VMware View 5.1.2 Quick Prep KMS Loop
So I downloaded the latest version of VMware View (can’t wait to get my hands on 5.2 by the way), so I was preparing for POC where I’ve installed the servers put the proper licenses, added composer to the vCenter and configure everything.
Now it was the time to do a little pool test, suddenly I noticed that my pool had taken way more than its support to. So I checked all my settings and checked my AD account and everything was as it should be.
So it was time to check the QuickPrep logs (C:\Windows\temp\view-composer-ga.log or -new.log) so scrolling down I found out that the QuickPrep script was still trying to active the virtual machine with a KMS server:
2013-02-14 12:33:13,832 [1836] INFO Guest – [Guest.cpp, 494] Script cscript \windows\system32\slmgr.vbs -ato exit code: 3221549172
2013-02-14 12:33:13,832 [1836] FATAL Guest – [Guest.cpp, 610] Failed to execute license activation command: cscript \windows\system32\slmgr.vbs -ato
2013-02-14 12:33:13,832 [1836] FATAL VolumesReady – [VolumesReady.cpp, 201] License activation failed for: 11 times.
2013-02-14 12:33:13,832 [1836] DEBUG TimerWrapperWin32 – [TimerWrapperWin32.cpp, 47] Starting timer: LicenseActivateRetryTimer-Handle with timeout: 60000 milliseconds
Now in the normal situation when we’re deploying a VDI solution a KMS server is put into consideration and this shouldn’t be a problem, but what if I am testing or doing a POC. I don’t need a KMS server, any way I waited out and it kept looping till it reached 11 times (30 minutes+ of waiting) so I said its enough.
What I needed to do is disable KMS activation when using QuickPrep because it would be meaningless at this point, as I know the QuickPrep parameters are located in the registry and what we need to adjust was this:
HKLMsystem/CurrentControlSet/services/vmware-viewcomposer-ga/SkipLicenseActivation change the value from “0” to “1″.
Now create a new snapshot of the virtual machine, create a new pool and you’re ready to go =), hope this saves you time ^_^.
(Abdullah)^2