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.