John,
I've just spun up a Windows 2008 R2 Web Edition VM in my lab to test this for
you. The Template was sysprepped has an unattend answer file, cloudstack
password reset package etc.
My test rig is NOT enterprise grade hardware so I do not expect great
performance, however I can login to the instance within 6 mins (I would expect
this be only a few minutes on decent Kit, but it all depends on the Storage
IOPs). Furthermore, we make the VM auto activate on first boot so when the
user logs in, there are no activation messages, as well as run a number of post
boot scripts to clean up all the unattend settings.
I noted down the various boot messages and their times:
After approx 1 min simple text message "setup is updating registry"
Then Setup is starting services with glowing bar below
2 mins 30 "setup is applying system settings"
2 mins 45 "setup will continue after restarting your computer"
4 mins (after a reboot) "setup is preparing your computer for first use"
4 Mins 30 - Prompt to accepts terms (we can automate this but this templates
forces the user to accept) - windows is finalizing your settings
6 mins - logged in and fully activated
Looking at you unattend.xml it has a number of differences to mine, and
includes what I believe are invalid settings such as the locales etc. Mine are
set to en-GB with the exception of <UILanguage> which has to be set to en-US
(at least it did last time I researched this)
Here is a sample unattend.xml, try this to see if improves things and let me
know how you get on.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend">
<settings pass="oobeSystem">
<component name="Microsoft-Windows-International-Core"
processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35"
language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS"
xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State";
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance";>
<InputLocale>en-GB</InputLocale>
<SystemLocale>en-GB</SystemLocale>
<UILanguage>en-US</UILanguage>
<UILanguageFallback>en-US</UILanguageFallback>
<UserLocale>en-GB</UserLocale>
</component>
</settings>
<settings pass="windowsPE">
<component name="Microsoft-Windows-Setup" processorArchitecture="amd64"
publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS"
xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State";
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance";>
<UserData>
<ProductKey>
<WillShowUI>OnError</WillShowUI>
<Key>XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX</Key>
</ProductKey>
</UserData>
</component>
</settings>
<settings pass="generalize">
<component name="Microsoft-Windows-PnpSysprep"
processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35"
language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS"
xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State";
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance";>
<PersistAllDeviceInstalls>true</PersistAllDeviceInstalls>
</component>
</settings>
<cpi:offlineImage cpi:source="catalog:c:/software/microsoft/ms windows
server spla/wim/install_windows server 2008 r2 serverweb.clg"
xmlns:cpi="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:cpi" />
</unattend>
Regards
Geoff Higginbottom
D: +44 20 3603 0542 | S: +44 20 3603 0540 | M: +447968161581
[email protected]
-----Original Message-----
From: John Muckley [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: 10 July 2014 16:38
To: [email protected]
Subject: RE: Windows Template Question
I did indeed Sysprep it, yes.
I sysprep with /oobe /generalize /shutdown and /unattend
-----Original Message-----
From: Timothy Lothering [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: 10 July 2014 12:57
To: [email protected]
Subject: RE: Windows Template Question
Hi John,
Did you sysprep the VM template?
Kind Regards,
Timothy Lothering
-----Original Message-----
From: John Muckley [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: 10 July 2014 01:31 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Windows Template Question
Hello Chaps,
I have a question that nobody seems to be able to answer for me, so I thought
I’d try my luck with you guys.
When I first deployed our CloudStack and captured a windows template, the
resulting windows VMs would take about 2 minutes from being requested to being
deployed and up. The problem here was that windows prompted for a product key
prior to displaying the logon screen and wouldn’t allow logon (either local or
remote) until that was entered.
Naturally I applied an unattend.xml (pasted Below) to put the product key in
automatically which solved the problem and made everything work perfectly,
however my Windows VMs don’t deploy in 2 minutes anymore, they take 12 minutes…
most of which is a black screen with ‘Preparing your computer for first use’ on
it.
I realise that 12 minutes isn’t a bad time from request to being online and
ready, however It would be brilliant if I could get this back down to the
couple of minutes it was originally.
Any thoughts?
Thanks guys!!
UNATTEND.XML:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend">
<settings pass="windowsPE">
<component name="Microsoft-Windows-Setup" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35"
language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" processorArchitecture="amd64">
<UserData> <AcceptEula>true</AcceptEula> <FullName>DBXCloud</FullName>
<Organization>DBX</Organization>
<ProductKey>XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX</ProductKey>
</UserData>
</component>
</settings>
<settings pass="oobeSystem">
<component name="Microsoft-Windows-International-Core"
processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35"
language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS"
xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State";
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance";>
<InputLocale>en-UK</InputLocale>
<SystemLocale>en-UK</SystemLocale>
<UILanguage>en-UK</UILanguage>
<UserLocale>en-UK</UserLocale>
</component>
<component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="amd64"
publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS"
xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State";
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance";>
<OOBE>
<SkipMachineOOBE>true</SkipMachineOOBE>
<SkipUserOOBE>true</SkipUserOOBE>
<NetworkLocation>Work</NetworkLocation>
</OOBE>
</component>
</settings>
</unattend>
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