Create VM in ESX 3.0

I have trouble deploying VM from from templates with customization option. I have talked to VM support, and they suggest to run all the updates first. However, it is not a consideration at this time because of the VLAN project. The workaround

1. First step is the same "Deploy VM from this template"

2. Complete all the necessary steps and choose "Do not Customize" for guest customization

3. Once VM created, start VM

4. Login to the Windows 2003 Server, download the sysprep tools "http://www.petri.co.il/download_windows_2003_sp1_sysprep.htm"

5. Unzip the sysprep tool. You will find several files including setupmgr (edit existing sysprep.inf such as computer name...to suit the settings of the VM). In case you have not created sysprep.inf, run setupmgr.

6. Copy the sysprep.inf and all the unzip files in the sysprep tool to the VM "C:\sysprep\"

7. Edit sysprep.inf. Make sure “ExtendOemPartition=1” (it will extend the partition to all the available space)

8. Then run sysprep.

9. Power down VM.

10. Now, modify the size of VM (sorry, you can only increase after version 3.0). Login to ESX server through console.

11. Run “vmkfstools –X 12G /vmfs/volumes/VMName/vmname.vmdk”
(In this case, the VM VMName will be extended to 12G. Now powerup the VM. You should see the size of C drive increasing to 12G. For existing VM, if you want to increase the size of C, do not use sysprep because this will re-generate the SIDs.)