VMware Communities: Message List - ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

curious2 — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 21:59:04 GMT

Can you send me the reboot ~~script....mdt1123@hotmail.com~~

thx

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

PhilippNoack — Tue, 26 May 2009 11:20:33 GMT

Hello, I used a little workaround for that. Here is the batch script that I used:

:: Creating a temp folder to get the newest tools
md C:\vmwaretools-update\
set TMP=C:\vmwaretools-update\

C:
cd "C:\Programme\VMware\VMware Tools\"

:: Running the Upgrader with a wrong parameter to get the newest Version only! It doesn't update, yet!
start "" /wait VMwareToolsUpgrader.exe -p "/s /v\"/qn /noreboot\""

cd C:\vmwaretools-update\00*

:: Now the actual update begins
start "" /wait setup.exe /s /v"/qn REBOOT=ReallySuppress"

C:

set TMP="C:\Dokumente und Einstellungen\Administrator\Lokale Einstellungen\Temp\"
rd C:\vmwaretools-update\

exit

I hope it helps you!

Greetings Phil

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

Integr8 — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 11:36:55 GMT

Actuall, I just tried it and it doesn't work. You need to insert 'REINSTALL=ALL' just before the Reboot statement.

Sorry.

"I'll never turn to the Dark Side..."

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

Integr8 — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 07:15:48 GMT

Hi... This is the script I use, just replace '\\server\share'...

(This one doesn't reboot) - msiexec.exe /i "\\server\share\vmware tools.msi" /qn REINSTALLMODE=vamus REBOOT="ReallySuppress"

(This one reboots) - msiexec.exe /i "\\server\share\vmware tools.msi" /qn REINSTALLMODE=vamus /forcereboot

Hope that helps.

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

vkadiyala — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 19:46:23 GMT

Can you please forward me the scrip to deploy vmware tools automatically

thanks

Venkata

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

Integr8 — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 08:27:19 GMT

This works great. Thanks.

"I'll never turn to the Dark Side..."

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

gzulauf — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 20:33:32 GMT

kimono-

Can you please send me the files that got you going on this?

-thanks

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

Bart Verbruggen — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 11:47:23 GMT

Can you provide me the .mst file? BartVerbruggen2@gmail.com

Thanks

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

kimono — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 08:46:23 GMT

... Finally got this to work with ZFS. Part of it was an MSI problem, part of it was ZFS problem. So it's working, as suggested by you peeps, using setup.exe instead of MSI. My problem was not deploying the entire contents of windows.iso before running the post distribution script. (I thought the MSI file and SETUP.EXE plus a few others was enough)

So now deploying tools silently.

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

kimono — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 09:29:52 GMT

I've just picked up on this thread and feel everybodies pain. I am attempting to deploy VM Tools UPGRADES to Windows using Zen For Servers, and have tried many permutations of MSI based deployments, as well as a file deployment of setup.exe and all the other files, with a post deploy command to run setup.exe, but it all still craps out with these sorts of MSI errors:

Product: VMware Tools -- Error 1309.Error reading from file: C:\program files\VMware\VMware Tools\Drivers\scsi\win2k\disk.tag. System error 3. Verify that the file exists and that you can access it.

Product: VMware Tools -- Error 1316.A network error occurred while attempting to read from the file VMware Tools.msi

I'll continue to work on it tomorrow, but if anybody else has cracked the upgrade egg I'll gladly listen !

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

williag — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 17:15:58 GMT

Hi - can you send me a copy of the transform for the MSI and confirmation of the line command to install? Thank you in advance. (george.2.williamson @ bt.com)

Message was edited by:
williag

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

JB1024 — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 02:00:07 GMT

Can someone send me the transforms file for the hardware acceleration that is listed in this post please. sean.borgardt@thrivent.com

Thanks much!!

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

einstein-a-go-go — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 08:11:56 GMT

I tried deploying VMware Tools via AD 2k3 a while ago, and it failed, it just seemed to uninstall the current version of vmware tools installed. All our templates have a version of vmware tools installed, but we have too many VMs to update manually, I've returned to Automating VMware Tools rollout again, I've followed this procedure (which doesn't seem different to what I did for deploying vmware tools before) and it still does the same thing, It seems to leave me with a Guest machine with all the drivers missing, network, vidoe card etc, no service started, no VMware smartray icon!

