OS Customization error deploying Server 2019 Core from Template

[rwood56847]

We are on 6.7.0, 16713306 running a VCSA with embedded PSC on HPe DL360 Gen10 hosts. We have created a windows Server 2019 template that has been working for a few deployment. Today when we try to deploy from the template selecting the Server 2019 Customization Profile we created and selecting power on after creation, the machine is cloned from the template, but no customization occurs. We get the following in the events for the VM:

Event Type Description:

The customization component failed to set the required parameters inside the guest operating system

Possible Causes:

On Windows, the user account under which the customization code runs has no read/write permissions for the registry keys used by the customization code. Customization code is usually run under the 'Local System' account but you can change this by selecting a different account for VMware Tools Service execution. Action: Determine which user account is selected for VMware Tools Service execution and confirm that this account has read/write permissions on registry keys used by the customization code

On Windows, the user account under which the customization code runs has no read/write permissions for the files and folders used by the customization code. Customization code is usually run under the 'Local System' account but you can change this by selecting a different account for VMware Tools Service execution. Action: Determine which user account is selected for VMware Tools Service execution and confirm that this account has read/write permissions on the files and folders used by the customization code

On Linux, an invalid or unsupported time zone is passed to the customization scripts and the time zone configuration failed as a result Action: Confirm that a supported time zone is passed in Customization Specification.

On Linux, the guest operating system 'root' account does not have read/write permissions for the configuration files that the customization scripts need to modify ('/etc/hosts') Action: Grant read/write permissions for the configuration files to the guest operating system 'root' account

To enable guest customization on Linux, in case open-vm-tools are used, you must also install the deployPkg plug-in. Action: Follow kb.vmware.com/kb/2075048 to install the open-vm-tools deployPkg plug-in.

Customization of the target guest operating system is not supported Action: Consult with VMware on when the specific Linux distribution will be supported. If the Linux distribution is already supported in a newer release, consider upgrading.

Related events:

There are no related events.

We look at the C:\Windows\Temp\vmware-imc\guestcust.log in the vm and find the following:

The ERROR] More data available. is not very helpful. We have confirmed that the Admin account is correct on both the Template and in the Customization profile. Has anyone encountered this before?

[rwood56847]

Screencap did not post

[TheBobkin]

Hello rwood56847​,

"The ERROR] More data available. is not very helpful."

I wouldn't be saying that having had a quick google of it - this seemingly can occur for a number of reasons which you will need to check from OS-side (in the template), example from google of common causes:

https://www.techinpost.com/more-data-is-available-error/

Do you have backups of this template or a relatively unchanged VM that was deployed from this that you can convert to template? Asking as you should aim to validate that the template is not corrupted in some manner.

Bob

[rwood56847]

We were thinking about rebuilding the template. We do not have a backup unfortunately since this is the first time this has happened to a template before. I was confused because I believed this was a VMWare error not a Windows error....long day.

We will take a look at that angle.

[EvanWaite]

We're seeing the exact same issue on all our previously working server core templates (2016/2019).  No issues deploying the "GUI" versions of these templates.  This seems to be an issue since we updated vCenter last week to 6.7 U3j (Build 16708996)

Glad we're not the only ones, opening a case tomorrow and I'll post back what we hear

[rwood56847]

So this turned out to be a .Net 4.8 issue. There was an update that makes OS customization fail if the source machine has a name longer than 15 characters. Our template was 17. We shortened it and it fixed the issue.

[EvanWaite]

Awesome! That fixed ours as well.  I knew it was more than 15 characters but was following a previous naming standard which pushed it to 16 characters with "core" in the hostname.

Saved us opening a case.  What an odd thing to change as part of a vCenter minor point release :smileysad:

[DMooreNetstream]

Thank you!! Was getting errors when deploying 2019 CORE from template that said vmware tools not installed even though it was. After reading this post I checked and my template source name was 17 chars!! I shortened it up and everything is working now!! Thank you!!

[JoergenKaare]

Thanks for finding - has the same error - shortened the template name and now it works.

[RobMacKinnon]

I am soooooooooooooooo glad I was able to find t his thread. I just built my first Server 2019 Template and spent hours trying figure out what was wrong.

A heavy boulder has been lifted.

[nozomis]

This is worked for me

[VirtualKenneth]

This also solved the problem for us. In addition I can add that this is the official VMware statement about the root cause:

The issue regarding guest customization failing due to the 15 character limit was due to a code change introduced in vSphere 6.5, 6.7 & 7.0 that inadvertently caused this 15 character limit. The cause of the issue was quickly identified and the issue is due to be resolved in the next major release of 6.5, 6.7 and 7.0.