VMware Horizon View 7.1 Customization operation timed out
I had mentioned this in the previous post about setting up a dedicated workstation pool for Horizon with Linked clones.  I wanted to write up a separate post on this issue just to detail a bit more what the error looks like, cause, and the workaround to the issue in a bit more detail.  The issue was with VMware Horizon View 7.1 Customization operation timed out.
VMware Horizon View 7.1 Customization operation timed out
After reusing a gold Windows 10 image that I had been testing the Instant Clones technology with and then redeploying the desktop pool with Linked Clones, I ran into the following error detailed in the Horizon Connection server event logs.
In checking the Windows 10 master image, I had network connectivity as well as there were no issues with Windows activation which is known to cause issues with the customization process.  However, in thinking about reusing the Windows 10 image that I was using for the Instant Clones process, I remembered, I had setup the Horizon agent to be configured for Instant clone agent instead of VMware Horizon View Composer Agent.
Resolution
What was done to resolve the issue was I uninstalled the Horizon agent and reinstalled using the settings below.  Notice I have disabled the VMware Horizon Instant Clone Agent and enabled the Composer Agent for the install.
After making the changes to the Windows 10 gold image.  I powered down, deleted the old Horizon snapshot, and then created a new snapshot.  After redeploying the desktop pool, the desktops were successfully provisioned correctly.  After redeploying, the machines went from the customizing status to eventually Available.
Thoughts
There are many causes of VMware Horizon View 7.1 Customization operation timed out when deploying your virtual machines in the desktop pool.  A more subtle issue can result from the setup of the Horizon agent when installed.  If you are like me and went from deploying Instant Clone desktops to Linked Clones and didn’t change the agent configuration, you will run into the customization operation timed out issue as Composer won’t be able to communicate correctly with the deployed virtual machines.