What am I missing? Is it possible to complete AN UPGRADE of VMware Tools on Win2k, Win2k3, WinXP, Win2k, Winnt4 via AD2k3 or am I wasting my time?

Do I need to look at scripts?

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

Barry Randall — Fri, 26 May 2006 19:43:03 GMT

I appreciate that they make rock-solid virtualization tools, and I'm grateful. The problem is that they require the guests to run software packages to get them to play nice in the virtual world. That we have to lower our security settings to perform routine maintenance on the guest systems undermines sysadmin/customer confidence in the product. Suck it up, and submit the drivers for signing. Honestly, I don't care if the signed drivers are cutting edge, I just want to be able to deploy them to my entire farm quickly.

Some vendors post two driver sets; a bleeding edge driver for those who want it, and a WHQL-signed driver, for those who want simplicity.

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

Solfoit — Tue, 23 May 2006 10:42:43 GMT

Hi,

thanx for all the scripts. But i still get the "system file protection" dialogbox.
Do you all ignore this one?

With kind regards,

Ruud

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

jeffwitt41 — Mon, 22 May 2006 21:29:51 GMT

Hey All,

I just upgraded to 2.5.3 I do see the transforms included from vmware now. Has anyone been able to use them for doing a silent install of the vmware tools?

Jeff

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

jswetland — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 16:58:44 GMT

Rajeev, can you send the transform you used?

Thanks
Jarrod

rodsramair@yahoo.com

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

johnjore — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 14:50:29 GMT

Hi!
To install the tools during Altiris/RDP I created a autologon and did not use runonce as the install needs the Explorer GUI to install itself. Used the RUN key. A small compilation of batch files toke care of it all.

Just my 2c...

JJ

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

johnjore — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 14:47:26 GMT

Guys, save yourself a lot of work and use "AutoIt".. It has a lot more functionality and does the same as ScriptIt, but also supports the mouse.

My 2c...

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

Rajeev — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 14:26:42 GMT

1) The SDB file is created only when you run the secedit command. In fact is can be deleted once the command has run successfully.

2) For XP I would suggest using GPUPDATE instead of secedit. You may need to use the /force switch to ensure the setting takes place.

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

ZePierre — Thu, 09 Feb 2006 13:54:45 GMT

Hi Henrik

I can't find the .mst file.

Could you show it, or mail it to me

ph_p (at) hotmail dot com

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

JRTek7 — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 21:53:00 GMT

Hello Forum, couple of questions...

- Using the "secedit" option posted by doslager to import the policy settings to enable\disable unsigned driver signing...do you have to create the *.sdb file, or is this just a (dummy) text file to complete the syntax?

- Has anyone tried this method under a Windows XP VM? I'm trying to use this method under an XP-VM, and can actually witness the necessary change (silently succeed) to the policy via gpedit.msc, however I'm still receving the hardware install wizard when the MSI kicks off, and the policy "mysteriously" changes back to (warn but allow)

Any assistance will be appreciated, and TIA

- Jay

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

TomVDB — Thu, 27 Oct 2005 09:06:02 GMT

finally this script is finished.. and most of all.. it's working.
tried it on a few servers (w2k3 SP1) today

normally we will try to distribute it with sms on our next esx patch, normally it will save us many hours
---

Maybe another related question.. now that we know how to update our vm's is there a way to get the "new" tools out of the upgrade tar from vmware?

so in fact we want to upgrade our vm's first and afterwards upgrade the esx.. so after the esx reboot all the vm's are ok..

i know the location of the vmtools iso at the esx /usr/lib/vmware/isoimages but where are they in the upgrade package so that we can extract them in some way?

Message was edited by:
TomVDB

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

moenster — Thu, 27 Oct 2005 05:28:58 GMT

No, not specifically for TS. We just do that with almost all of our scripts to ensure compatibility, as we have a lot of terminal servers in our organisation.

Regards Henrik

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

jasonboche — Thu, 27 Oct 2005 03:09:09 GMT

Are your scripts written specifically for Windows servers with Terminal Services and Citrix? I noticed the change user commands.

Jas

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

moenster — Wed, 26 Oct 2005 19:54:08 GMT

Hi all

Nothing new here, I just want to summarize the stuff from this thread into what I have put together and am using from Altiris rapid deployment.

