Deployment of XP virtual machines using Virtual Center 2.x Esx 3.5 Patch 2 + VMWare customization doesn't launch

[Yamdar]

Hi,

We just did a complete update of our ESX Servers to the last version of ESX (3.5 patch 2 110268)

We also completly re-installed Virtual Center 2.5 with the last version available on the VMWare website (104215)

Since this update, everytime we deploy a virtual machine from one of our templates, the initial customization setup (made by Virtual Center using the wizard), is not executing itself correctly, we can see in the console the blue screen with "VMWARE is customizing ...." but after a second it disapear.

When we logon on the virtual machine, we can see a sysprep directory on the c drive with the sysprep.inf but no exe at all except on the C:\sysprep\i386\$OEM$ folderwhere there is some bootrun.exe and other batch files.

We did put the correct sysprep files on "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter\sysprep\xp".

The other strange thing is that the virtual machine is started with the option "ethernet0.startConnected = False".

Our template is configured to have ethernet0 adapter "connected at power-on". If i edit the vmxt file of the template, the "ethernet0.startConnected" is set to True.

Does anyone know what should i do to resolve this issue ?

[Troy_Clavell]

The template that you are using to deply off of is not syspreped correct? It will not deploy properly in 2.5 if it is. This is the only thing I can think of initially that would stop your VM's from deploying properly off a template. Shut down down your template, don't sysprep it and use the built in VMware Customization specs.

Hope this helps.

[Yamdar]

Thanks for your answer,

well, our template is not syspreped, we are trying to use the builtin VMWARE customization, it was working without any problem with the old version of virtual center but, after the update, it's not working anymore.

[java_cat33]

Can you re-copy your sysprep files to the VC server?

[Yamdar]

Well, i downloaded the last sysprep files for Windows XP SP3 and i put them in the correct directory.. but no changes.

[buckethead]

Any resolution on this issue? I am now having the same issue. I do have a ticket opened with support but hoping to see if anyone else has found a workaround to this issue.

[Yamdar]

Well, i received support from VMWare and had to replace a guestcust.exe to "try"

They have known issues with Virtual Center 2.5 patch 2 and Windows XP as Guest but, their solution didn't work for me.

I tried a lot of things, Deploy a fresh install of Windows 2003 (working) and did a lot of tests with Windows XP.

Nothing worked.

I had to completly re-install my template from scratch and now it seems to work.

My fear is on the next Virtual Center update.. i hope i won't have to re-install everything from scratch.

[buckethead]

Thanks for the response. It isn't the news I wanted to hear, but it is what I expected. Support hasn't found anything for me yet. On another Virtual Center I had the same problem and the guestcust.exe trick worked but not on this one.

I have 50 XP machines to deploy by EOD Tomorrow. I can just sysprep them if it comes to that.

I just created this XP template and this is a brand new Virtual Center. I will try creating another template from scratch and see how it goes.

If I find a miracle I will share.

[buckethead]

I took XP SP3 off the template and it worked even though it had the SP 3 Sysprep tools. Not sure why that worked, but I will take it. I can always patch the boxes after they are online and before they go into production.

[vinzcenzo]

Hi everybody,

I work with Yamdar and we fixed the issue related in this thread.

We compare logs from a working customization and a non-working customization (C:\Windows\Temp\vmware-imc\guestcust.log).

In the middle of the process "guestcust" performs a query against WMI system 😘 select * from win32_networkadapter where Manufacturer != 'Microsoft' and manufacturer is not null and MACAddress is not null*

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Failed LOG :

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...

select * from win32_networkadapter where Manufacturer != 'Microsoft' and manufacturer is not null and MACAddress is not null

Found 1 objects. Pointer a10318. return code 0(0x0)

Found 1 objects. Pointer a12008. return code 0(0x0)

Found 1 objects. Pointer a10750. return code 0(0x0)

Found 0 objects. Pointer 0. return code 1(0x1)

Returning value 00:50:56:9A:27:BC for system property

Returning value 00:50:56:9A:27:BC for system property

Returning value 6C:0A:20:52:41:53 for system property

Setting dhcp for nic # 0

...

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OK LOG :

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...

select * from win32_networkadapter where Manufacturer != 'Microsoft' and manufacturer is not null and MACAddress is not null

Found 1 objects. Pointer a10318. return code 0(0x0)

Found 0 objects. Pointer 0. return code 1(0x1)

Returning value 00:50:56:9A:18:45 for system property

Setting dhcp for nic # 0

...

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With WMI Explorer ()

we performed the query above for getting more details.

We found the 2 other MAC addresses was associated with our corporate Antivirus

Server : TrendMicro Worry-Free Business Security Advanced (v5.0 build 1307)

Client : TrendMicro Client (v15.0.1307)

We decide to uninstall the TrendMicro Client on our Windowx XP Template.

Finally we deployed a new VM from this modified template, then the customization was working fine.

Best Regards

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Vincent Daglia

ABISSA Informatique SA

Switzerland