diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index ff3f8ba1..6986382d 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ Requirements:
 * Internet connection
 
 ### To build automatically:
+0. Clone this repo and navigate to the main directory. While in the main directory, navigate to `packer` folder. Once you are in the folder you need to open the `packer.pck.hcl` with your preferred code editor, open terminal and run `$packer init .`
 
 1. - On **Linux/OSX** run `./build.sh windows2008` to build the Windows box or `./build.sh ubuntu1404` to build the Linux box. If /tmp is small, use `TMPDIR=/var/tmp ./build.sh ...` to store temporary packer disk images under /var/tmp.
    - On **Windows**, open powershell terminal and run `.\build.ps1 windows2008` to build the Windows box or `.\build.ps1 ubuntu1404` to build the Linux box. If no option is passed to the script i.e. `.\build.ps1`, then both the boxes are built.
@@ -50,7 +51,8 @@ Requirements:
 
 ### To build manually:
 
-1. Clone this repo and navigate to the main directory.
+1. Clone this repo and navigate to the main directory. While in the main directory, navigate to `packer` folder. Once you are in the folder you need to open the `packer.pck.hcl` with your preferred code editor, open terminal and run `$packer init .`
+
 2. Build the base VM image by running `packer build --only=<provider> ./packer/templates/windows_2008_r2.json` where `<provider>` is your preferred virtualization platform. Currently `virtualbox-iso`, `qemu`, and `vmware-iso` providers are supported. This will take a while the first time you run it since it has to download the OS installation ISO.
 3. After the base Vagrant box is created you need to add it to your Vagrant environment. This can be done with the command `vagrant box add packer/builds/windows_2008_r2_*_0.1.0.box --name=rapid7/metasploitable3-win2k8`.
 4. Use `vagrant plugin install vagrant-reload` to install the reload vagrant provisioner if you haven't already.
diff --git a/build.ps1 b/build.ps1
index 8ac7c138..ccfba2a0 100755
--- a/build.ps1
+++ b/build.ps1
@@ -6,9 +6,7 @@ $vagrantMinVersion = "1.9.0"
 $vagrantreloadMinVersion = "0.0.1"
 $packer = "packer.exe"
 $expectedVBoxLocation = "C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox"
-$expectedVagrantLocation="C:\HashiCorp\Vagrant\bin"
-
-
+$expectedVagrantLocation = "C:\Program Files\Vagrant\bin"
 
 function CompareVersions ($actualVersion, $expectedVersion, $exactMatch = $False) {
     If ($exactMatch) {
@@ -22,7 +20,7 @@ function CompareVersions ($actualVersion, $expectedVersion, $exactMatch = $False
     $actualVersion = $actualVersion.split(".")
     $expectedVersion = $expectedVersion.split(".")
 
-    for($i=0; $i -le $expectedVersion.length; $i++) {
+    for($i=0; $i -lt $expectedVersion.length; $i++) {
         If([INT]$actualVersion[$i] -gt [INT]$expectedVersion[$i]) {
             return $True
         }
@@ -34,12 +32,12 @@ function CompareVersions ($actualVersion, $expectedVersion, $exactMatch = $False
     return $True
 }
 
-Write-Host "";
+Write-Host ""
 
-If ($(Test-Path "$expectedVBoxLocation\VBoxManage.exe") -eq $True) {
+If (Test-Path "$expectedVBoxLocation\VBoxManage.exe") {
 
     $vboxVersion = cmd.exe /c "$expectedVBoxLocation\VBoxManage.exe" -v
-    $vboxVersion = $vboxVersion.split("r")[0]
+    $vboxVersion = $vboxVersion.split("r")[0].Trim()
 
 } else {
 
@@ -49,7 +47,6 @@ If ($(Test-Path "$expectedVBoxLocation\VBoxManage.exe") -eq $True) {
 
 }
 
-
 If (CompareVersions -actualVersion $vboxVersion -expectedVersion $virtualBoxMinVersion -exactMatch $False) {
 
     Write-Host "Compatible version of VirtualBox found."
@@ -64,6 +61,7 @@ If (CompareVersions -actualVersion $vboxVersion -expectedVersion $virtualBoxMinV
 }
 
 $packerVersion = cmd.exe /c $packer -v
+$packerVersion = $packerVersion -replace 'Packer v', ''
 
 If (CompareVersions -actualVersion $packerVersion -expectedVersion $packerMinVersion) {
 
@@ -71,16 +69,15 @@ If (CompareVersions -actualVersion $packerVersion -expectedVersion $packerMinVer
 
 } else {
 
-    Write-Host "Could not find a compatible version of packer. Please download it from https://www.packer.io/downloads.html and add it to your PATH."
+    Write-Host "Could not find a compatible version of Packer. Please download it from https://www.packer.io/downloads.html and add it to your PATH."
     exit
 
 }
 
-
-If ($(Test-Path "$expectedVagrantLocation\vagrant.exe") -eq $True) {
+If (Test-Path "$expectedVagrantLocation\vagrant.exe") {
 
