My initial implementation was modifying the built-in workflow for deploy custom virtual machine from template (with sysprep), but I found it to be inconsistent and not as clean as it could be. T...
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My initial implementation was modifying the built-in workflow for deploy custom virtual machine from template (with sysprep), but I found it to be inconsistent and not as clean as it could be. The approach I prefer is generating a custom Windows ISO using the DISM toolset with slipstreamed updates, VMware drivers, and unattend.xml. I create a new virtual machine with that ISO mounted, and upon first startup it automatically installs the OS on the first boot device. One of the post-install tasks from the unattend.xml file is to install VMware Tools, which is what Orchestrator waits for to determine that the install completed successfully. The ISO is then dismounted via Orchestrator and the remainder of the configuration tasks proceed (add to domain, install software, etc.). Not sure if that would be something worth pursing for you, but thought you might want to know what is possible with Orchestrator. Regarding the guest script manager, simply create a PowerShell or batch script that writes your text to the file: "value1 value2 value3" | Out-File -Path C:\Temp\configdata.txt Make sure that you are using a local username and password for authentication, as there may be issues with domain authentication if the template is off the domain or disconnected from the network as this can happen during different phases of the SysPrep process.