Sysprep and VHD woes

[beatle]

I'm running 2008 w/HyperV and I'm trying to Sysprep a 2003 R2 VM to be used as a base for other OS installs. I make an answer file and then run Sysprep on the base build, reseal, and shut down the VM. I then make a copy of the VHD and create a new VM with it. When it boots up it doesn't go into the mini setup, it goes right into Windows as if I didn't sysprep the box at all. However, when I restart the base 2003 VM that I ran Sysprep on, it starts mini setup as I expect it to. What am I missing here so that my copy of the VHD works the same as the original?

 

[RebateMonger]

Maybe this?

 

[beatle]

Those are the exact steps I'm taking to sysprep the box, even down to removing the drive from the base VM and making it read only before making a copy of it. When I start the VM with the copy of the VHD, it is not sysprepped and it goes directly into Windows to the ctrl+alt+del screen.

 

[beatle]

Here's another weird thing. Even if I try creating a new VM and pointing it to the VHD I just sysprepped (not making a copy) it comes up into Windows as if Sysprep never ran. These two VMs are configured identically in HyperV manager: same hardware, same VHD, same network, etc. The only difference is the name. If I change the name of the sysprepped VM, nothing changes. It still behaves properly (goes into mini-setup) but any other VM that uses that VHD is different.

 

[TheKub]

Use VMWare 😉

 

[beatle]

Long story short, it had to do with the existence of a snapshot on my reference machine. I ended up hosing the box entirely and rebuilt it, but didn't take a snapshot prior to sysprep. It now works fine. 🙂

See this URL for more info on snapshots.

 

[RebateMonger]

Thanks for following up with the solution.