HCX Guest Customization is Not Applied to the Target VM when only the Host Name is Configured

Products

• VMware HCX

Issue/Introduction

HCX Guest customization is not applied to the target VM when only the Host Name is configured and there is no change in Personalization Script or network customization

1. Create an HCX Migration (mobility) group with Bulk migration

2. Configure Host Name (and Domain Name for a Linux VM) only under “Edit Extended Options” for the VM being migrated

3. After migration, the Host Name is not updated on the target VM

4. The HCX Manager /common/logs/admin/app.log will show that that guest customization is being skipped

 

/common/logs/admin/app.1.log.gz:2026-01-15T18:08:34.053Z INFO hcx-app-engine 2895 [hcx@4413 logger="c.v.h.s.r.jobs.InstantiateVmJob" thread="ReplicationTransferService_SvcThread-9750" ent="Ent: DEFAULT" user="" txid="TxId:########-####-####-####-########02d6"] Switchover ########-####-####-####-########fefd running in state GUEST_CUSTOMIZATION

/common/logs/admin/app.1.log.gz:2026-01-15T18:08:34.058Z INFO hcx-app-engine 2895 [hcx@4413 logger="c.v.h.s.r.jobs.InstantiateVmJob" thread="ReplicationTransferService_SvcThread-9750" ent="Ent: DEFAULT" user="" txid="TxId: ########-####-####-####-########02d6"] Not a valid guest customization, skipping for switchover ########-####-####-####-########fefd

/common/logs/admin/app.1.log.gz:2026-01-15T18:08:35.065Z INFO hcx-app-engine 2895 [hcx@4413 logger="c.v.h.s.r.jobs.InstantiateVmJob" thread="ReplicationTransferService_SvcThread-9709" ent="Ent: DEFAULT" user="" txid="TxId:########-####-####-####-########02d6"] Switchover ########-####-####-####-########fefd running in state POWER_ON

/common/logs/admin/app.1.log.gz:2026-01-15T18:08:40.154Z INFO hcx-app-engine 2895 [hcx@4413 logger="c.v.h.s.r.jobs.InstantiateVmJob" thread="ReplicationTransferService_SvcThread-9713" ent="Ent: DEFAULT" user="" txid="TxId:########-####-####-####-########02d6"] Switchover ########-####-####-####-########fefd running in state COMPLETE_VM_INSTANTIATION

Cause

Guest customization requires one of the following to be present apart from Host Name in order for the customization to take effect:

1. Personalization Script

2. Network Customization settings

3. Generate a new Security Identifier (SID) (in the case of a Windows VM)

Resolution

In order for the customization to take effect, be sure one of the following is present (apart from Host Name):

1. Personalization Script
2. Network Customization settings
3. Generate a new Security Identifier (SID) (in the case of a Windows VM)