Windows Server 2008 R2 customization does not work

[MarkStrong]

Here is what I have:

- ESXi4.1

- vCenter 4.1, brand new install

- I created a new VM (Virtual Hardware v. 7, VMXNET3 NIC) which I am going to use as a template and installed Windows Server 2008 R2 from an ISO image I downloaded from Microsoft.

- Installed Windows updates and made a couple minor customization i.e. disabled UAC, firewall, IE ESC etc.

- created new guest customization specification for Windows 2008 R2 with standard parameters

     Registration info...

     Computer name - use Virtual Machine name

     Product Key - blank (tried to use KMS key as well which did not make any difference)

     Server license mode - per Seat. (tried without it as well)

     Admin Password - Standard local admin password for my company

     Time Zone - GMT

     Run Once - empty

     Join Workgroup (the template server is not on the domain)

     Generate SID.

- powered off VM

When I clone VM and use customization template it does not work. According to Tasks & Events it gets stuck at:

Started customization of VM test4. Customization log located at
C:\Windows\TEMP\vmware-imc\guestcust.log in the guest OS.

Exactly the same customization template works fine for Windows Server 2008 SP2.

What am I doing wrong?

[Troy_Clavell]

C:\Windows\TEMP\vmware-imc\guestcust.log

did you look at the logs to see what may be the problem?  We deploy W2K8 R2 guests quite often and haven't had any issues.  The new customization that was created, was created during the deployment, or new within the customization manager?  Maybe, if you haven't try to create the customization while deploying the guest using the "Customize using the Customization wizard"

Also, R2 is 64bit, so if you are not using a template made for 64bit, this could be the issue.

[MarkStrong]

Here is what I have in C:\Windows\TEMP\vmware-imc\guestcust.log :
......
Executing command C:\windows\system32\sysprep\sysprep.exe /quiet /generalize /oobe /reboot /unattend:C:\sysprep\sysprep.xml
Successfully executed command C:\windows\system32\sysprep\sysprep.exe /quiet /generalize /oobe /reboot /unattend:C:\sysprep\sysprep.xml

Rpci: Sending request='deployPkg.update.state 4 103 C:\Windows\TEMP\vmware-imc\guestcust.log@4000'

Rpci: Sent request='deployPkg.update.state 4 103 C:\Windows\TEMP\vmware-imc\guestcust.log@4000', reply='', len=0, status=1

......
...but the server does not reboot automatically. Even if I reboot it manually the sysprep does not work.

Yes, brand new customization using Customization Manager and I also used "Customize using the Customization wizard" option. No luck.

In Customization Manager you can not specify if the OS is 32 or 64 bit. For Windows Server 2003 I created two Customization specifications - one for 32 bit and one for 64 bit. The only difference is the product keys...

Do you use KMS key for Windows Server 2008 R2?

[Troy_Clavell]

we do use KMS for all W2K8 boxes.  I built a customiztion spec from an old W2K8 Standard 64bit VM, and we use that for our R2 deployments as well. Once the VM comes online, it usually sits at a login prompt for about 10 - 30 seconds, then reboots into the customization.

It appears from the logs that the process is starting.... You didn't sysprep the template, correct?

[MarkStrong]

All other Customization specs I created for 2003 and 2008 SP2 work just fine.

The one for 2008 R2 in no way different but it does not work.

No, I did not sysprep template VM.

[Troy_Clavell]

I'm reaching for straws here, but, you have confirmed the Guest Operating System on your template is correct?  Edit Settings---Options tab

[MarkStrong]

Yes, it is Windows Serve 2008 R3 (64-bit).

I created a new VM, rebuilt the server and managed to get Cloning/Customisation working but when I changed local admin password, disabled hibernation, configured power scheme to High Performance, configured SNMP and disabled automount the template hangs on Customization. It is still not working.

[tsand]

I have exactly the same problem:

Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise on ESXi 4.1 / vCenter Server (4.1.0.12319).

Guest OS is set to Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 (64-bit), networkadapter is E100.

All I did in the VM befor I converted the VM to template was:

- update Windows

- deactivate screensaver

- install 7z

- run defragmentation

After deploying a VM using a completely new customization (key, OU, host name, static IP, password) and starting the VM nothing happens - no "customization in progress" etc. - when I try to login I get prompted to change the password for the first login. No customization option has been applied to my new VM.

Any help would be highly appreciated.

[WestCoastTrail2]

Hello,

I had the same problem as you . I removed my template from its domain then it worked.

[MarkStrong]

The template has not been added to the domain. The customization wizards keeps it in Workgroup as well.

[calladd]

I was having this same problem and I used an older trick and it has proven sucessful on all my 2008 R2 deployments.

