Windows Server 2012 R2 on ESXi 5.1 U1

[Anonymous]

Hi Guys,

We're trying to test Windows Server 2012 R2 Preview on out vSphere enrionment (Latest 5.1 U1 with updates).
Although it is not supported, we're trying to get it to work.

So:

1. Windows Server 2012 R2 (Hardware version 9) succesfully installed.

2. In order to sysprep, a problematic schedule task is disabled

According to Microsoft :

  Release Notes: Important Issues in Windows Server 2012 R2 Preview

3. Converting to template.

4. Tryhing to deploy from template using a basic custom spec (Evaluation product key inside).

What happens?

* The server is powered on and the console shows Windows' request to change the Administrator's password.

* Sysprep Generalize phaze failed with the following error:

08 21:03:31, Error [0x0f0073] SYSPRP RunExternalDlls:Not running DLLs; either the machine is in an invalid state or we couldn't

08 21:03:31, Error SYSPRP WinMain:Hit failure while processing sysprep re-specialize internal providers; hr = 0x8007001f

08 21:04:24, Error SYSPRP Could not re-arm region selection, some files and registry keys are no longer recoverable.

08 21:04:24, Error SYSPRP Re-arm region selection failed with hr = 0x8000ffff.

08 21:04:24, Error SYSPRP Failed to re-arm region selection: 0x8000ffff.

08 21:04:24, Error [0x0f0082] SYSPRP ActionPlatform::LaunchModule: Failure occurred while executing 'SysprepGeneralize' from

08 21:04:24, Error SYSPRP ActionPlatform::ExecuteAction: Error in executing action; dwRet = 0x8000ffff

08 21:04:24, Error SYSPRP ActionPlatform::ExecuteActionList: Error in execute actions; dwRet = 0x8000ffff

08 21:04:24, Error SYSPRP SysprepSession::Execute: Error in executing actions from C:\Windows\System32

08 21:04:24, Error SYSPRP RunPlatformActions:Failed while executing SysprepSession actions; dwRet = 0x8000ffff

08 21:04:24, Error [0x0f0070] SYSPRP RunExternalDlls:An error occurred while running registry sysprep DLLs, halting sysprep

08 21:04:24, Error [0x0f00a8] SYSPRP WinMain:Hit failure while processing sysprep generalize internal providers; hr = 0x8000ffff

Did any of you succesfuly deployed a Windows Server 2012 R2 from template, using customization?

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn303413.aspx

[tomtom901]

Is an upgrade to 5.5 an option so you can see how it goes on that software?

[Anonymous]

Not right now.

BTW, did some more searching and found out that VMware's ACL shows that Windows Server 2012 R2 is supported on ESXi 5.1U1. However, I can't seem to find any patch or update for it.

[bhirsch]

I just tested this with vcenter 5.5 and  same issue. Something that VMware needs to look into. Maybe with the first patch for 5.5???

[beefy147]

Get the same issue on 5.0 U2 (which is supported for 2012 R2)

I am trying a number of things to work around the problem of the requirement to set the "administrator" password. its a pain!

Will report back if I get anywhere. Anyone else managed to make it work in any supported version of 5.X?

[adk240]

In my infrastructure (5.1 U1), customization start after reboot VM (VM->Power->Restart Guest) 3 times.

[beefy147]

I managed to get ours working on 5.0 U2

I think as we rename the administrator account it didn't want to logon (I might be wrong)

So I reset the account name to administrator (change it later in the build process)

seems to work on 2012 R2 now but still early days. Need to upgrade to U3 and consider 5.5 next year

[Anonymous]

Hi Guys,

Still having problems. This time, I'm trying to deploy from a Windows Server 2012 R2 template but failed in sysprep.
The failed phase in sysprep is:
Microsoft-Shell-Setup

Full error is:

Windows could not parse or process the unattend answer file for pass [specialize]. The setting specified in the answer file cannot be applied.

The error was detected while processing settings for componenet [Microsoft-Windows-shell-Setup]
I also see the "The user's password must be changed before signing in" for the Administrator user.

Any luck in deploying Windows Server 2012 R2 on vSphere 5.1?

vCenter Version: 5.1.0 build 1235232

ESXi Version: 5.1.0 1157734

[boobob]

Any news about this?

I too have this problem when deploying Windows Server 2012 R2 on vSphere 5.1.

[damo_s]

I'm on ESXi 5.1 U1 as well, I load up the deployed machine (from 2012R2 template), log in with the local admin; leave it for a few minutes, restart.

Upon the second boot, I get prompted to change the admin password, then log in, after about 40 seconds it takes it from there and configures all as should be from the customization wizard.

Hope that's some help to somebody!

[damo_s]

Worth noting this is full fat 2012R2 not preview; so may be different.

[user1997221]

What version of vCenter are you running? Guest OS customization support for Windows Server 2012 R2 wasn't added until vCenter 5.1 Update 2.

https://www.vmware.com/support/vsphere5/doc/vsphere-vcenter-server-51u2-release-notes.html

[howj123]

I was having this issue on 5.1 U1B (Build 1235232), but not on Update 2. Good catch, thanks.

[ksanderson]

Has anyone had any luck getting this working with 5.5U1?  I have updated the hosts to U1 but not Vcenter so wondering if that might be the problem but I can't get the customisation to kick in at all.

[user1997221]

What version of vCenter are you on? You probably need to update vCenter. That is the component that handles the customization templates.

[boobob]

yes, updating VCenter to 5.5 did the trick. 

[ksanderson]

Vcenter is running 5.5 without update 1.  I had originally created the template on 5.0 but have since created a brand new one but still can't get it to run the customisation.  I've viewed other posts about the issue in 5.1 and manually rebooted the VM after it's been provisioned but no luck.  Should I sysprep the VM before converting to a template?

[user1997221]

No, I wouldn't recommend running sysprep manually on the VM. The customization template will take care of that if you choose the option to Generate a New SID. What exactly happens when you try to customize a 2012 R2 VM? Does sysprep run at all? Can you check the sysprep logs on the VM to see if anything is failing?

[boobob]

I recreated the template with the most recent iso for 2012 R2, but I don't know if that had anything to do with it getting to work,

[user1997221]

That's a good point. If you were attempting to salvage a template that was created with an older version of vCenter, that could potentially cause problems. Recreating a template from scratch would be a good idea.