Virtualization, Cloud, Infrastructure and all that stuff in-between
My ramblings on the stuff that holds it all together
Cannot Logon to vCD guest with Auto-generated Password
Posted by on December 20, 2010
vCD by default will customize Windows 200x guests using Sysprep (see administrators guide, page 12 for how to create the sysprep packages) to generate a new SID, password, etc.
One problem I have noticed is that the auto-generated password often includes the hash/pound character.
When the sysprep process is executed during VM boot the regional settings are reset to US and any regional customization’s you’ve made in the guest are overridden.
If, like me you live in the UK (and I would assume the rest of the world) our keyboards are slightly different from US ones;
On US keyboards the # (pound/hash) key is above the number 3, on UK keyboards this space is reserved for the £ (GBP) currency character.
When you try and logon for the 1st time using the auto-generated password sometimes you won’t be able to enter the correct password and logon. this is because the auto-generated password sometimes includes a hash symbol “#” because the sysprep’d guest now VM has a US keyboard set you need to press shift-3 (£) where it wants a # symbol.
For now, within the vCD guest customization options (below) there are no options to set the regional settings for a VM in the catalog at customization time.
The work-around is to remember this # key issue when you logon to the VM 1st time, and if appropriate manually set the guest VM regional settings to what you require, or (less fun) re-map your client workstation to use a US keyboard.
Virtualization, Cloud, Infrastructure and all that stuff in-between 