How to Clone a Windows VM and avoid duplicate SID and We Can't Sign Into Your Account" error

[Mary Sutton]

I'm embarrassed to share how many separate attempts over months, and how many hours and days during each attempt, and how much money I've spent in GCE resources, trying to do a simple thing:  Successfully clone a Windows Server VM but give it a different name, then have it actually function properly.
Here is the definition of a successful clone:
Start from an existing Windows Server VM that is part of a corporate domain.

Create a "nearly duplicate" instance (e.g., clone) of a Windows Server VM with a different name, that is part of the same corporate domain, with a different SID, a different product ID assigned by Google, with Windows activated properly, Windows Update working properly, and when my domain users (or the local admin) login, we do NOT receive the "We Can't Sign Into Your Account" message.

I have created machine images, I've used GCESYSPREP, I've followed countless instructions to fix the "We Can't Sign Into Your Account".  I simply have been unable to create such a VM.

Has anyone succeeded?  Because the promise is that it is simple.  Based on the promise, I'd assume it would be possible but a challenge.  Based on my experience, it seems pretty much impossible.  Has anyone navigated the gotchas and is willing to supply their recipe?  Please post it!

[mghaya...@google.com]

Thank you for contacting Google Cloud Platform Support as you mentioned  you followed GCESYSPREP, and i believe that you followed the steps as mentioned in these documents [1][2]

We apologize for the inconvenience, but if [1] and [2] are not useful, please include the reason and we will be able to provide you with more detailed information.

[1] https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/instances/startup-scripts/windows#passing-directly
[2] https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/instances/startup-scripts