vmware_guest customization fullname not being set on Windows Server 2025

[dcmirandah]

SUMMARY

The customization of the VM, specially the renaming of the local administrator account is not taking place.
On the windows logs I can see several security events stating that the account is renamed from Administrator to newadmin and then renamed back to Administrator. The ansible task is completed successfully and the vmware events state that the customization was terminated successfully.

ISSUE TYPE

• Bug Report

COMPONENT NAME

community.vmware.vmware_guest

ANSIBLE VERSION

ansible [core 2.16.3]
  config file = /home/xxxx/vsc/ansible/sbx/ansible.cfg
  configured module search path = ['/home/xxxx/.ansible/plugins/modules', '/usr/share/ansible/plugins/modules']
  ansible python module location = /usr/lib/python3.12/site-packages/ansible
  ansible collection location = /home/xxxx/.ansible/collections:/usr/share/ansible/collections
  executable location = /bin/ansible
  python version = 3.12.8 (main, Dec  9 2024, 15:25:01) [GCC 8.5.0 20210514 (Red Hat 8.5.0-22)] (/usr/bin/python3.12)
  jinja version = 3.1.2
  libyaml = True

COLLECTION VERSION

Collection       Version
---------------- -------
community.vmware 5.3.0  

CONFIGURATION

CONFIG_FILE() = /home/xxxx/vsc/ansible/sbx/ansible.cfg
DEFAULT_STDOUT_CALLBACK(/home/xxxx/vsc/ansible/sbx/ansible.cfg) = yaml
ENABLE_TASK_DEBUGGER(/home/xxxx/vsc/ansible/sbx/ansible.cfg) = True

OS / ENVIRONMENT

Target OS is Windows Server 2025 21600

STEPS TO REPRODUCE

• Create a vmware Windows Server 2025 VM template
• Use this template to instanciate a new VM as described above:

- name: Playbook
  hosts: localhost
  become: false
  gather_facts: false
  tasks:
    - name: "Clone the template"
      community.vmware.vmware_guest:
        hostname: "*****"
        username: "user@test.com"
        password: "****"
        name: "mynewvm"
        template: "Win2025"
        datacenter: "mydatacenter"
        annotation: "Test Server"
        folder: "VM/TST"
        state: "poweredon"
        cluster: "mycluster"
        datastore: "mydatastore"
        disk:
          - size_gb: 60
            type: "thin"
            datastore: "mydatastore"
        hardware:
          memory_mb: 4096
          num_cpus: 2
          num_cpu_cores_per_socket: 1
          scsi: "paravirtual"
          hotadd_cpu: false
          hotremove_cpu: false
          hotadd_memory: true
        networks:
          - name: "dvpg"
            type: static
            ip: "172.21.80.50"
            netmask: "255.255.255.0"
            gateway: "172.21.80.254"
            domain: "test.com"
            dns_servers:
              - "172.21.80.15"
              - "172.21.80.16"
            device_type: "vmxnet3"
        wait_for_customization: true
        customization:
          timezone: "110"
          password: "****"
          fullname: "newadmin"
          dns_servers: 
            - "172.21.80.15"
            - "172.21.80.16"
          dns_suffix: 
            - "test.com"
            - "test.net"
      become: false
      delegate_to: localhost
      delegate_facts: true

# ansible-playbook -i localhost  main.yml -v

EXPECTED RESULTS

• The "Clone the template" task completes with success.
• The local administrator username is newadmin as configured on the customization block.

Please note that when using a Windows Server 2019 template the local administrator is renamed to newadmin.

ACTUAL RESULTS

• The "Clone the template" task completes with success.
• The local administrator username is Administrator (default value) not as configured on the customization block.