customization for Windows 7 or 2008 virtual machine with the error

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1026639


Shravan bhai handled issue:

customization for Windows 7 or 2008 virtual machine with the error: A fatal error occurred while trying to Sysprep the machine.

Symptoms

After configuring the Customization Specification option in vCenter Server and creating a Windows 7 or 2008 virtual machine using a template, the Sysprep does not initialize after the Control + Alt + Del screen appears on the virtual machine.
You are trying to clone an existing virtual machine and guest operating system customization does not start.


Resolution
This issue occurs if the Windows Software Licensing Rearm program has run more than three times in a single Windows Image. For more information, see the Microsoft Knowledge Base article 929828.

For example, if the Sysprep is run on Virtual Machine-1 for 3 times (for any reason) and then you convert that Virtual Machine-1 to a Template-1 and deploy a Virtual Machine-2 from that template. Sysprep fails to work on Virtual Machine-2 and if you try to initialize the Sysprep manually.

To resolve this issue, rebuild the template.




Attempts to customize a Windows virtual machine fail during the clone or deployment process
In vCenter Server, guest customization of a Windows 2008, Windows 2008 R2, or Windows 7 virtual machine fails with error: Windows Setup encountered an internal error while loading or searching for an unattended answer file
This issue occurs because the customization specification contains any of the following characters
&, <, >, ", or ' in the following fields:
Computer Name , Registered Owner Name, or Registered Organization Name field.
This issue is resolved in this release.

Few reference :

video reference : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNWo-WjxChw&feature=related

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2009315