Virtual machines repeatedly display the message: VMware Image Customization in progress

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• While starting, virtual machines repeatedly display the message:
  
  VMware Image Customization in progress
  
   
• When a Windows guest template is deployed with customization, the resulting virtual machine executes the VMware Image Customization Initialization on first boot up and Sysprep is run within the Windows operating system. In some cases, the VMware Image Customization message displays continuously when the virtual machine is restarted or booted even when no customization takes place.
• a virtual machine that was not booting up so we couldn't log into registry. The virtual machine was displaying the error:

            Windows could not complete the installation. To install Windows on this computer, restart the installation.
 

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 6.7.x
VMware vCenter Server 6.0.x
VMware vCenter Server 6.5.x

Cause

If a virtual machine template is created with an incorrect operating system type, future virtual machine deployments that include customization options may fail to deploy sysprep, causing the VMware image customization message to display each time the deployed virtual machine is started or if there is an interruption in the sysprep process that may result in a broken customization routine, causing sysprep to repeatedly attempt to run at boot up.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, remove the pending sysprep customization routine.

Take a snapshot prior to making changes.
 

To remove the pending sysprep customization routine, you must edit the Windows operating system registry:

1. Boot the affected Windows virtual machine and log in as an administrator account.
2. Click Start > Run, type regedit, and click OK. The Registry Editor window opens.
3. Change the BootExecute key value.
   1. For Windows 2003, Windows XP, Windows Vista, and other older Windows operating systems, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\.
      
      For Windows 2008 R2, Windows 2012, Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 search regedit for Session Manager. The key BootExecute may be found in these locations:
      • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\
      • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Session Manager\
      • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet002\Control\Session Manager\
      • Other similar locations depending on the configuration of that particular Windows OS
   2. Change the BootExecute key value from:
      
      autocheck autochk * sysprepDecryptor.exe
      
      to:
      
      autocheck autochk *

4. Reboot the operating system.

• Press the SHIFT+F10 key to bring up the Command Prompt.
• Type the following command: cd C:\windows\system32\oobe
• Type the following command:  msoobe
• Make a generic account and password. select Finish
• Note: If you are prompted for a product key and you have one, enter it now. If this is an OEM or no Product Key is required, just select Finish.
• Set the time/date.
• Select Finish.
• Restart the virtual machine

Additional Information