Is it nesessary to use sysprep when creating a VM from a template

[pbalderos]

Hello community peeps,

I just created a VM from a template for the first time in vSphere 6.0. In previous version when doing this I had to run sysprep after powering the VM on. Is this still the same case in 6.0?

Doing a  little digging it kind of seems like sysprep should be ran before converting the original VM into a template.

http://www.enterprisedaddy.com/2015/09/how-to-prepare-a-vm-with-sysprep-before-converting-it-to-temp...

ESXi 6.0

Vcenter 6

[rcporto · Accepted solution]

There are many ways to run Sysprep when creating a VM from a template, here are some:

1) Run Sysprep on the "master" virtual machine, choose the Sysprep option to shutdown, and then convert the VM to a template, than when you create a virtual machine from that template, Sysprep will run automatically on the first boot;

2) Create a virtual machine from the template, log on Windows and run the Sysprep manually;

3) During the deploy from template Wizard, use the option Guest Customization, that will run Sysprep on virtual machine during the deployment.

[pbalderos]

Thank you! That clears it all up now.

[TomHowarth]

All sysprep does is remove the personality from a windows operating system.  if you are using an Active Directory domain, when you join the newly created machine to the domain it will receive a new GUID from the RID FSMO holder,   all that this would leave is a for the machine to be given a unique computer name, and IP Address during deployment.  This could be scripted or you could use the deployment wizard.

So technically, no you do not need to utilise Sysprep. for example VDI desktops deployed via VMware Horizon View do not actually utilise a full version of Sysprep. but use a process called Quickprep.

[jeanchen]

test, please ignore

[TonyJK]

Dear Richardson,

May I ask when we prepare the Master Image, do we need to join it to Domain ?

Besides, if it is SYSPREP before deployment, does it mean that we should not use "Guest Customisation" or just skip the "Generate Security ID" ?

Thanks

[_Carlos_]

Adding it to the domain will cause issues, as the next VM created from the template will have the same SID. You would need to remove it to re-add it which will also cause your other VM to lose its domain access.

If you do SYSPREP, use the Shutdown and Generalize options so you don't have to do all that when creating a new VM from the template.