An0n0m0us

OK this is a strange one I can't work out.

I have a Windows 2008 R2 Enterprise vm I am using as a build template. So I have created the vm and the sysprep file and both of those are absolutely fine.

I then clone my vm so as to not lose my 'reference' vm and power up the cloned vm. I run sysprep against the xml file and the cloned vm shuts down and I then convert that to a template.

I now deploy vms from this template to build new servers. Now the issues I am finding when booting up the new vms are as follows:

1)The 2nd hard drive which was set to D drive is no longer initialised - it's present just not initialised

2)The cd rom drive had been set to Z: is now back as D:

3) The cursor can no longer leave the vm console window even though vmtools is installed and doesn't need updating - again was working fine before syspreping the clone/template

These changes only occur after sysprep has run on the cloned vm (the cloned vm before sysprep is identical as it should be to the reference vm so not a cloning issue).

So why is the sysprep'd clone which becomes the template losing the original settings of the D and Z drives and vmtools working correctly? It makes no sense to me!

The sysprep command I am running is as follows:

c:\windows\system32\sysprep\sysprep /generalize /oobe /shutdown /unattend:c:\windows\system32\sysprep\sysprep.xml

This command and sysprep file have been used on another build and worked 100% fine.

An0n0m0us

I took out the generalize switch and it works absolutely fine

Sysprep seems to be a law unto itself as the generalize switch shouldn't knacker vmtools apart from anything else.

An0n0m0us

That wasn't the answer as the generalize switch is needed for resetting the SID in the OS so back to the drawing board.