VMware: Export a VM to OVA With PowerCLI
OVA KB ID 0001507 Problem : Creating OVA files It’s pretty easy to create an OVA/OVF from the vCenter Web console, but what about from Powershell / PowerCLI? Below I run though converting a Windows server to OVA. Note: Update 25/03/25 – Had a friend try and do this today, the VM was very large (over 12Tb) it proceeded to create the conversion in the servers c:\windows\temp directory. Obviously, this is not good! If you encounter...
Windows Server – Sysprep
KB ID 0000729 Problem I don’t deploy large amounts of servers at once, so Windows Server sysprep is not as important as it is with the client operating systems I deploy. But I do need to create virtual machine templates, (mostly for testing), but some clients like to have server templates. I prefer to manually sysprep and shutdown a server then either convert or clone it to a template. Thankfully sysprep is in the same place as...
PowerShell: Restart Fails ‘Other Users Logged On’
KB ID 0001374 Problem If you intend to shutdown, or restart a remote computer using PowerShell, you may see the following error message; PS C:\> Restart-Computer “Computer-name” Restart-Computer : This command cannot be run on target computer(‘Computer-name’) due to following error: The system shutdown cannot be initiated because there are other users logged on to the computer. At line:1 char:1 + REstart-Computer...
Change the default Shutdown / Log Off Option via GPO
KB ID 0000465 Problem Out of the box, the default power option presented to your users is shutdown. People with multiple users on their machines, may prefer the log off option to be the default. Note: You can also set the default option to: Shutdown Sleep Log off Lock Restart Switch User (Unless blocked by other policy then it will revert to shutdown). Hibernate Solution 1. On your domain controller , Start > Administrative...
WDS Deploying Windows Part 2: Prepare Windows, and Capture to WDS
KB ID 0000737 Problem In part one we built and configured the WDS Server. Now you need to prepare the reference Windows 8 machine so that you can ‘capture’ its image. Solution Before you start, make sure that the machine you are imaging has PLENTY of room on one of its local drive(s), because it copies the image locally, before it sends it to WDS. Place Your Reference Windows 8 Machine in Audit Mode To put all the software...