Windows 2008R2 sysprep Error [msoobe.exe] Failed to install product key

[np123]

I'm cloning Windows 2008R2 with PowerCLI on ESXi 5.0. On the clone, setuperr.log in C:\Windows\Panther\UnattendGC has the following error:

2013-02-01 15:49:13, Error [msoobe.exe] Failed to install product key [hr=0xC004F050]

In the System control panel window, ("control system" at cmd), under Windows Activation there's a link: "3 days until automatic activation. Activate Windows now." Online Activation succeeds, both automatically (at first login after 3 days) or manually via the link in Computer Properties. So the product  key would seem to be valid. Besides the logged error message, I've found nothing visibly wrong. (Maybe product key installation attempts time out, causing sysprep to be slower than it should be - but I have no good basis for comparison on this OS.)

Seen this before? Cause for concern? Solutions?

My familiarity with Windows licensing is mostly second-hand, but I know 2 thrilling acronyms that apply to us: SPLA and MAK; and one acronym that does not: KMS.

Here is the PowerCLI I imagine to be relevant:

Get-OSCustomizationSpec -Name specName | New-OSCustomizationSpec -Name tempSpecName -type NonPersistent
set-OScustomizationSpec tempSpecName -adminPassword $adminPwd -namingScheme Fixed -namingPrefix $dnsName -domain $domain -domainCredentials $creds -autoLogonCount 1
$clone = New-VM -vm $sourceVM -name $vmName -OSCustomizationSpec tempSpecName -VMHost $vmhost -location $destFolder -Datastore $datastore -diskStorageFormat Thin
start-vm $clone

The error is also discussed here http://communities.vmware.com/message/1852187

In our spec, ChangeSID is True. Domain join succeeds, so network connectivity would seem to be in place there, at least.

[LucD]

Are you using a KMS or a MAK key ?

Does the sysprep finsih correctly when you do not specify the key ?

Is there anything that might help in the log before or after the error entry ?

[np123]

MAK key, no KMS.

Nothing else in setuperr.log. Besides the logged error, sysprep works fine, AFAICT. Nothing else amiss on the clone. Even this is a non-problem, because Automatic Activation fixes it in three days. But I got curious after seeing the error.

Same behavior using set-osCustomizationSpec -productKey vs omitting that parameter and using the product key from the spec.

[LucD]

One possibility that comes to mind is that the vSphere sysprep preparation process doesn't copy the key correctly to the unattend.xml file.

When the VM starts up to do the deployment try hitting Shift-F10, and from the command prompt inspect the unattend.xml file.

Check if the key is in there.

[np123]

No such luck, but that Shift+F10 trick is very handy, thanks.

C:\Windows\Panther>type unattend.xml | find "Product"

          <ProductKey>XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX</ProductKey>

The key matches the spec's ProductKey, and it's not really all Xs. Running slmgr.vbs /dlv on the clone, Remaining Windows rearm count is 2. I take that to mean sysprep was not run previously, so I was surprised to find the 2012 log entries below. But maybe I'm misunderstanding, or the vm was cloned without sysprep, and\or initial startup logging writes to these files; I was surprised because I assumed the logs to be specific to sysprep.

"Product" appears 3 times in C:\Windows\Panther\UnattendGC\setupact.log :

2012-12-26 22:52:10, Info                         [msoobe.exe] Service sppsvc reports as running

2012-12-26 22:52:10, Info                         [msoobe.exe] Successfully created first boot reg key

2012-12-26 22:52:10, Info                         [msoobe.exe] Server, exiting...

2012-12-26 22:52:10, Info                         [msoobe.exe] Running mandatory tasks

2012-12-26 22:52:10, Info                         [msoobe.exe] Doing background work directly in MandatoryTasks; eType=1

2012-12-26 22:52:12, Info                         [msoobe.exe] Successfully installed product key

2012-12-26 22:52:12, Info                         [msoobe.exe] Starting service netprofm

2012-12-26 22:52:14, Info                         [msoobe.exe] Service netprofm reports as running

2013-02-01 15:47:58, Info                         [Shell Unattend] Starting service sppsvc

2013-02-01 15:47:59, Info                         [Shell Unattend] Service sppsvc reports as running

2013-02-01 15:48:08, Info                         [Shell Unattend] ProductKey set

2013-02-01 15:48:08, Info                         [Shell Unattend] Exiting 'specialize' pass with status 0x001f1000

2013-02-01 15:48:08, Info                         [DJOIN.EXE] Unattended Join: Begin

2013-02-01 15:48:08, Info                         [DJOIN.EXE] Unattended Join: Loading input parameters...

