Guest Customization Windows 10 1803 starts but doesnt finish

[azuberi]

I am building a new Windows 10 1803 template and using the same guest customization that I have used with previous builds of Windows 10. The vm is cloned from the template and applies sysprep successfully but the machine never reboots/renames or gets added to the domain.

I have rebuilt the Guest Customization settings from scratch and still get the same result.

Any ideas?

[ez12a323]

Check out this article: Cleaning up apps to keep Windows 10 sysprep happy – Michael Niehaus' Windows and Office deployment r...

if your template had internet enabled, chances are the microsoft store tried to update something. My deployed VM had the error mentioned in the article in the setupact.log, meaning the vmware initiated sysprep failed due to an installed package..

You'll need to clean your template of anything that might have been installed while it was being built.

I'm going to try the script on my template.

edit: can confirm the script solved the sysprep issue.

[MZirbes]

Same issue here. Running Windows version 1903

The guestcust.log file has this error message: "Error opening file C:\WINDOWS\Panther\Unattended.xml The file system cannot find the path specified.

I'm not an expert on the VMware sysprep process but the answer file is here C:\sysprep\sysprep.xml with all my specific customizations.

The temporary sysprep directory is set to C:\sysprep earlier in the log file.

The Setupact.log is clean except for an entry at the end: SysprepSession:Execute: Sysprep mode was not specified, deleting it from registry.

Then sysprep shuts down.

One other thing I have noticed is that the cloned VM that is trying to run sysprep has a disconnected network adaptor.

Totally stumped

[iamxCPx]

I'm running Windows 1909 "SAC" and was having the same issue.

Contacted the VMware support and they have no clue what was causing it. They do know that this is a Microsoft Windows issue and not VMware.

So the workaround that I did that works for me was prior to cloning the master, I reinstalled VMware Tools and then disabled the NIC.

After that the guest customization did its job.

VMware support was watching me when I did this.

There's a possibility that only disabling the NIC might work as well but I'm just letting you know what works for me.

So I just need to remember to always disable the NIC prior to provisioning the desktops because after the cloning is done, the NIC is automatically enabled.

PS.

I also know that removing the Windows Store and all its apps also works by running the script mentioned above.

But I want to keep the apps due to the user needs to use default Apps such as Photos, Groove Music, Movies & TV, and Maps so I didn't go that route.

Hopefully this is helpful for others and Microsoft will fix this issue ASAP.