     $vagrantVersion = cmd.exe /c "vagrant" -v
-    $vagrantVersion = $vagrantVersion.split(" ")[1]
+    $vagrantVersion = $vagrantVersion.split(" ")[1].Trim()
 
 } else {
 
@@ -101,10 +98,8 @@ If (CompareVersions -actualVersion $vagrantVersion -expectedVersion $vagrantMinV
 
 }
 
-
 $vagrantPlugins = cmd.exe /c "vagrant plugin list" | select-string -pattern "vagrant-reload"
 
-
 If (![string]::IsNullOrEmpty($vagrantPlugins)) {
 
     $vagrantPlugins = $vagrantPlugins.ToString().Trim()
@@ -112,7 +107,6 @@ If (![string]::IsNullOrEmpty($vagrantPlugins)) {
     $vagrantreloadVersion = $vagrantreloadVersion.Replace(")", "")
     $vagrantreloadVersion = $vagrantreloadVersion.split(" ")[1]
 
-
     If (CompareVersions -actualVersion $vagrantreloadVersion -expectedVersion $vagrantreloadMinVersion) {
 
         Write-Host "Compatible version of vagrant-reload plugin found."
@@ -124,7 +118,6 @@ If (![string]::IsNullOrEmpty($vagrantPlugins)) {
     Write-Host "Could not find a compatible version of vagrant-reload plugin. Attempting to install..."
     cmd.exe /c "vagrant plugin install vagrant-reload"
 
-
     # Hacky version of Try-Catch for non-terminating errors.
     # See http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1142211/try-catch-does-not-seem-to-have-an-effect
 
@@ -143,10 +136,10 @@ function InstallBox($os_full, $os_short)
 
     Write-Host "Building metasploitable3-$os_short Vagrant box..."
 
-    If ($(Test-Path "packer\builds\$($os_full)_virtualbox_$boxversion.box") -eq $True) {
+    If (Test-Path "packer\builds\$($os_full)_virtualbox_$boxversion.box") {
 
         Write-Host "It looks like the Vagrant box already exists. Skipping the Packer build."
-    
+
     } else {
 
         cmd.exe /c $packer build --only=virtualbox-iso packer\templates\$os_full.json
@@ -166,7 +159,7 @@ function InstallBox($os_full, $os_short)
     } else {
 
         cmd.exe /c vagrant box add packer\builds\$($os_full)_virtualbox_$boxversion.box --name rapid7/metasploitable3-$os_short
-    
+
         if($?) {
             Write-Host "rapid7/metasploitable3-$os_short box successfully added to Vagrant."
         } else {
@@ -175,36 +168,26 @@ function InstallBox($os_full, $os_short)
     }
 }
 
-
-
 Write-Host "All requirements found. Proceeding..."
 
-if($args.Length -eq 0)
-{
-  $option = Read-Host -Prompt 'No box name passed as input. Build both the boxes ? (y/n)';
-  if ($option -eq 'y')
-  {
-    InstallBox -os_full "windows_2008_r2" -os_short "win2k8";
-    InstallBox -os_full "ubuntu_1404" -os_short "ub1404";
-  } else {
-    Write-Host "To build metasploitable boxes separately, use the following commands:";
-    Write-Host "- .\build.ps1 windows2008";
-    Write-Host "- .\build.ps1 ubuntu1404";
-  }
-}
-ElseIf ($args.Length -eq 1)
-{
-  if ($args -eq "windows2008")
-  {
-    InstallBox -os_full "windows_2008_r2" -os_short "win2k8";
-  }
-  ElseIf ($args -eq "ubuntu1404")
-  {
-    InstallBox -os_full "ubuntu_1404" -os_short "ub1404";
-  }
-  Else
-  {
-    Write-Host "Invalid OS. Valid options are 'ubuntu1404' and 'windows2008'";
-  }
+if ($args.Length -eq 0) {
+    $option = Read-Host -Prompt 'No box name passed as input. Build both the boxes ? (y/n)';
+    if ($option -eq 'y') {
+        InstallBox -os_full "windows_2008_r2" -os_short "win2k8"
+        InstallBox -os_full "ubuntu_1404" -os_short "ub1404"
+    } else {
+        Write-Host "To build metasploitable boxes separately, use the following commands:"
+        Write-Host "- .\build.ps1 windows2008"
+        Write-Host "- .\build.ps1 ubuntu1404"
+    }
+} ElseIf ($args.Length -eq 1) {
+    if ($args -eq "windows2008") {
+        InstallBox -os_full "windows_2008_r2" -os_short "win2k8"
+    } ElseIf ($args -eq "ubuntu1404") {
+        InstallBox -os_full "ubuntu_1404" -os_short "ub1404"
+    } else {
+        Write-Host "Invalid OS. Valid options are 'ubuntu1404' and 'windows2008'"
+    }
 }
-Write-Host "";
+
+Write-Host ""
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/packer/packer.pck.hcl b/packer/packer.pck.hcl
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e69de29b