The reg-, mst- and inf-files are all documented in this thread.

Regards Henrik

W2k:
SET VMTOOLPATH=
path to vmtools install
regedit /s "%VMTOOLPATH%\disableDriverSigningWarning.reg"
change user /install
Msiexec /I "%VMTOOLPATH%\VMware Tools.msi" /qn TRANSFORMS="%VMTOOLPATH%\hwaccel.mst" addlocal=all REINSTALLMODE=vamus REBOOT="ReallySuppress"
change user /execute
regedit /s "%VMTOOLPATH%\enableDriverSigningWarning.reg"
del /q %VMTOOLPATH%\scrap.sdb
del /q %VMTOOLPATH%\scrap2.sdb

W2k3:
SET VMTOOLPATH=
path to vmtools install
secedit /configure /db %VMTOOLPATH%\scrap.sdb /cfg %VMTOOLPATH%\DriverSignDisable.inf
change user /install
Msiexec /I "%VMTOOLPATH%\VMware Tools.msi" /qn TRANSFORMS="%VMTOOLPATH%\hwaccel.mst" addlocal=all REINSTALLMODE=vamus REBOOT="ReallySuppress"
change user /execute
secedit /configure /db %VMTOOLPATH%\scrap2.sdb /cfg %VMTOOLPATH%\DriverSignEnable.inf
del /q %VMTOOLPATH%\scrap.sdb
del /q %VMTOOLPATH%\scrap2.sdb

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

diztorted — Tue, 25 Oct 2005 18:25:52 GMT

Which brings me to the real point of my post... Why has VMWare
not addressed this issue?! This should be a simple "setup.exe
[/upgrade] [/silent]" command that I can push however I want,
whenever I want without creating a three-ringed
circus of scripts and reg hacks.

The easy answer? The drivers aren't signed. Why they aren't signed is a great mystery, even though I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft plain didn't want to. They tried acquiring VMware way back when, and VMware said nope. Probably a little bit of animosity there..

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

jasonboche — Tue, 25 Oct 2005 17:10:05 GMT

Everyone here has done some good work and spent a lot
of time on this problem. I appreciate your time and
effort as this is a problem that plagues all ESX
administrators. Which brings me to the real point of
my post... Why has VMWare not addressed this issue?!
This should be a simple "setup.exe [/upgrade]
[/silent]" command that I can push however I want,
whenever I want without creating a three-ringed
circus of scripts and reg hacks.

This question was brought up in the "Ask the VMTN forum experts panel" session. JMills of VMware responded with the answer. The response as I remember it went something like this "This is a guest OS issue which is not something that VMware spends much of its time focusing on. Use conventional methods or 3rd party tools to figure out how to automate this process. VMware prefers to allocate its resources on virtualization technology development rather than minor guest issues."

If I got any of the above wrong, feel free to correct me.

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

MattHoag — Tue, 25 Oct 2005 16:51:19 GMT

Everyone here has done some good work and spent a lot of time on this problem. I appreciate your time and effort as this is a problem that plagues all ESX administrators. Which brings me to the real point of my post... Why has VMWare not addressed this issue?! This should be a simple "setup.exe [/upgrade] [/silent]" command that I can push however I want, whenever I want without creating a three-ringed circus of scripts and reg hacks.

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

diztorted — Tue, 18 Oct 2005 14:14:35 GMT

Congrats

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

pmorrison — Tue, 18 Oct 2005 12:28:56 GMT

AhhhhHA!!!! Seems my whole problem all along was that I had a space at the end of every line when I coppied the text of the .inf file from this forum and my test box. Also, there was a space in $CHICAGO $ which should be $CHICAGO$ <-no space after O...

Now things are working!!!

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

diztorted — Mon, 17 Oct 2005 22:51:23 GMT

What I would recommend doing is reading up in the thread where doslager referenced how he accomplished the silent update. He, like our org., used local security policy instead of relying on GPO. Our folks who take care of our software pushes made a pretty clean way to update the local security driver signing policy.. It may be just the fix (assuming you haven't tried it)..

