Customizing a Windows 7 32bit operating system fails with the error: Windows could not finish configuring the system

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• Guest operating system customization fails
• Unable to customize a Windows 7 32bit operating system
• Running customization scripts on a Windows 7 32bit machine fails
• You see the error:
  
  Windows could not finish configuring the system. To attempt to resume configuration, restart the computer

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 4.0.x
VMware vCenter Server 4.1.x

Resolution

This issue may occur if the virtual machine was part of a domain before converting to a template. In this case, you need to convert the template back to a virtual machine, unjoin domain, and then convert it to template again.

 

This issue may also occur if the original operating system contains a registry key that is larger than 8KB. To resolve this issue, you must apply a Microsoft hotfix on the original operating system.

 

Note: The hotfix for this issue is included in the Microsoft's Service Pack 1.

 

To check the Windows 7 Service Pack level:

1. To verify if Service Pack 1 is installed, click Start and click Computer. If installed, Service Pack is 1 listed under the Windows edition section at the top.
2. If Service Pack 1 is installed:
    
   1. Take a snapshot of the virtual machine.
      
      To take a snapshot, right-click the virtual machine and click Snapshot > Take Snapshot.
       
   2. Apply the Microsoft hotfix (only when you want to resolve this behavior).
3. If the hotfix does not resolve the issue, revert to the old snapshot.