2013-02-01 15:49:10, Info                         [oobeldr.exe] Flushing registry to disk...

2013-02-01 15:49:10, Info                         [oobeldr.exe] Flush took 328 ms.

2013-02-01 15:49:10, Info                         [oobeldr.exe] Successfully completed RunSMIPass for oobeSystem.

2013-02-01 15:49:10, Info                         [oobeldr.exe] No reboot has been requested for oobeSystem unattend.

2013-02-01 15:49:10, Info                         [oobeldr.exe] Successfully ran oobeSystem pass.

2013-02-01 15:49:10, Info                         [oobeldr.exe] Launching [C:\Windows\system32\oobe\msoobe.exe]...

2013-02-01 15:49:10, Info                         [msoobe.exe] Starting service sppsvc

2013-02-01 15:49:11, Info                         [msoobe.exe] Service sppsvc reports as running

2013-02-01 15:49:11, Info                         [msoobe.exe] Successfully created first boot reg key

2013-02-01 15:49:11, Info                         [msoobe.exe] Found SkipMachineOOBE value

2013-02-01 15:49:11, Info                         [msoobe.exe] Running mandatory tasks

2013-02-01 15:49:11, Info                         [msoobe.exe] Doing background work directly in MandatoryTasks; eType=1

2013-02-01 15:49:13, Error                        [msoobe.exe] Failed to install product key [hr=0xC004F050]

2013-02-01 15:49:13, Info                         [msoobe.exe] Starting service netprofm

2013-02-01 15:49:15, Info                         [msoobe.exe] Service netprofm reports as running

2013-02-01 15:49:15, Info                         [msoobe.exe] Successfully signalled event to start up services

"Product" appears in two places in C:\Windows\Panther\setupact.log :

2013-02-01 15:46:51, Info                  PANTHR InitializeModule: Initializing ExecQueue->csLock;

2013-02-01 15:46:51, Info       [0x0601a4] IBS    LoadWorkerModules:Successfully added worker module CopyPrivates in winsetup.dll

2013-02-01 15:46:51, Info                  PANTHR InitializeModule: Initializing ExecQueue->csLock;

2013-02-01 15:46:51, Info       [0x0601a4] IBS    LoadWorkerModules:Successfully added worker module ProductKey in winsetup.dll

2013-02-01 15:46:51, Info                  PANTHR InitializeModule: Initializing ExecQueue->csLock;

2013-02-01 15:46:51, Info       [0x0601a4] IBS    LoadWorkerModules:Successfully added worker module ComputerName in winsetup.dll

2013-02-01 15:46:51, Info                  PANTHR InitializeModule: Initializing ExecQueue->csLock;

2013-02-01 15:47:57, Info       [0x0600c0] IBS    Callback_Unattend_InitEngine:Successfully deserialized and validated unattend file [C:\Windows\Panther\unattend.xml].

2013-02-01 15:47:57, Info       [0x0604d4] IBS    Callback_ConfigSetProcessUnattend: UseConfigurationSet is false.

2013-02-01 15:47:57, Info                  DIAG   Callback_Diagnostic_Unattend: Setup was started from Phase 4. Disabling Diagnostics [ ProcessUnattend ] in this scenario

2013-02-01 15:47:57, Info       [0x064047] IBSLIB MarkUnattendSettingAsProcessed: Marking unattend setting [ProductKey\ProductKey] as processed.

2013-02-01 15:47:57, Info       [0x064047] IBSLIB MarkUnattendSettingAsProcessed: Marking unattend setting [UserData\ComputerName] as processed.

2013-02-01 15:47:57, Info       [0x064047] IBSLIB MarkUnattendSettingAsProcessed: Marking unattend setting [SetupUI\SkipEula] as processed.

[np123]

Apparently 0xC004F050 means "The Software Protection Service reported that the product key is invalid": http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff793399.aspx

Odd then that the Automatic Activation succeeds.

[LucD]

There might be an error in the unattend.xml that is created.

With the Shift-F10 trick you could copy the unattend.xml to a share.

Then with the SIM tool you could check the unattend.xml file to see if all options are valid.

[np123]

Thanks Luc. Sounds like the SIM tool is part of WAIK. We're not using WAIK, but I'll report back if I ever get around to setting that up.