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mats82
Contributor
Contributor

Sysprep loop on VM Template

Hi All,

I have managed to break my XP Service Pack 2 VM Template by getting the sysprep procedure looping on it.

Everytime i convert my template to a VM to modify i can see that as it's booting it tries running the customization but then fails somehow and i just log in as normal. Now of course when i convert it back to a template and try to deploy a VM from it the sysprep customization assigned in the deployment doesn't work. I'm guessing this is because the template image itself already has sysprep trying to run everytime it start up!

Does anyone know how i can stop the failing sysprep from running on my original template?? There is no c:/sysprep folder on the root of the C drive.

All hosts are ESX 3.5 up3

VC is 2.5 up3

Thanks in advance

Mats

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mats82
Contributor
Contributor

anyone ?:|

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mfair
Contributor
Contributor

I had a similar issue a few months back. In my case it turned out to be one of the services for Trend Micro AV that was on the template. I disabled the "OfficeScan NT Firewall Service' on the template and that solved the issue. Not sure how/why the Trend firewall service was blocking the customization but it was. Hope that helps.

Mike

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Troy_Clavell
Immortal
Immortal

do not sysprep your VM's before converting them to template. Once you are done with your "gold" image, simply shut it down, power it off and then convert it to template.

Assuming you have all the correct sysprep files on your vCenter Server, just deploy off template and "Customize using the Customization Wizard" and save that config. You can then deploy like VM's off the newly created customization specs.

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mats82
Contributor
Contributor

Ok thanks for the info, i do have Sophos AV installed on the image so will try disabling it and see if i have any luck!

I realise that the image should not be syspreped, however after modifying the template with security updates etc i somehow managed to get sysprep stuck in a loop on it. Next time i will clone and then update incase i run into problems like this.

Now the question is how to get the sysprep to run properly!?

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Troy_Clavell
Immortal
Immortal

however after modifying the template with security updates etc i somehow managed to get sysprep stuck in a loop on it.

I don't understand that statement. the VMware Customization process is looping when you deploy a new VM?

All sysprep files need to go to C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter\sysprep including the 1.1 files

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RParker
Immortal
Immortal

anyone

some of the templates are finicky, and what I do is ensure that ALL restore points are removed. You can do this with converter. So you can convert it to VM, clone it, then use converter to remove the restore points, check disk (to ensure clean disk health) and defrag it, and remve the temp folder contents. Then reboot.

As Troy says you don't need to run sysprep before you convert it to template, you can... but if you don't let sysprep finish it completely, then you leave it in a weird state, which is probably is what is happening.

So reboot it 2 or 3 times just to make sure everything is out of there, convert the clone to template and try it out now.

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mats82
Contributor
Contributor

the image of the template tries to run the vmware customization everytime it boots. It sits at the blue screen for a few seconds trying to start/run the customization and then skips it and goes to the logon screen. I hope this makes sense, otherwise i can screenshot it....

I've converted the template to a VM and rebooted it many times but the customization screen still appears but then doesn't run, and therefore keeps showing up everytime i reboot! :smileyangry:

I tries removing the AV aswell but that didn't help.

Do you think i should try a V2V and cleat the restore points and see if that helps?

Many Thanks

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mats82
Contributor
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this is the screen that appears for a few seconds but then fails to run, therefore the customization doesn't work and i need to do it manually. This image then appears everytime i reboot.

Need to get rid of it somehow if possible?

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mthammer1
Contributor
Contributor

New here... Hope my post finds you all in a peaceful state of quiet IT smilingfulness and repose, with your Mountain Dew at your side, and Doritos in your mouths....

Virtual equipment and backstory: One XP Pro SP3 VM with 10GB HDD and 1GB RAM, all updates to 4/15/09-ish, and various applications and other bits. Trying to clone as a WORKGROUP machine to a WORKGROUP machine, though not as a template. Password set on the original VM and echoed in the customization process. Typical other settings, and generating new SID.

Had the same maddening reboot cycle after trying to customize during the cloning process. The clone would take root, permit a single login, then go into an endless loop of restarts. I spent quite some time Googling the problem and found several references requiring consistent versions of sysprep files on the installation ISO and the VMWare server. That all matched nicely, so it wasn't to be my answer.

I tried doing some troubleshooting and discovery on the VM itself by assigning an UBCD ISO image to its boot-up routine. This got me in the door to look into the sysprep files, .INI, etc. I was unable to find anything of value there.

Returning to Google, I found the 201388 thread here. Running with the Sophos idea, I went back into my original VM and disabled the Microsoft Forefront services..

1. Microsoft Forefront Client Security Antimalware Service
2. Microsoft Forefront Client Security State Assessment Service.

That cleared the problem up. I only needed to turn the services back on. (If you don't, you will receive mutterings from the Forefront process - "Application failed to initialize: 0x800106ba....") I did not take the time to hunt for the remaining component raising the complaint. (No extra credit today.)

Smiles. :smileycool:

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ccostan
Contributor
Contributor

We have also found a disabled Telephony Service on an XP image (SP3) created a sysprep Loop. Once Enabled, Sysprep continues along it's merry way.

CARLO.

Carlo Costanzo | http://www.VMwareInfo.com | @ccostan
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kcarlile
Contributor
Contributor

Carlo, you rock. Thank you for that tip. You've saved part of my sanity today!

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UnityGuy
Contributor
Contributor

Since this post is a couple years old I wanted to note that even with vCenter 5 cloning Windows XP sp3 machines with the Telephony service disabled will cause an endless cycle of customization rebooting. This post saved my sanity, since I had disabled the service at the recommendation of the VMWare View 5 golden master optimizations. I should be clear, disabling Telephony does NOT cause customization issues when creating linked clones, only standard clones.

Cheers

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