I am having a problem creating linked clones with Windows 7.
I have followed all the guides and troubleshooting I can find, but still at a loss as to what is going on.
Created parent VM
Updated as per optimisation guide, hardware as per optimisation guide
Reinstalled VMware tools
Released IP
Shut down parent VM
Created Snapshot
Provisioned a new linked clone based on parent VM
New VM created, starts up, runs without error
Quickprep creates new computer object in the OU specified in the guest customisation
Nothing further is done as far as I can work out
Linked clone is accessible, and I can log on with domain administrator account
Linked clone still has parent VM's name, and DNS and DHCP still see it as the parents name
No logs are created on the linked clone, so I cannot find out whats gone wrong
According to the Events in VMware View Administrator, 1 hour after the video settings are configured, the customization times out.
No errors in the windows event log on the linked clone
If it was a physical computer, it would be 12 floors down in a bin at the moment!!!
Did you also resinstall the View Agent? (VMware Tools and View Agent is not the same thing.)
// Linjo
There are some composer logs on VDI machine under C:\windows\temp. Also does it have network connectivity during the customization phase?
I cannot find any logs on the linked clone under c:\windows\temp - do you mean the composer server?
When ever I have checked it, its always had network connectivity - this is confirmed by the linked clone computer object being created in the correct OU
No, I mean on the clone. THey are named similar to vmware-viewcomposer-ga-new.log. See this KB for all the log file locations,
http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1027744
I should add this is the first Windows 7 deployment I have attempted - the environment has not had Windows 7 computers previously if that matters.
How is the licensing done? With MAK or KMS? (KMS is the one officially supported)
// Linjo
Licensing is done through KMS, and confirmed the KMS host is running the server KMS key (Windows 2008 R2 Enterprise) from the same licence agreement, in case it mattered. I'm not so sure its an activation problem, as the linked clone still says its activated, but in my XP pool, the computer name is changed before I can even login - the computer name for guests in the Windows 7 pool aren't renamed at all, even after an hour, and I suspect that at the point the computer object is created in the OU, the View Administrator is trying to contact them on their new name.
This is perhaps a stupid question, but have you actually installed the View Agent on your Win7 template? I don't see mention of it anywhere in your posts. This is required for customization of the linked-clone VMs to occur, and for it to be usable in View.
Yes, I found the VMXNET3 adapter would not install without it. I also uninstalled VMware Tools, rebooted, reinstalled it, rebooted, confirmed VMXNET3 network adapter was working, released IP, shut down and snapshotted - still does not work.
Did you also resinstall the View Agent? (VMware Tools and View Agent is not the same thing.)
// Linjo
Ooops, can you tell I haven't done this before! Ok, so if I browse to the View Manager server, will it install the right agent, or should I download it from the web. We use View 5.0 here.
Ok, sorted - all I did was install the View Agent and everything worked! Thanks mpryor and Linjo for pointing me in the right direction