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Creating a VM from a template on an ESX host fails with error 2947 in System Center 2012 Virtual Machine Manager SP1

Symptoms

When trying to create a new virtual machine from the VM template with Windows Server 2003 x86 as a guest OS on a VMware ESX 5 host using System Center 2012 Virtual Machine Manager SP1, the job fails with the following:

Error (2947)
Virtual Machine Manager cannot complete the VirtualCenter action on the server <vCenterName> because of the following error: Cannot complete customization.
Unknown error (0x194)

Recommended Action
Resolve the issue and then try the operation again.

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Cause

This issue happens when the Windows Server 2003 x86 Sysprep binaries are not found on the VMware vCenter 5 server under the following vCenter server folder:

C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter\Sysprep\svr2003 

This issue might also happen with other Windows versions for which vCenter server does not have the Sysprep binaries. 

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Resolution

To resolve this issue, the Windows Server 2003 x86 Sysprep binaries need to be downloaded, extracted and placed inside the following folder:

C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter\Sysprep\svr2003 

For the detailed steps on how to download, extract, and place Windows binaries on the vCenter 5 server please follow the instructions in the following VMware KB article:

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1005593

Each version of the Windows OS needs to be placed in a different folder under C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter\Sysprep.

For example, Windows Server 2003 x64 binaries need to be placed under the following folder on the vCenter 5 server:

C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter\Sysprep\svr2003-64

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Keywords: kb

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Article Info
Article ID : 2798507
Revision : 1
Created on : 1/7/2017
Published on : 1/15/2013
Exists online : False
Views : 69