Windows Administrator password in template is reset when deployed with static ip in Aria Automation

Products

• VMware Aria Suite

Issue/Introduction

A Windows template has a password set for the Administrator account. When the machine gets deployed with static ip via Aria Automation a customization specification is implicitly created to set the static ip on the deployed machine.

The customization spec used doesn't have a password set for Administrator. As a result the machine is deployed without a password set for the Administrator.

 

Environment

VMware vRealize Automation 8.x
VMware Aria Automation 8.x

Resolution

Either cloud-init or a vCenter customization spec with the admin password explicitly set can be used to set the desired password.

cloud-init example:

remoteAccess:
authentication: usernamePassword
username: Administrator
password: Password1234@$

For more information on cloud-init see Blogpost