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

pmorrison — Mon, 17 Oct 2005 21:39:29 GMT

we are trying to use one tool so that all operations has to do is drop a package of rdp jobs on a waiting machine, vm or real, to deploy a new server. we have about 30 other rdp jobs that have to run after the server is "up". if I use a template I will either have to update two locations and teach folks to use two tools, or put it all in an image... which I don't want to do.

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

diztorted — Mon, 17 Oct 2005 20:31:02 GMT

Silly question, but I'll ask (and this is foolishly assuming that you have, and use, VirtualCenter)... Why don't you just create a template that already has tools installed?

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

pmorrison — Mon, 17 Oct 2005 19:46:02 GMT

Why, oh why, does this have to be so hard.

I have tried, and used succesfully, the GPO method but it does not help for new installs.

I am using HP's Rapid Deployment Pack (from Altiris) and am trying to get the darn Tools to install during a run once after the OS starts up and cant seem to get past the driver signing policy....

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

diztorted — Fri, 07 Oct 2005 21:35:12 GMT

We're doing something similar, and have found that this method works fantastic for pushing VMware Tools silently via a software delivery method (we use CA's SDO).. We tested it out recently when we upgraded to 2.5.2.. worked like a champ

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

doslager — Fri, 07 Oct 2005 19:06:39 GMT

Here's what I used to get the INF file to import:
secedit /configure /db .\blah.sdb /cfg .\enabledriversigningpolicy.inf

I then delete the blah.sdb file. I'm not sure it's function, but it's needed to complete the syntax for secedit.

One thing i did do was to reverse engineer the INF file by doing an export
secedit /export /cfg exportedsettings.inf

Then i looked in the INF file and saw the setting that needed tweaking, as below.

(You can find the limited documentation for secedit at: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windowsserver2003/library/ServerHelp/b1007de8-a11a-4d88-9370-25e244560587.mspx)

FYI: There were some line breaks that got messed up in the above quoting/re-posting. Here is the line *between* quotes with no line breaks:
"MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Driver Signing\Policy=3,1"
NOTE the space in "Driver Signing"
NOTE: 3,1 is "warn".....3,0 is "ignore"...and 3,2 is "block"

My method was to do this via a cmdlines.txt using sysprep. The policy is set to ignore drivers during the PnP re-discovery using the following line in my sysprep.inf [Unattended] Section. This allows the Mini Setup to re-find the NIC and install the drivers. W/o the ignore, it would not install the NIC, and thus not be able to join a domain, etc.
[Unattended]
DriverSigningPolicy = Ignore

Then it reapplys the driver signing policy at the end of MiniSetup with the above command part of the cmdlines.txt. This sets the policy back to where i want it ("warn but allow"). Otherwise sysprep/mini-setup would've set the machine policy to "ignore" and left it like that.

Hope this helps...i spent alot of time trying to figure out secedit and it's somewhat cryptic syntax. If you want the INF, and/or any of the sysprep stuff, email me at doslager (@) yahoo (dot) com, and i'll be happy to help.

Dave O.

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

Mike_Laverick — Tue, 20 Sep 2005 13:29:09 GMT

For the driver signing in W2K3, I created a .inf that
sets the local security and import it with secedit.

Contents of the .inf to disable the unsigned driver
warning:

[Unicode]
Unicode=yes
[Version]
signature="$CHICAGO$"
Revision=1
[Registry Values]
MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Driver
Signing\Policy=3,0

To reset it back to default:
[Unicode]
Unicode=yes
[Version]
signature="$CHICAGO$"
Revision=1
[Registry Values]
MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Driver
Signing\Policy=3,1

Now that these steps all work individualy, I'm going
to wrap it all up in a vb script. I'll post the whole
thing when I'm done.

Randy

I'm interesting in this inf method of changing the setting - can you give me sample of what you would use in secedit command to do this...

Did you ever get round to writting this VBS File?

Kind Regards
Mike

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

Rajeev — Tue, 20 Sep 2005 12:42:41 GMT

You have mail!

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

Mike_Laverick — Tue, 20 Sep 2005 09:38:41 GMT

After some messing around I FINALLY figured out how
to bypass the Hardware Acceleration check (for
Windows 2003) during the install. What you need to
do is create a transform that removes the following
lines from the InstallExecuteSequence in the MSI.

VM_CheckHWAcceleration
VM_CheckHWAcceleration_SetData

If you want the file let me know.

Hi there...

