How to Fix The Virtual Desktop is not Sysprep generalized

An error message like "The virtual desktop is not Sysprep generalized" may appear while deploying a Windows image over Hyper-V or at the creation of a new virtual desktop image (VDI). This can be a little confusing without understanding what Sysprep is and how one would go about resolving this issue.

Below is the exact error message that we see.

There is no Sysprep-wide support for virtual desktops.

There is no Sysprep-specific virtual desktop template available.

Sysprep did not generalize the Virtual Desktop.

System Preparation Tool or Sysprep is a utility used to stub system preparation by Microsoft Windows system administrators and information technologists. This utility, in general, is used to stitch and prepare Windows installations to be imaged across multiple computers by configuring settings to get them ready. The drivers installed in the computer and its security identifier or SID are removed when the image is generalized. So, it can also facilitate in building a generalised system image that can then be utilized in order to save lots of time and energy when the deployment and replication on any other machine has to be made. This is generally utilised at a larger scale, such as in universities and multi-national companies where uniformity is to be provided and operating systems are to be installed on many different machines.

You can enable virtual desktop Sysprep by following the solution provided below.

Applicable to All Sysprep

Critical Failure to Fix

Now, let's explain them one by one.

1. Sysprep Works for All

It has been mentioned in the error notification that a Sysprep generic image has not been used. Now, the only possible solution of that is to make Sysprep work for all images. The steps that you should follow to achieve that have been provided below.

Open Hyper-V Manager.

You now need to open up the template by right clicking on it.

Launch the template and start the Command Prompt as an administrator.

Change Directory (CD) into the Sysprep directory by typing "cd sysprep".

Once inside, run the command below. What this comprises is: sysprep.exe, oobe, generalize, shutdown, method:vm

A prompt will appear, "Sysprep is working; Processing generalize phase Sysprep plugins" and indicates that the cleanup process is being invoked in order for Sysprep to generalize it. Once it has finished, the prompt will power off.

Your machine will shut down and Sysprep will generalize your virtual machine. Hopefully now the image should be deployable.

2. Fix fatal error

This would be the error message when there has been a fatal error in Sysprep generalization.

The machine could not be sysprepped because a fatal fault occurred.

We will have to modify SkipRearm to repair it. The Windows Software Licensing Rearm key, a registry entry responsible for dictating runtime for the program, is also referred to as the SkipRearm. This application resets Windows licensing status by removing or resetting all licensing and registry data affiliated with activation.

Open Registry Editor and paste the following path in the search box.

Software Protection Platform under the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsNTCurrentVersion registry key

Find SkipRearm, double-click on it and set 1 in the Value data field. Finally, click Ok.

If it happens to reappear, we would recommend you proceed with the solutions suggested in our tutorial in order to fix the problem. A fatal error has prevented Sysprep from preparing the machine for capture.

Why is Sysprep not working sometimes?

The possible causes are several, including that Sysprep will not work if Windows has not been upgraded for quite some time, the Microsoft Store app is not up to date, or there are pending Windows updates.

In this section, we have gone through how you can troubleshoot the "Virtual Desktop is not Sysprep generalized" error and successfully create and deploy virtual machines just by following these steps.