Sysprep fails on a deployed virtual machine running Windows Guest OS

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

• Customization of Windows virtual machine fails.
• Sysprep setuperr log shows error below:
  

  C:\Windows\System32\Sysprep\Panther\setuperr.log in Windows Guest OS.

  YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS, Error                 SYSPRP MRTGeneralize:98 - ERROR: Failed ConnectServer
  YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS, Error                 SYSPRP Failed while deleting repository files under 'C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\AppRepository': 0x80070020.[gle=0x00000012]
  YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS, Error                 SYSPRP Failed to clean the package repository database: 0x80070020.
  YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS, Error                 SYSPRP ActionPlatform::LaunchModule: Failure occurred while executing 'SysprepGeneralize' from C:\Windows\System32\AppxSysprep.dll; dwRet = 0x20
  YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS, Error                 SYSPRP SysprepSession::ExecuteAction: Failed during sysprepModule operation; dwRet = 0x20
  YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS, Error                 SYSPRP SysprepSession::ExecuteInternal: Error in executing action for Microsoft-Windows-AppX-Sysprep; dwRet = 0x20
  YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS, Error                 SYSPRP SysprepSession::Execute: Error in executing actions from C:\Windows\System32\Sysprep\ActionFiles\Generalize.xml; dwRet = 0x20
  YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS, Error                 SYSPRP RunPlatformActions:Failed while executing Sysprep session actions; dwRet = 0x20
  YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS, Error      [0x0f0070] SYSPRP RunDlls:An error occurred while running registry sysprep DLLs, halting sysprep execution. dwRet = 0x20
  YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS, Error      [0x0f00a8] SYSPRP WinMain:Hit failure while processing sysprep generalize internal providers; hr = 0x80070020

  
  
  

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 8.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 8.x

Cause

Virtual machine customization invokes the Windows sysprep process. This issue needs to be investigated in collaboration with Microsoft.

Resolution

Involve Microsoft to check sysprep issue.