Can I have copy of the transform file - can you give me a sample of the command-line usage of msiexec so I know how to run it?

Regards
Mike Laverick
RTFM Education - VMware

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

Mike_Laverick — Tue, 20 Sep 2005 09:37:13 GMT

I wasn't able to make it work as described above, but
the following made it work for me

SET VMTOOLPATH=
path

regedit /s
"%VMTOOLPATH%\disableDriverSigningWarning.reg"
msiexec.exe /i "%VMTOOLPATH%\VMware Tools.msi" /q
REBOOT="ReallySuppress"
regedit /s
"%VMTOOLPATH%\enableDriverSigningWarning.reg"

By editing a single value in the msi-file, using
orca, I can change the installation type.

How come the first didn't work?

This was all on windows 2000, the driver signing
stuff doesn't seem to work on server 2003.

Regards Henrik

There is a good reason why this reg method of disabling the driver pop-ups on Windows 2003.

Microsoft has removed the method!

This is because dodgy hardware vendors would use a reg file to bypass the protection to the users - to get their driver on without messages - and the switch it back on. Thus negating the whole point of Driver Signing Protection.

The reasoning behind this is documented here:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/298503

The only way to disable the pop-ups in W2K3 is with either a transform file or using AD Policies - outlined in the document above to supress it...

Regards
Mike Laverick
RTFM Education - VMware

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

Rajeev — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 17:54:05 GMT

Just tried the vbs script posted above and it works like a charm!

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

Rajeev — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 15:39:11 GMT

Awsome!!! I'm going to give this a try. I think the combination of the two solutions should help everyone out!

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

frond — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 13:47:37 GMT

We've used a combination of the "reg" command with a custom VBS script to script the process of enabling the video hardware acceleration. It's ugly and not very elegant, but it works. The command line is:

reg query HKLM\HARDWARE\DEVICEMAP\VIDEO | find /i "video0" | cscript enablehdwacc.vbs

All that does is change the setting in the registry so it takes effect on the next reboot.

This is the enablehdwacc.vbs:

Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")

' Acceleration Levels go from 0 to 5. 0=full, 5=none
intAccelLevel = 0

' Read output from the following command:
'
' reg query HKLM\HARDWARE\DEVICEMAP\VIDEO | find /i "video0"
'
' We have to do it this way because the name of the key we want
' is "\Device\Video0" (including the backslashes). The "\" character
' in the name screws up the RegRead method in VBS and there seems to be
' no way to escape it out. Hence, we have to get it from the "reg.exe"
' command line utility instead.
strInputString = WScript.StdIn.ReadLine

' Output contains "\Registry\Machine\System\CurrentControlSet\..."
' We need to replace "\Registry\Machine" with "HKLM" and add
' the Acceleration.Level value to the end
intStartLocation = instr(1, strInputString, "\System\CurrentControlSet\")
strPartKey = right(strInputString, len(strInputString) - intStartLocation +1)
strNewKey = "HKLM" & strPartKey & "\Acceleration.Level"

'Write the new key to the registry
WshShell.RegWrite strNewKey, intAccelLevel,"REG_DWORD"

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

johnjore — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 13:06:28 GMT

I would actually turn on the HW accelleration, (big boost on video performance) but too this day, I have not found a way to script it. Thanks meistermn!

I have automated it with AutoIt? but it's not a neat and clean way of doing it.

JJ

Message was edited by: johnjore

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

TomVDB — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 06:02:43 GMT

Rajeev could u email me the file?

Thx in advantage

tom.vandenbosch@uzleuven.be

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

Rajeev — Tue, 06 Sep 2005 16:19:01 GMT

Sorry, just saw this thread. I've just sent out the file.

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

moenster — Sat, 03 Sep 2005 22:27:10 GMT

Me to please :o)

nina_dot_henrik_at_mobilixnet_dot_dk

Thanks

Regards Henrik

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

gul — Fri, 02 Sep 2005 19:24:39 GMT

Add me to the list:
fixthetools@gulshome.com

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

sbeaver — Fri, 02 Sep 2005 16:32:36 GMT

Hook me up please beavers_at_gtlaw_dot_com

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

Rajeev — Fri, 02 Sep 2005 15:44:32 GMT

After some messing around I FINALLY figured out how to bypass the Hardware Acceleration check (for Windows 2003) during the install. What you need to do is create a transform that removes the following lines from the InstallExecuteSequence in the MSI.

