Cloning (sysprep) a Windows RDS guest

[MariusRoma]

I attempted to clone a Windows Server 2016 server configured as Remote Desktop Server.

Before cloning the VM I used sysprep to generalize the server in order to assign a new name, id and so on.

Microsoft documentation says that it is possible to use sysperp to generalize/clone an RDS server.

After restarting the guest I see that it has been generalized by sysprep.

RDS setting, however, are not generalized and the guest maintains its original settings (ad before sysprep).

So, the cloned VM is unusable.

Looking around forums and blogs I read that there is some VMware specific issue while using sysprep to clone a Windows RDS server.

Can anybody please help clarify?

• What is the right way to clone a guest VM running Windows Server 2016 and configured as RDS server?
• Are there VMware specific known issues?
• If so, how can I bypass them?

Regards

marius

[virtuallysekar]

Hi

I am aware of a known issue in 2012 server where the sysprep fails with C:\Windows\system32\sysprep\unbcl.dll on a RDS server there is a hotfix available for that

VMware Knowledge Base

Try the Windows customization available under vCenter check if that helps. Instead of generalize it has its custom script in place