In certain cases when deploying machines from a template using deployment customization, parts of this process may fail. As a result, upon each reboot, the system may try to re-run the customization process, and the following message is displayed at each startup:

VMware Image Customization in progress

To remove any pending sysprep customization routine, you can manually remove the reference to it by editing the Windows Registry

1. Start regedit.exe.
2. Navigate to the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\.
3. Change the value of BootExecute. Remove the part that says sysprepDecryptor.exe. Leave the other parts of the value as they were (so only remove the one word).
4. Reboot the OS.

Depending on the OS version, you may have to remove the reference in the keys HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Session Manager\BootExecute and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet002\Control\Session Manager\BootExecute as well.