Windows 2016 deploy from template - no NIC when trying to use customization

[chuggington81]

ESXI Version: VMware ESXi, 5.5.0, 2718055

Image Profile: Dell-ESXi-5.5U2-2068190-A00

vSphere Web Client: Version 5.5.0 Build 2414847

So I am deploying a Windows 2012R2 from template which works perfectly. However, when deploying Windows 2016 from template the NIC adapter is not enabled.

I tried upgrading the hardware version to 10. No change.

I tried installing vmware tools 10 on the template vm. No change.

I tried without customization and then the NIC is enabled and works.

With customization the Windows 2016 deployment does not work.

Both 2012R2 and 2016 templates are configured the same way.

Is this a esxi version issue or something else? Any ideas?

Rather annoying that I can't continue with my provisioning project.

FYI: both enable and disable update vmware tools on boot on template did nothing. Also tried deploying to another host. No change.

[hussainbte]

Can you try to create a tempate with E100o adapter instead of vmxnet3 and try the customization

That will narrow down if the issue is with vmtools/vmxnet with 2016 customization o something else.

location: C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\customize-guest.log

[chuggington81]

Hi again,

Changed the adapter and the deployed vm from 2016 template still doesn't connect. There is no customize-guest.log in %windir%\temp.

[hussainbte]

can you try using sysprep from the guest instead of using the customization wizard from vSphere.

Get the template server ready with tools and updated HW version etc.. run sysprep .. generalize and shutdown.. convert the vm to template and deploy from the template.

Although it will not fix the original issue, it does the same job unless you have some additional mentioned in vCenter customization specs.

we might need trivia or vebose vcenter logs for troubleshooting the issue if we choose to..

[chuggington81]

So I tried to start over with the template with another iso installation.

Every step was done manually and then converted to template.

Now customization works with windows 2016.

Thanks for the replies.