VMWare Template

It cannot be done in the customization, you will need to change the "Golden Master Template".

So

1. Convert the template to a virtual machine. (Right Click Template - Convert to Virtual Machine).

2. In the Windows Server 2008 R2 ,Right Click "My Computer"

3. Select Manage

4. Select Storage > Disk Management

5. Select CD-ROM 0

6. Right Click CD-ROM 0

7. Select Change Drive Letter and Paths, and change from D to E


8. Shutdown VM

9. Right Click VM

10. Convert VM to Template

I have done that and the CD drive still reverts to D: drive when I clone from the template.  I converted the template back just to verify that the drive was set to E: and it still was.

It's possible Sysprep when run "is resting devices and drivers" to defaults.

which would make it D:

You could try, not assigning a drive, and writing documentation,  for users, if they do not know, how to change, and they can set, at first logging into machines.

This is odd, though because we set our CDROM drives to Z: or Y: and they stick through the deployment process.

I just changed the templates drive to Z: to see if that made a difference.  It does not.

Is it possible to change Sysprep to not reset the devices?

This is more for a convenience to me when I build servers.

No, Sysprep - resets devices and drivers.

If you do not assign a driver letter, does it add a drive letter?

do you have two disks e.g. C: and D: ?

I only have 1 disk on the template.

I removed the drive letter from the CDROM and deployed another server from the template and the CDROM comes back as the D: Drive.

So if the first disk is C:

and the CDROM is D:

how would someone install applications on D:?

there is no disk for D:?

Do they add a new disk, themselves as admins?