I’m working on getting the Autounattend file to function properly in my Packer deployment test for Windows. The setup uses Vault credentials, and everything is configured accordingly. However, when Packer attempts to create the second mounted ISO with the Autounattend file, which contains the Vault-injected credentials, it fails with a 404 error. I’m unable to determine the cause, as the service account used to connect to the vSphere cluster has access to its API. I attempted to use the floppy_files method, but it doesn’t work in vSphere 7.0 U2. Given that we’re working with a large cluster with locked-down hosts, I can’t implement it on a per-host basis. Please see the redacted error message below for further details.
vsphere-iso.win2025: output will be in this color.
==> vsphere-iso.win2025: Creating CD disk...
vsphere-iso.win2025: Warning: creating filesystem with Joliet extensions but without Rock Ridge
vsphere-iso.win2025: extensions. It is highly recommended to add Rock Ridge.
vsphere-iso.win2025: I: -input-charset not specified, using utf-8 (detected in locale settings)
vsphere-iso.win2025: Total translation table size: 0
vsphere-iso.win2025: Total rockridge attributes bytes: 0
vsphere-iso.win2025: Total directory bytes: 0
vsphere-iso.win2025: Path table size(bytes): 10
vsphere-iso.win2025: Max brk space used 0
vsphere-iso.win2025: 180 extents written (0 MB)
vsphere-iso.win2025: Done copying paths from CD_dirs
==> vsphere-iso.win2025: Uploading packer2689589798.iso to [DATASTORE] packer_cache...
==> vsphere-iso.win2025: Remote cache directory does not exist; creating [DATASTORE] packer_cache...
vsphere-iso.win2025: Closing sessions ....
Build 'vsphere-iso.win2025' errored after 172 milliseconds 617 microseconds: 404 Not Found
==> Wait completed after 172 milliseconds 673 microseconds
==> Some builds didn't complete successfully and had errors:
--> vsphere-iso.win2025: 404 Not Found
==> Builds finished but no artifacts were created.
The packer_cache file exists because i can see it on the [ DATASTORE]
If I run it again i get an error 503 instead
vsphere-iso.win2025: output will be in this color.
==> vsphere-iso.win2025: Creating CD disk...
vsphere-iso.win2025: Warning: creating filesystem with Joliet extensions but without Rock Ridge
vsphere-iso.win2025: extensions. It is highly recommended to add Rock Ridge.
vsphere-iso.win2025: I: -input-charset not specified, using utf-8 (detected in locale settings)
vsphere-iso.win2025: Total translation table size: 0
vsphere-iso.win2025: Total rockridge attributes bytes: 0
vsphere-iso.win2025: Total directory bytes: 0
vsphere-iso.win2025: Path table size(bytes): 10
vsphere-iso.win2025: Max brk space used 0
vsphere-iso.win2025: 180 extents written (0 MB)
vsphere-iso.win2025: Done copying paths from CD_dirs
==> vsphere-iso.win2025: Uploading packer2029314899.iso to [DATASTORE] packer_cache...
vsphere-iso.win2025: Closing sessions ....
Build 'vsphere-iso.win2025' errored after 330 milliseconds 99 microseconds: 503 Service Unavailable
==> Wait completed after 330 milliseconds 139 microseconds
==> Some builds didn't complete successfully and had errors:
--> vsphere-iso.win2025: 503 Service Unavailable
==> Builds finished but no artifacts were created.```