20230506"
+ubuntu_server_cloud_image_release = "20231026"
 
 node.default["kosmos_kvm"]["host"]["qemu_base_image"] = {
-  "url" => "https://cloud-images.ubuntu.com/releases/focal/release-#{ubuntu_server_cloud_image_release}/ubuntu-20.04-server-cloudimg-amd64-disk-kvm.img",
-  "checksum" => "27d2b91fd2b715729d739e2a3155dce70d1aaae4f05c177f338b9d4b60be638c",
-  "path" => "/var/lib/libvirt/images/base/ubuntu-20.04-server-cloudimg-amd64-disk-kvm-#{ubuntu_server_cloud_image_release}.qcow2"
+  "url" => "https://cloud-images.ubuntu.com/releases/jammy/release-#{ubuntu_server_cloud_image_release}/ubuntu-22.04-server-cloudimg-amd64-disk-kvm.img",
+  "checksum" => "b5d1f937341fbb3afb50d28c4a17f41419df4d87a96d5e737a39b6cb42e1dff3",
+  "path" => "/var/lib/libvirt/images/base/ubuntu-22.04-server-cloudimg-amd64-disk-kvm-#{ubuntu_server_cloud_image_release}.qcow2"
 }
 
 # A systemd.timer OnCalendar config value
diff --git a/site-cookbooks/kosmos_kvm/templates/create_vm.erb b/site-cookbooks/kosmos_kvm/templates/create_vm.erb
index 7d155e0..37e450f 100644
--- a/site-cookbooks/kosmos_kvm/templates/create_vm.erb
+++ b/site-cookbooks/kosmos_kvm/templates/create_vm.erb
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ DISKSIZE=${4:-10} # 10GB default
 # Directory where image files will be stored
 IMAGE_DIR=/var/lib/libvirt/images
 IMAGE_PATH=$IMAGE_DIR/${VMNAME}.qcow2
-CIDATA_PATH=${IMAGE_DIR}/cidata-${VMNAME}.iso
+CIDATA_PATH=${IMAGE_DIR}/${VMNAME}-cloudinit
 BASE_FILE=<%= @base_image_path %>
 
 # Create the VM image if it does not already exist
@@ -38,12 +38,12 @@ qemu-img info "$IMAGE_PATH"
 # Check if the cloud-init metadata file exists
 # if not, generate it
 if [ ! -r $CIDATA_PATH ]; then
-  pushd $(dirname $CIDATA_PATH)
-  mkdir -p $VMNAME
-  cd $VMNAME
+  mkdir -p $CIDATA_PATH
+  pushd $CIDATA_PATH
 
   cat > user-data <<-EOS
 #cloud-config
+plain_text_passwd: ubuntu
 ssh_authorized_keys:
   - ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAADAQABAAABAQCw0I82gT8R4tpsqWGovLyjm2SR2F863MqNz224h3h/wl0xA5Eu0eRro+ELLv2hoebqQbcMsb89X5+7ObhDRar+b7tzDlXq4x+ECkAy6WbDSmBp3kNVd7muT4c9Zw7UxKsIvIm1ven1TkJ3UG80o6PyGiAUlBj4puIQwhp7OVknVutBBe8Rpp4f6BEuWluwpnPxc3KSaGhhr9p10xeX69cfspH40r8vHpI0zp19O5GpfYSOEH64UbwRpN2QypNB8ISmDHFsNGwdz0Ba4qrEOSGU9GveyOcsvEtt630/0fHqtbPBovOYu/FJISQZya2tofDig4EngBCJNfsPCbXFHtlp greg@karekinian.com
   - ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAADAQABAAABAQDDyUDR7ZE6HWmjvlfKrG8Ci+q5E4adbyboKvyYVkUXaTYt+DgisPPAqfGkd0yAHgVnmOS/3f5c3D6RrIXcxFmzwpV2BtmGZztBnEYvC5q8XPQhmu6AFl6ZDjh9XzUeO52py8tt5ZJ9W1R2ob/rlgX8txNHi6XwzuvPxZ7NR/iNup7cruBzkHABhwTvTfwaErufr6eNmNjh5VatNTei1ld6yWtmvbYJqJlpq6YyPu9vYNYPg0AB7I+OqOJhzHXhelY28GSP9KF3GDcHDtN1bV21g9+COcdKhMShQaw1WIkfQKdiuFictZIOCP0/uYSiFhyyoSvISiC3eT8zIimRbDRj basti@skddc.local
@@ -62,25 +62,19 @@ instance-id: $VMNAME
 local-hostname: $VMNAME
 EOS
 
-  genisoimage -output "$CIDATA_PATH" -volid cidata -joliet -rock user-data meta-data
-  chown libvirt-qemu:kvm "$CIDATA_PATH"
-  chmod 600 "$CIDATA_PATH"
   popd
 fi
 
-# setting --os-variant to ubuntu20.04 and ubuntu18.04 breaks SSH and networking
 virt-install \
   --name "$VMNAME" \
   --ram "$RAM" \
   --vcpus "$CPUS" \
   --cpu host \
   --arch x86_64 \
-  --os-type linux \
-  --os-variant ubuntu16.04 \
+  --osinfo detect=on,name=ubuntujammy \
   --hvm \
   --virt-type kvm \
   --disk "$IMAGE_PATH" \
-  --cdrom "$CIDATA_PATH" \
   --boot hd \
   --network=bridge=virbr0,model=virtio \
   --graphics none \
@@ -88,4 +82,5 @@ virt-install \
   --console pty \
   --channel unix,mode=bind,path=/var/lib/libvirt/qemu/$VMNAME.guest_agent.0,target_type=virtio,name=org.qemu.guest_agent.0 \
   --autostart \
-  --import
+  --import \
+  --cloud-init root-password-generate=off,disable=on,meta-data=$CIDATA_PATH/meta-data,user-data=$CIDATA_PATH/user-data