Virtual machine displays a blue screen after using VMware vCenter Converter

Products

• VMware
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:
After converting a machine using VMware vCenter Converter you may experience these symptoms:

• Virtual machine shows the login prompt, but after logging in you see a blue screen.
• Windows Explorer fails to launch.
• If you boot the virtual machine in safe mode, you experience the same issue.
• You are able to send the virtual machine Ctrl+Alt+Delete and launch Task Manager.
• The registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Shell shows the value:

C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\vmware_guestcust\loginblocker.exe

Environment

VMware vCenter Converter Standalone 5.1.x
VMware vCenter Converter Standalone 4.3.x
VMware vCenter Converter 4.1.x
VMware ESX 4.1.x
VMware vCenter Converter Standalone 5.5.x
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Installable
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Embedded
VMware vCenter Converter 4.2.x
VMware vCenter Converter Standalone 5.0.x

Cause

This issue occurs when the guest customization script does not properly update the registry key.

Resolution

To resolve this issue:

1. Open a console to the virtual machine.
2. Click VM > Guest > Send Ctrl+Alt+Del and start Task Manager.
3. On Task Manager, click File > New Task, type regedit and click OK.
4. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Shell the value should be explorer.exe
5. Reboot the virtual machine.