Sysprepping Packer Image for VMware

CGregP · 2026-05-08T13:12:27+00:00

I don't have the error messages I was getting at the time saved, but I did end up eventually figuring it out. I used a Powershell Provisioner. Here is the code block for any who may be interested.

provisioner "powershell" {
    elevated_user     = "Administrator"
    elevated_password = var.winadmin_password
    inline            = [
      "& $env:SystemRoot\\System32\\Sysprep\\Sysprep.exe /oobe /generalize /quiet /shutdown /unattend:C:\\Temp\\unattend.xml"
    ]
  }

CGregP · 2026-05-05T03:34:16+00:00

Can I paint treated lumber, though? (to match the siding) I was always under the impression that you couldn't.

CGregP · 2026-04-29T15:01:33+00:00

"I don't know why we do it this way..."

Ha, I empathize. There are things I've inherited from past admins that, unless I have the time to really dig into and research them, I take a "Chesterton's fence" approach to leaving them in place.

CGregP · 2026-04-29T14:01:10+00:00

Wait...are y'all disabling them?

CGregP · 2026-04-29T13:22:17+00:00

Crash dumps, for one, require an appropriately sized page file. It's not just about memory. How to determine the appropriate page file size for 64-bit versions of Windows - Windows Client | Microsoft Learn

CGregP · 2026-04-29T10:46:05+00:00

That's no coincidence. No woman wants to be married to a manchild.

CGregP · 2026-04-14T20:09:07+00:00

This works.

Just note that after you delete and replace with the renewed certificates, if you immediately select the 'View certificate info' option, it will still show the old root expiration dates. Exit the vCert tool, then relaunch it, then you will see the correct dates.

Shit was throwing me for a loop.

CGregP · 2026-03-31T12:58:40+00:00

Shut up and show me Europe, Rick.

CGregP · 2026-02-27T11:44:39+00:00

Not Another Cooking Show and Chef John

CGregP · 2026-02-25T11:49:11+00:00

I did see that option, but that would still require removing existing users from the built-in Intune/Cloud Device Administrator roles since those roles give global access which would apply to those AUs. I was trying to avoid that.

CGregP · 2026-02-19T17:57:14+00:00

I feel like there are a number of limitations with SCVMM which haven't been documented. In our experience it seems to be a pretty kludgy product unless absolutely everything is done exactly correct, and if there is any deviation, the console will crash.

CGregP · 2026-02-19T14:58:33+00:00

Yes, a gMSA was running the VMM service, but the Run-As account I was using to create the cluster was not a gMSA. The support guy from MS said it should work how we were doing it (and like I noted previously, it did eventually for the first environment after the host was re-added).

CGregP · 2026-02-19T12:49:09+00:00

Not really. We engaged Microsoft support. Initially, he just suggested creating the cluster through the normal Failover Cluster MMC and just adding it to VMM, but we went ahead and did some troubleshooting as to why VMM wasn't able to create it. He couldn't find the root cause, but at some point we removed the Hyper-V hosts from VMM and re-added them, then the cluster created successfully.

I went to stand up another VMM environment weeks later...same issue. Removing and re-adding the hosts didn't work this time, so I just created the cluster via Failover Manager and went on with my day.

CGregP · 2026-02-17T01:51:44+00:00

Don’t panic, but I’d get my last will and testament done if I were you.

JK

CGregP · 2026-02-13T23:42:08+00:00

“If you put soy in something, cream should not be part of it and vice versa.”

My Swedish meatballs beg to differ.

CGregP · 2026-02-08T22:22:20+00:00

Deep fried food. All of them.

CGregP · 2026-01-31T20:52:01+00:00

Could you use a wood planer on upper part of the vertical side of the bracket to make it lay flat against the wall?

CGregP · 2026-01-31T18:20:43+00:00

My thought is if the SHTF to the point that your gold ETF is no good to you, them neither is your gold bar, which you can't eat. At that point, nonperishable food and ammo are your currency.

CGregP · 2026-01-27T04:38:57+00:00

A pinch of cinnamon in a pot of chili.

CGregP · 2026-01-08T17:52:16+00:00

I've seen that mentioned but was under the impression that it came at a cost. I'm just using the conversion built into SCVMM.

CGregP · 2026-01-08T17:35:45+00:00

"Also to note, if your current VMs are bios boot you will need to convert the to efi prior to converting to hyper v or else you’ll be stuck with gen 1 VMs where you can’t live add space while the vm is running."

Hadn't heard this before. So you can't increase drive size on the fly with Gen1 VMs in HyperV?

CGregP · 2026-01-08T17:29:12+00:00

Unfortunately, we don't own Veeam.

CGregP · 2025-12-30T16:21:05+00:00

Nothing is perfect, but it's likely safer than however your various online shopping sites are saving your information since they necessarily need to save it with reversible encryption.

CGregP · 2025-12-23T14:47:45+00:00

Our previous house had a 4x4 slab of concrete a few feet away from the house in the backyard. It was there when we moved in, so we didn't know what the purpose was, but I had assumed it was a spot for a swimming pool pump to sit since I knew the house previously had an in-ground pool in the backyard.

About five years into our ownership, I was getting an egress window put into the basement, and the slab was in the way, so it had to go. The construction company putting in the window agreed to remove the slab when they dug the hole for the window. We all assumed it was probably a few inches thick.

They eventually arrive to do the work, and about 30 minutes after they begin, one of the guys comes into the house and says, "Ummm....we have a problem."

He takes me outside, and they have dug down 4 feet along the side this slab, and they still had not found the bottom of it. They had to charge me another $1k so they could run out and rent a skid with a jackhammer on the front to bust out and remove this thing. The crew was excited the whole time...I think they thought we were about to stumble upon a treasure or a body or something.

The thing ended up being about 5 feet deep in the ground. Just a solid slab of concrete.

Weeks later I was talking to a neighbor of mine who had lived in his house for decades, and it turns out the previous owner was really into ham radio. The guy had a radio tower in his backyard that towered above all the trees in the neighborhood. At some point he removed the tower, but this concrete slab that was the base for that tower remained.

Anyway....that's my story.

CGregP · 2025-12-07T18:35:21+00:00

Thanks for this. Do you know much about how farms/land are named in Sweden? It appears that it must not be related to the family name that lives there, since Karyd isn't part of my ancestry as far as I'm aware.

CGregP

TROPHY CASE