Windows template customization fails at 93% with the error: Cannot complete customization

Products

VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

When deploying a Windows virtual machine from a template, you experience these symptoms:

Customization fails at 93%
Unable to create the virtual machine from the template
You see the error:

Cannot complete customization
In the vpxd.log file, you see entries similar to:

[<YYYY-MM-DD>T<time>.538 01516 error 'App' opID=0E1F073F-000016FE] [IMC] Caught CppUtils exception: ERR: FileIO=0
[<YYYY-MM-DD>T<time>.569 01516 info 'App' opID=0E1F073F-000016FE] [VmCustomizer] Successfully deleted file/directory \imc-8
[<YYYY-MM-DD>T<time>.569 01516 error 'App' opID=0E1F073F-000016FE] [VmCustomizer] Error occured while creating deploy package. Msg: ERR: FileIO=0
[<YYYY-MM-DD>T<time>.569 01516 error 'App' opID=0E1F073F-000016FE] [VmCustomizer] Error occured while deleting temporary directory <strange non-ASCII character>
[<YYYY-MM-DD>T<time>.569 01516 error 'App' opID=0E1F073F-000016FE] [clone] (WIN_2K3_STD_TEMP) Unexpected exception (vim.fault.CustomizationFault) during clone. Aborting.
[<YYYY-MM-DD>T<time>.569 01516 warning 'App' opID=0E1F073F-000016FE] [JrnlFilePersistenceProvider] Got EOF while reading file </time></time></time></time></time></time>

Cause

This issue occurs when the C:\WINDOWS\TEMP folder does not exist or does not have the appropriate permissions

Resolution

To resolve this issue:

Ensure that the C:\WINDOWS\TEMP folder exists on vCenter Server.
Verify that there is read/write access permission to the folder.

Additional Information

When the clone or conversion of a template is successful, you see entries similar to the following in the vpxd.log file on the vCenter server:

[<YYYY-MM-DD>T<time>.779 03284 info 'App' opID=E66EBD3E-00000061] [VmCustomizer] Sysprep options: -quiet -mini -reseal -reboot
[<YYYY-MM-DD>T<time>.779 03284 info 'App' opID=E66EBD3E-00000061] [VmCustomizer] Successfully created file C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\imc4BA.tmp
[<YYYY-MM-DD>T<time>.794 03284 info 'App' opID=E66EBD3E-00000061] [VmCustomizer] Successfully created directory C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\imc-2
[<YYYY-MM-DD>T<time>.716 03284 info 'App' opID=E66EBD3E-00000061] [IMC] Create sysprep file package. Params:
[<YYYY-MM-DD>T<time>.716 03284 info 'App' opID=E66EBD3E-00000061] [IMC] file = C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\imc4BA.tmp
[<YYYY-MM-DD>T<time>.716 03284 info 'App' opID=E66EBD3E-00000061] [IMC] binary dir = C:\Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure\VirtualCenter Server\imgcust
[<YYYY-MM-DD>T<time>.716 03284 info 'App' opID=E66EBD3E-00000061] [IMC] options = -quiet -mini -reseal -reboot
[<YYYY-MM-DD>T<time>.716 03284 info 'App' opID=E66EBD3E-00000061] [IMC] config = C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\imc-2
[<YYYY-MM-DD>T<time>.716 03284 info 'App' opID=E66EBD3E-00000061] [IMC] sysprep = C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter\sysprep\svr2003
[<YYYY-MM-DD>T<time>.716 03284 info 'App' opID=E66EBD3E-00000061] [IMC] tools =
[<YYYY-MM-DD>T<time>.716 03284 info 'App' opID=E66EBD3E-00000061] [IMC] native =
[<YYYY-MM-DD>T<time>.716 03284 info 'App' opID=E66EBD3E-00000061] [IMC] nativeArgs =
[<YYYY-MM-DD>T<time>.732 03284 info 'App' opID=E66EBD3E-00000061] [IMC] Successfully created file C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\imc4BB.tmp
[<YYYY-MM-DD>T<time>.076 03284 info 'App' opID=E66EBD3E-00000061] [IMC] Successfully deleted file/directory C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\imc4BB.tmp</time></time></time></time></time></time></time></time></time></time></time></time></time></time>