Windows fails during Aria Automation deployments and auto login 'administrator password' for Windows Server 2019/2022/2025

Products

• VCF Operations/Automation (formerly VMware Aria Suite)

Issue/Introduction

When deploying Windows Server 2019, 2022, or 2025 via VMware Aria Automation, the  process may fail to complete. This issue often results in the following symptoms:

• The customization specification fails, leaving Sysprep folders (Panther) remaining on the OS.

• The local Administrator password is reset to blank or an unknown value, often triggering an unexpected auto-logon.

• Post-provisioning VMware Aria Orchestrator (vRO) workflows fail 

Environment

VMware Aria Automation 8.18.1

Cause

The failure is typically caused by a race condition or conflict between initialization methods that blocks OS specialization phase reboots before attempting to connect to the VM.

 

 

 

Resolution

To ensure consistent customization and successful post-build workflow execution, perform the following steps:

1. Explicitly Define the Administrator Password: Pass the administrator password in the Cloud Template YAML using Aria Automation Secrets. This prevents the blank-password auto-logon loop.

   YAML

    

   resources:
     Cloud_vSphere_Machine_1:
       type: Cloud.vSphere.Machine
       properties:
         image: Windows2022
         flavor: medium
         remoteAccess:
           authentication: usernamePassword
           username: Administrator
           password: ${secret.windows_admin_password}

Additional Information

Please see documentation on Adding a secret property to a cloud template