What must be done to allow customization of Windows virtual machines that are deployed from templates?
A.
The location of the sysprep.exe must be specified in config.ini.
B.
Nothing needs to be done as the VirtualCenter installer automatically locates and installs Sysprep components.
C.
Sysprep must be downloaded from Microsoft and installed on the VirtualCenter server.
D.
A sysprep.inf file must be created in a text editor and imported using the customization wizard.
Explanation:
VMware VirtualCenter 1.0 Support DocumentationInstall the required components on the Windows machine where the VirtualCenter management server is installed.
If you plan to customize a Windows guest operating system, you must first install the Microsoft Sysprep tools, (C).
Guest Operating System Customization Requirements
To customize the guest operating system, you must configure the virtual machine and guest to meet VMware Tools and virtual disk requirements. Other requirements apply, depending on the guest operating system type.
VMware Tools Requirements
The current version of VMware Tools must be installed on the virtual machine or template to customize the guest operating system during cloning or deployment.
Virtual Disk Requirements
The guest operating system being customized must be installed on a disk attached as SCSI node 0:0 in the virtual machine configuration.
Windows Requirements
Customization of Windows guest operating systems requires the following conditions:
■
Microsoft Sysprep tools must be installed on the vCenter Server system. See Installing the Microsoft Sysprep Tool.
■
The ESXi host that the virtual machine is running on must be 3.5 or later.
Guest operating system customization is supported on multiple Windows operating systems.
Linux Requirements
Customization of Linux guest operating systems requires that Perl is installed in the Linux guest operating system.
Guest operating system customization is supported on multiple Linux distributions.
Verifying Customization Support for a Guest Operating System
To verify customization support for Windows operating systems or Linux distributions and compatible ESXi hosts, see the VMware Compatibility Guide at VMware.com. You can use this online tool to search for the guest operating system and ESXi version. After the tool generates your list, click the guest operating system to see whether guest customization is supported.
Installing the Microsoft Sysprep Tool
You install the Microsoft Sysprep tool so that you can customize Windows guest operating systems.
Using the Sysprep tool is useful when you clone virtual machines. The guest operating system customization feature in vCenter Server uses the functions of the Sysprep tool. Verify that your vCenter Server system meets the following requirements before you customize your virtual machine’s Windows guest operating systems:
■
Install the Microsoft Sysprep tool. Microsoft includes the system tool set on the installation CD-ROM discs for Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows 2003. The Sysprep tool is built in to the Windows Vista and Windows 2008 operating systems.
■
The correct versions of the Sysprep is installed for each guest operating system you want to customize.
■
The password for the local administrator account on the virtual machines is set to blank (“”).
Note
Customization operations will fail if the correct version of the Sysprep tool is not found.
Customizing Guest Operating Systems
When you clone a virtual machine or deploy a virtual machine from a template, you can customize the guest operating system of the virtual machine to change properties such as the computer name, network settings, and license settings.
Customizing guest operating systems can help prevent conflicts that can result if virtual machines with identical settings are deployed, such as conflicts due to duplicate computer names.
You can specify the customization settings by choosing to launch the Guest Customization wizard during the cloning or deployment process. Alternatively, you can create customization specifications, which are customization settings stored in the vCenter Server database. During the cloning or deployment process, you can select a customization specification to apply to the new virtual machine.
Use the Customization Specification Manager to manage customization specifications you create with the Guest Customization wizard.