Issues with Deploying a VM from template

[werewolf07]

I am having some issue deploying a VM from template with guest customization. I have not been able to find any answers on the web.

Here is my setup:

vSphere 5.1.0

Build 1064983

1) Create a VM (WIN2K8R2) based on Windows Server 2008 R2 with Administrator password as P@ssw0rd

2) Install VMware Tools
3) Activate Windows

4) Shutdown VM (WIN2K8R2)

5) Clone VM (WIN2K8R2) to a template (WIN2K8R2T1)

6) Deploy a VM (WIN2K8R2T1S1) from template (WIN2K8R2T1) with Guest Customization Spec

7) VM (WIN2K8R2T1S1) successfully created from template (WIN2K8R2T1)

- Issue is, if i don't set "Automatically Logon as Administrator" in the Guest Customization Spec, i cannot logon to windows.

- If I set "Automatically Logon as Administrator", the VM automatically logon, but if i log-off, i cannot logon

- If I set "Automatically Logon as Administrator", the VM somehow removes the "Administrator" password. And if I go to "Edit Local Users", i get option "Set New Password" for the Administrator user. Once I set a new password, then i can use the new password to logon.

- I also see that the Windows is no longer activated.

- If i specify domain credentials in the customization spec for the VM to be joined to a domain, it does not join it.

- it looks like the guest customization is not really working?

Any idea what is going on here? I have been able to reproduce this with Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2012.

[sideshowtob]

I think I am seeing the same thing in the same build.  Whatever the password is being set to by the customization wizard, its not the same as what I am setting in the specification.  Are you using the web client to deploy?  I have some success when using the full client to deploy.

[werewolf07]

Yes, it seems to be a bug with the web client.

It works fine with the windows client. I'm not sure if this has been reported to VMware.

wasted a lot of time thinking its a bad install or something. Thank you very much for testing this!

[sideshowtob]

Not had much of a chance to test the various scenarios but yeah the Windows client seems to work best.  I am downloading 5.1 Update 1a at the moment, and will try that over the weekend.  Nothing obvious in the release notes though.

[werewolf07]

Ok, thank you! looking forward to your findings! let me see if i can get that build. Thanks again.

[JagadeeshDev]

Do you see anything related in guestcust.log, setup-act, setuperr , debug logs ? Just trying to see if we  could get clues..

-JD

[sideshowtob]

Nope.  Nothing. 

From guestcust.log:-

[2013-06-01T12:05:50 DEBUG] SysprepDecrypter has unobfuscated the password successfully

[2013-06-01T12:05:50  INFO] GuestCustUtil exiting.

From VMware-cust-nativeapp.log:-

[INFO] Decrypting password.

[INFO] Encrypted password is A6AE77B320674431C321E6F5A2B380DB7D17E1EC57EE8A4D2134E8D1FA20884D

[INFO] Successfully decrypted passwords.

[INFO] Encrypted password is A6AE77B320674431C321E6F5A2B380DB7D17E1EC57EE8A4D2134E8D1FA20884D

[INFO] Successfully decrypted passwords.

[INFO] Successfully unobfuscated the sysprep passwords.

[INFO] Exiting with code 0.

[INFO] Deallocating all acquired space.

[INFO] Destroying heap.

If I autologin as administrator, and then reset password using lusrmgr.msc I can use the VM.  If I don't chose autologin then I can not login as administrator. 

Tired the latest build of vCenter and still the same.

[werewolf07]

yup - sounds like the same issue that i am having.

yes - after you change the administrator password, you can logon to windows.

if you try to join the vm to a domain from template, that fails as well - from the web client. domain joining works fine with the windows client.

[HCNATWCDW]

The issue, as I have found it started with the Web Client and I am a little surprised it is still an issue in vSphere 5.1 Update 1 as it is such an annoying issue.  The problem as I see it is in the process of creating a Customization Specification using the Web Client and storing the Administrator password and the the account to attach the system to the domain.

I have found that if you create a NEW customization specification using the Windows client, you can then deploy a template using the customization specification from either the Windows client or Web Client without any issues.  You cannot "fix" a specification by editing it in the Windows client and re-entering the passwords.  My guess is there is a bug in the encryption process when saving the specification or the decryption process when using the web client for the passwords.

I have never opened a direct call with VMware on the issue as I have found this work around.  I planned on mentioning it to the support folks at VMWorld this fall when I am out there.

[pbardaville]

This issue is covered under the following KB (http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2051755)

This has been addressed in vSphere 5.5 and is currently projected to also be included in vSphere 5.1u3.

As the KB states, if you're unable to upgrade to 5.5, a workaround is available:
To work around this issue when you cannot upgrade, use vSphere Client to create and edit a guest operating system customization specification. When the customization specification is created, you can use vSphere Web Client for customization.