VM_CheckHWAcceleration
VM_CheckHWAcceleration_SetData

If you want the file let me know.

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

Rajeev — Fri, 12 Aug 2005 16:01:33 GMT

That registry entry seems to change per install. I tried the same thing and everytime I rebuilt the virtual server that entry would change.

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

frond — Fri, 12 Aug 2005 15:37:22 GMT

We struggled with this for a long time, but we finally found a way to make it work. We could manually upgrade the tools with no problem, but trying to automate it was a complete nightmare.

Basically, the problem turned out to be that trying to use msiexec to do an automated upgrade is effectively impossible. There is no combination of options that will reliably work in every case depending on the OS version and/or the existing tools version. (Since we had never been able to automate an upgrade, our environment had pretty much every build of the tools going all the way back to 2.0.0 and it was a complete mess.)

The solution that we eventually found was to give up on msiexec and use setup.exe instead. The command was:

setup.exe /s /v"/qn REBOOT=Force"

The only caveat to be aware of is that if you're scripting the process, that command will execute, spawn the upgrade process, and then immediately terminate. Hence, your script or batch file or whatever will think that the command has finished even though the upgrade has just started to run in the background. We normally supress all reboots in our packages and then decide when to boot via the script, but in this case that was not possible. We just had to add the reboot=force option to the install command and script around the fact that the command would finish executing instantly and then reboot at some later point after the upgrade was finished.

Using that method, we successfully upgraded about 70 machines running all different service packs of Windows 2000/2003 and probably six different older builds of the tools. After living in absolute misery for so long trying to do it with msiexec, we were stunned and surprised by how perfectly it worked.

When we're installing the tools from scratch on a new machine, though, we use msiexec because it doesn't have the "terminates instantly" problem that you get with setup.exe and is therefore easier to deal with in a script. That command is:

msiexec.exe /i "VMware Tools.msi" /qb ADDLOCAL=ALL REBOOT=ReallySuppress

Notice that in that case, the reboot is supressed so that we can handle it via our software deployment tool instead.

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

meistermn — Sun, 07 Aug 2005 16:41:35 GMT

Hello,

to enable "Hardware Acceleration" do it per regedit registry /s accelerationlevelenable.reg.
Then reboot
Maybe a service restart will do it,
but i don't know which service.

Bye,
MeisterMN

Content of accelerationlevelenable.reg

Enable "Hardware Acceleration" per registry

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Video{AE086621-542C-42BB-9BBB-5F324CF89401}\0000]
"Acceleration.Level"=dword:00000000

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

Mike_Laverick — Sun, 31 Jul 2005 23:32:04 GMT

No need for scripting...

If your VM's are part of W2K/3 AD you can do a VM installation/upgrade via Software Policies....

Note:
In this example AD was running in Windows 2003 but Im sure these settings would work in Window 2000 AD
I realized that an administrative installation would be required after reading a MS document on System Management 2.0 which stated:

When you use SMS 2.0 to distribute a Windows Installer setup package, you must first set up the package source directory using Windows Installer's administrative installation. An administrative installation installs a source image of the application that is similar to a source image on a CD-ROM, but that can be installed directly from a network location. An administrative installation also prepares an application so that it can be run directly from the network location.

You perform an administrative installation by using the Windows Installer /a command-line option.

MSIEXEC /a setup.msi

An administrative installation performs all actions (such as expanding compressed files) that are required to either install or run the package directly from the network location. The package author determines the exact operations to be performed for a package during an administrative installation.

Overview of Procedure
o Copy VMware Tools to a File Server
o Create an Administrative Installation of VMware Tools
o Create an OU for all the VMs, Create a GPO that weaken the Driver Signing Security and Computer Software policy to allow the installation to occur

1. Create an Administrative Install of VMware Tools
2. Open a command prompt and change into the directory where you copied the install of VMware Tools
3. Type, msiexec /a "VMware Tools.msi"
4. Choose Next

Note:
Notice how the dialog box states The installation will create a server image of VMware Tools at a specified network location

5. Type a path to where you want your admin installation to be created such as C:\VMare-Tools-W2K and click the Install button
6. Click Finish
7. Share out the directory created, in my case C:\VMware-Tools-W2K

8. Weakening the Driver Signing Security using a AD Policy

Note:
These instructions come from MS KB article Q298503.

