VMware View 4.6 deployment Windows 7 SP1 does not go well

[noobuser]

Hi All,

Currently I have a Proof of Concept with VMware View 4.6 and Windows 7 at a customer.

Current PoC environment:

VMware View 4.6
vCenter Server 4.1 u1
VMware Transfer Server
VMware Composer VMware
VMware Update Manager
1 Datacenter
1 Cluster
1 Host
Local storage

Service Accounts:

- composer account has rights to create computers in COMPUTER and in an OU "VDI" where i can create and delete virtual machines.

Operating Systems:

- Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 x64 English

- Windows 7 Ent. SP1 x64 English

Client template contains:

- Windows 7 Ent. SP1 x64 English
- KMS Activated

- VMware Tools (Complete install)

- VMware View Agent x64

- Full Windows updates (no .net framwork)

- ipconfig /release

- local admin account enabled and password is set

Guest cust,:

- No license information set, is done by KMS server.

- local admin Account entered, 2x times logon

- Network settings, typical.

- Add to domain, entered FQDN for the domainname, user credentials domain\username + password.

- Generate New Sid

Here is the situatie:

1 I create a dedicated pool with full virtal machines. VM's are deployed, i see this happening in vCenter Server. Sysprep is running. Eventually after the virtual machine is fully created, it looks like a copy of the template. Meaning it has the same name and it does not change the name, that I have chosen in VMware View.

2 I create a floating pool with full virtual machines. Exactly the same behavior as described above.

3 I create a floating pool with linked clones. Here i use quick prep. And this one is running like it should be. Rename the virtual machines, add them to the domain. If i remove them from View Manager, they are also deleted in AD. And again, provisioning is starting all over, and it runs like a charm.

For each pool I use the same image / snapshot

Things I have tried so fare:

- Guest Customization checked several times.

- Adjusted rights for the service accounts.

- Made already a computeraccount, before Pool 1 and 2 provisioned. Does not matter either.

- Everything rebooted.

- Checked logfiles, nothing special. View Manager does eventviewer does not say anything new.

- Status of the provisioned machines is "Available".

- Changed VMXNET3 to E1000, does not matter either.

- I deployed a virtual machine from template within vCenter server. I used the same guest cust. Odd thing here is, it also does not add the newly (manual) created virtual machine. (why not, account has enough right, I tested this)

- ipconfig /release in the template

- put the template in a workgroup

- created a fully new template

- removed and installed vmware view agent.

I am doing something wrong or missing a point. Can anybody help me out with some suggestions?

Thank you.

[SDO1]

tried dropping the guest customization and just using quick prep? the guest customization have been annoing for me in the past so im always going a looooong circle around that.

[noobuser]

Thnx for your reply.

Yep I did that several times.

Odd thing is, during the deployment from template I opened console, to see what is happening.

- VM start, I see the BIOS

- Windows 7 logo

- Windows logon screen :S

No sysprep running or. Why not?

I logged in, tried to run sysprep in the newly deployed virtual machine. Then I got an error: "A fatal error occured while trying to sysprep the machine". This occures within a few seconds, if I manually start syspter within the virtual machine.

[SDO1]

what happens in your template when you are starting that up ? can you start sysprep there? is it different snapshot you have been trying to deploy?

and why do you need sysprep tbh? unless you have some allpikations that needs a unique sid theres no reason for using it imo.

[apuckett]

What does the status of the VM say in the View administrator during this initial period?

It should go from "Provisioning" to "Customizing"

During the customization period, sysprep will take a few minutes to begin.  I have also seen what you described, startup straight to the login, and thought to myself that the sysprep didn't take place.  However, within 5 minutes, the VM will then begin customizing and you'll be able to see the Windows customization splash screen in the vCenter console view.

I would suggest letting the VMsit for 10-15 minutes before confirming that sysprep is not being executed.

- Arin Puckett

[mittim12]

I saw where you checked the logs but was unsure if you checked the guest customization logs on the virtual desktop.  These can be found under C:\windows\temp and may give some further insight.

As the other poster said sometimes the sysprep functionality can take awhile to complete.   I would let it sit for awhile and see what happens. 

[noobuser]

Hi all,

Thnx for all your replies. The solutions has been found and it was in the guest customization.

The FQDN for the domain was set correct global.contoso.com.

The user logon name was not correct: Netbios\username.

Currently the current username format is being used username@global.contoso.com

It seems to be running now.

Thanks for all replies.

[noobuser]

Thnx for all your replies. The solutions has been found and it was in the guest customization.

The FQDN for the domain was set correct global.contoso.com.

The user logon name was not correct: Netbios\username.

Currently the current username format is being used username@global.contoso.com

[SDO1]

ah 😉 .. that so typical

[kopper27]

for me this was the issue the licensing when using quickprep

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=102655...