1. Convert your template back to a virtual machine.

2. Change the OS type to Windows Vista.

3. Convert the VM back to a template.

4. Deploy a new VM from the template and select your Customization Specification, be sure to not select the option to power the VM on after creation.

5. After the new VM is created, BUT BEFORE YOU POWER IT ON, change the OS to 2008 R2 on the newly created VM.

6. Power the new VM on, wait about 10-30 sec.  The VM should sysprep completely.

I have no idea why this works for me, but it does.

[tsand]

Hi calladd,

I tried your solution, unfortunately it does not work for me :smileysad:

Anyone out there who can provide a solution to that?

[Troy_Clavell]

nevermind :smileyhappy:

[NJKwork]

I know this is going to sound pretty weak, but how long do you wait for the sysprep process to run?  I have found in my environment it takes about 15-20 minutes for it to reboot and run the sysprep.  So basically you deploy from template, it boots up after the initial copy, and then just sits there at the login screen.  The first time I did this, I thought it was not working.  Then after 2 or 3 attemps, I let it sit and it finally rebooted and ran the sysprep stuff.

I posted about this a few months ago but never got a solution for it:

http://communities.vmware.com/message/1636153#1636153

Maybe just let it sit for a while and see what it does.  Very frustrating - it use to take 15 minutes to deploy a Widnows 2003 VM.  Now it takes like 45 minutes (the image size is much bigger now and then the added 15-20 minutes are waiting at the login screen).

Good luck

SlickBag

[tsand]

I waited about an hour - so that shouldn't be the issue.

[tfpjr]

any updates on this matter?  i've had the same situation occur when cloning windows 2003 server vm's that were upgraded from windows 2000 server.

the vmware customization process does not start.

[bulletprooffool]

Windows 2008 and Windows 2008R2 are not the same OS - it is like Windows 2000 and Windows 2003 - they are entirely different versions of OS (not just an update)

[Mauro Bonder]

may be stupid, but I had a similar problem, and when I changed the type of network card corded. try it,

[vvermani]

Guest Customization will not work on the OS that have been upgraded to a new version since sysprep can only run on a custom (clean) install version of windows.

[tganzer]

I ran into this issue and the problem was that there was a pending Windows Update installation, so sysprep wouldn't run. Powered on the template, let the updates finish and then shut it down and it worked fine after that.

[gene_torres]

I've seen this happen with any OS version from time to time and it does bug me, but what I've found to actually work is once the VM is up and you're logged into windows - if customization doesn't start and you don't even have the log in c:\windows\temp\vmware-imc, don't reboot it.  Power it off (hard shutdown) and then power it back on and customization will kick off.  This works for me 100% of the time.  I can understand how this could potentially be harmful to the OS, but it's the only way to get around it without a complete re-deployment of the VM.  I wonder if VMWare is aware that this is happening.

[tfpjr]

i'll give the hard shutdown a shot next time around.  thx gene.

[jasonfz]

Hello,

I had the exact problem described here.  I discovered that I got this to work by removing the local administrator password from the template.  We had changed our "standard" local admin account password so the template had the old password but the customization had the updated password.

So, I converted the template back to a virtual machine, then edited local security policy to allow a blank admin password (administrative tools > local security policy > password policy > enforce password complexity > disabled), then I changed the password to blank (ctrl/alt/ins, enter the old pw and leave the new pw blank), then shut the machine down, converted back to template.

I then deployed from the customization with the updated p/w and this ran just fine.

I noticed that this only seems to affect 2008 R2 but not 2008 SP2 or 2003, so I am not sure if this is a new security "feature".

Hope this helps...

[MarkStrong]

Thank you very much for all your suggestions and advice.

I have tried most if not all of them but the solution which finally worked for me is simple: rebuild the template.

I worked absolutely fine for Win7, 2008R2 and 2008R2 SP1 templates.

I think the problem was with me being a bit impatient. When you boot the OS after the installation first thing to do is to install VMware Tools AND REBOOT VM. You can make as many customizations to the OS as you want after that without a need to reboot it after each one of them. Well, at least it worked for me...

[jkhines]

I was seeing the same behavior.  When running C:\Windows\system32\sysprep\sysprep.exe manually, I got the error:
"A fatal error occurred while trying to sysprep the machine"

The following solution resolved the issue:

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7itproinstall/thread/425bd101-8a87-488c-b2e2-9f2f8113a0d9/

Per the original post:
As a work around of this problem, please type: regedit in the Start Search box to open Registry Editor, set the value of GeneralizationState under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup\Status\SysprepStatus to 7, then run sysprep again.