Trying to use -OSCustomizationSpec getting error: "A specified parameter was not correct: hostname"

[COS]

Below is the commandline I use to deploy a VM from a template...

New-VM -Name 'TestDeploy' -Template 'win2016x64' -Datastore 'superdoooperfast_ssd' -DiskStorageFormat Thin -Location (Get-Cluster -Name 'yomama' | Get-Datacenter | Get-Folder -Name 'Discovered virtual machine') -ResourcePool 'yomama'

That above works great. Now I need it to use a customization called 'win2016x64'.....

New-VM -Name 'TestDeploy' -Template 'win2016x64' -Datastore 'superdoooperfast_ssd' -DiskStorageFormat Thin -Location (Get-Cluster -Name 'yomama' | Get-Datacenter | Get-Folder -Name 'Discovered virtual machine') -ResourcePool 'yomama' -OSCustomizationSpec 'win2016x64'

This runs and the VM does deploy BUT! I get the error message below....

New-VM : 11/16/2018 9:13:57 AM New-VM          The operation for the entity "win2016x64" failed with the following message:

"A specified parameter was not correct: hostname"

The cluster called "yomama" that it is deploying to has DRS on if that means anything...….lol

Any ideas? Remember, I'm still a noooob at this.  (◔/‿\◔)

[LucD]

I suspect the issue might be with your OSCustomizationSpec.
Can you check what is in there with

Get-OSCustomizationSpec -Name win2016x64 | Select *

[COS]

Here you go.

NOTE: Certain values were changed to protect the innocent...…..lol

Name                  : win2016x64

Type                  : Persistent

ServerId              : /VIServer=domainname\username@vc01.domainname.net:443/

Server                : vc01.domainname.net

LastUpdate            : 12/4/2017 9:42:19 AM

DomainAdminUsername   :

DomainUsername        :

Description           : GUI option, Datacenter license.  Power: high performance

AutoLogonCount        : 2

ChangeSid             : True

DeleteAccounts        : False

DnsServer             :

DnsSuffix             : {dns1.domainname.net, dns2.domainname.net}

Domain                :

FullName              : TECHNOLOGY

GuiRunOnce            : {reg delete HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate /v AccountDomainSid /f, reg delete HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate /v PingID /f, reg delete

                        HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate /v SusClientId /f, net stop wuauserv...}

NamingPrefix          :

NamingScheme          :

OrgName               : Department Of Always No Funding

OSType                : Windows

ProductKey            : xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx

TimeZone              : Pacific

Workgroup             : WORKGROUP

LicenseMode           : PerSeat

LicenseMaxConnections :

EncryptionKey         : {48, -126, 3, -30...}

ExtensionData         : VMware.Vim.CustomizationSpecItem

Id                    : win2016x64

Uid                   : /VIServer=domainname\username@vc01.domainname.net:443/OSCustomizationSpec=win2016x64/

Client                : VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Impl.V1.VimClient

AdminPassword         : <SOME_CRAZY_LONG_HASHED_VALUE>

DomainAdminPassword   :

DomainPassword        :

[LucD · Accepted solution]

Looks like the NamingScheme is not filled in.

Can you try setting it to take the name of the VM as the hostname with

Get-OSCustomizationSpec -Name win2016x64 | Set-OSCustomizationSpec -NamingScheme vm

When done, check the setting again (you should notice that the NamingScheme property has changed).

And then try the New-VM again.

[COS]

OK, ran it.

the line below went from this...

NamingScheme          :

To this...

NamingScheme          : Vm

And the commandline finished with the below results...

Name                 PowerState Num CPUs MemoryGB

----                 ---------- -------- --------

yomama               PoweredOff 1        3.000

Thanks again dude!!!