Locations of sysprep log files

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi
• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

This article provides the locations for sysprep log files.
 

For information on using sysprep, see Customizing Guest Operating Systems.

Note: This information may be useful when sysprep fails. Causes and troubleshooting steps are out of the scope of this article.

Environment

VMware vSphere 8.x
VMware vSphere 7.x

Resolution

First, start by looking at two sysprep files:

• setupact.log and

• setuperr.log

Check these locations for Windows Vista, Windows 7/8/10, Windows Server 2008/2008 R2/2012 /2016 /2019/2022/2025:

• C:\Windows\Panther

• C:\Windows\Panther\UnattendGC

• C:\Windows\System32\sysprep\Panther

For Windows XP/2003, check these files:

• C:\Windows\setupapi.log

• C:\Windows\setupact.log

• C:\Windows\setuperr.log

• C:\Windows\Debug\netsetup.log

 

If there are errors, especially in the setuperr.log file, there may be more information in Broadcom Knowledge Base or Microsoft Knowledge Base.

For more information, see the Microsoft TechNet article Windows Setup Log Files.

Additional Information