Applies to: Nerdio Private Cloud (NPC) and Nerdio For Azure (NFA) Professional and Enterprise customers
Consider the following tips when you are installing programs on a pool template or golden image, where sysprep is involved:
- Copy the installer to a local drive, such as C:\Temp
- Always run the installer as an administrator. For example, you can right click on the installer and choose "Run as administrator".
- If the installer is not an exe file, launch command prompt as administrator, change path to the location of the installer file and run the file from command prompt.
- Perform windows updates and allow significant time for the background processes to settle out and CPU to return to idle before proceeding. Rebooting and rechecking updates can confirm such.
- Log off properly when you are done and remember: Disconnecting is different from Logging off.
If you are receiving an error in the NAP related to Sysprep when provisioning a new VM from an image, creating a collection or cloning a VM:
Sysprep is failing to run on [ServerName]. This is always due to some change that was made on [ServerName] that's interfering with the Sysprep process. Here a few things to consider:
You should boot up [ServerName] and review it for anything that could be interfering with Sysprep using the list above as a guide. As per #4 above, You should apply ALL pending updates, reboot the VM, log into it and watch the task manager. Wait for the CPU to settle completely BEFORE logging off [ServerName]. Some Windows updates can take hours to fully apply. You'll see the tiworker.exe process using up some CPU while this happens. And be sure not to simply disconnect from your session, you need to be logged out fully before returning to NAP to "Power off and set as Image".
- Do NOT log into the golden image/pool template as multiple users. You should always use a single admin account that is used for administration. Having multiple accounts with different sets of Windows Store apps installed causes lots of issues for Sysprep.
- Do NOT manually run Sysprep on a template or Golden Image. Nerdio's automation process will handle this when shutting down a template or Golden Image.
- Are there any AV or RMM agents that may be interfering with sysprep installed on [ServerName]?
- Are there any firewalls installed or enabled on [ServerName] preventing Sysprep?
- Is there anything that gets installed automatically when the server boots up for the first time?
- Are there any pending updates on [ServerName] that needs to finish installing before using it as a template?
- Are there any login banners/disclaimers on the Golden Image/Template? These should be disabled and applied via GPO to VMs post provisioning. This can disrupt the interactive login needed for sysprep.
You should boot up [ServerName] and review it for anything that could be interfering with Sysprep using the list above as a guide. As per #4 above, You should apply ALL pending updates, reboot the VM, log into it and watch the task manager. Wait for the CPU to settle completely BEFORE logging off [ServerName]. Some Windows updates can take hours to fully apply. You'll see the tiworker.exe process using up some CPU while this happens. And be sure not to simply disconnect from your session, you need to be logged out fully before returning to NAP to "Power off and set as Image".
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