Cluster Validation Report for Microsoft Clustering fails "Validate Cluster Network Configuration"

Welcome to my very first blog post!

Today I was setting up a small test lab using a single Domain Controller, a Storage Server, and 2 Cluster Nodes.  I created my first VM and installed Windows server 2008 R2.  Now, my experience tells me that I should sysprep first, but I skipped this step to save 2 minutes (I'll get back to this in a bit).  I then cloned the server for the additional 3 machines needed.  I ran DCPromo and setup the DC.  I added the other 3 machines to the domain and verified that DNS worked as it should.  So far so good.  I then prepaired my storage server so that I can host my iSCSI targets.  Now, with the clustered nodes, I setup my iSCSI targets and then added the cluster feature.  As any good Admin would do, I ran a cluster validation report, and it failed on the network.

The exact error message I was getting was as follows:

Validate Cluster Network Configuration

Validate the cluster networks that would be created for these servers.
An error occurred while executing the test.
There was an error initializing the network tests.
There was an error creating the server side agent (CPrepSrv).
Creating an instance of the COM component with CLSID {E1568352-586D-43E4-933F-8E6DC4DE317A} from the IClassFactory failed due to the following error: 80070005.

The first thing I did was to go into DCom on the domain controller and change the impersonation level from identity to impersonate, then rebooted the domain controller.  Once it was back up, I ran the validation report and experienced the same result.  I removed the clustered nodes from the domain and added them back again.  I was thinking maybe it was the forest functioning level, but that should not make a difference.  And then it hit me, I didn't sysprep the machine that I created the cloned VMs from.  After finally deciding to perform a google search, or bing if you like, I found http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2012835 that describes this entire issue.  Of course SIDs are the major concern in this situation.

For those of you who do not know, sysprep is the Microsoft utility that prepares the system image for deployment.  Basically, it removes the computer name, IP addresses, SIDs, etc.  Starting with Windows Server 2008 R2, it is installed with the OS in the C:\Windows\System32\Sysprep folder.  Using the /generalize switch will reset the system clock on the image for the OS activation.

So, the lesson for the day is not to be a lazy admin and do things the correct way.  2 minutes of waiting would have saved a couple of hours.