9. In Active Directory Users & Computers
10. Create an OU which contains all your VMs
11. Move all you computer accounts for those VMs to the New OU
12. Right-click the OU, Select the Group Policy Tab
13. Click New, and type in a name such as VMware Tools Software Policy
14. Expand + Computer Configuration, Windows Settings, Security Settings, Security Options
15. Locate the policy called:

Device: Unsigned Driver Installation Behavior
Choose X Silently Succeed

16. Choose OK and Close all Windows

17. Creating a Computer Software Installation Policy
18. Expand + Computer Configuration, Software Settings
19. Right-click Software Installation
20. Choose New, and Package
21. Browse to your file server, and select the MSI File, in my case \\fileserver1\VMware-Tools-W2K\VMware Tools.msi
22. Choose © Assigned

Note:
If you have Virtual center, like me, you can schedule a reboot which should force it to refresh the policy and install the VMware Tools.
The VM will automatically reboot itself as is required in the new version of VMware Tools 3.0

For a easier to read version of the above. Read my beyond the manual guide online

Beyond the Manual Guide

pg 82

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

LTRoslyn — Wed, 27 Jul 2005 22:38:35 GMT

Hi,

I went backward in time and found a now defunct but
still fully functionnal free scripting tool from
Microsoft: Scriptit. It reads dialogbox title and
content strings, and when find a match with the
defined script, it just press keys for you.

So based on the provided msiexec command line
provided in this post I could get it to run an
upgrade install with no reboot and have it go through
the entire upgrade process without problems. It work
around driver signing basically by clicking the
appropriate answer for you

I tested with Windows Server 2003 (standard) both
vanilla and SP1. At least, I don't have to manually
update my boxes but it still requires 3 mouse clicks
;-D

Scriptit is no longer distributed but I would send it
to anyone interested (220kb zip file).

Basically, I created a network share (\\Server\Share)
to host scriptit.exe, the w2k3.txt script and an
update.cmd batch file. You have to run scriptit
locally from the server where it is hosted at least
once (it generates a dependancy DLL).

In the share, I created a Tools folder that homes the
latest copy of VMware tools CD content.

A shortcut calls "\\Server\Share\scriptit.exe
\\Server\Share\w2k3.txt" (double click). Scriptit
starts and process the w2k3.txt file. I have a
security dialog box still because I run an unsigned
.exe from a network share (3rd click).

[SCRIPT]
run="\\Server\Share\update.cmd"
VMware Tools+The installation wizard will=~##
VMware Tools+Some files that need=!i
Hardware Installation=!c
Hardware Installation=!c
Security Alert - Driver Installation=!y##
VMware Tools=!f

For more information regarding scriptit commands,
look at:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/archive/winntas/down
loads/scriptit.mspx

The w2k3.txt script execute a batch file:
upgrade.cmd:
@Echo off
msiexec.exe /i "\\Server\Share\tools\VMware
Tools.msi" /qf REINSTALLMODE=vamus REINSTALL=ALL
REBOOT="ReallySuppress"
exit

Then it parses the VMware Tools install and just push
the correct answers for you. I had to call a batch
file because scriptit does not handle well nested
"".

Old school, not fully silent automated but still save
time.

With respect to Scriptit. Could you please send a copy to me at Leighton.Roslyn@sympatico.ca??

Thanks. I've been looking for this for some time.

L.

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

Rajeev — Thu, 14 Jul 2005 13:47:45 GMT

Anyone know how to keep VMTools from asking about turning on Hardware acceleration?

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

JP76 — Fri, 08 Jul 2005 17:47:58 GMT

Hi,

I went backward in time and found a now defunct but still fully functionnal free scripting tool from Microsoft: Scriptit. It reads dialogbox title and content strings, and when find a match with the defined script, it just press keys for you.

So based on the provided msiexec command line provided in this post I could get it to run an upgrade install with no reboot and have it go through the entire upgrade process without problems. It work around driver signing basically by clicking the appropriate answer for you

I tested with Windows Server 2003 (standard) both vanilla and SP1. At least, I don't have to manually update my boxes but it still requires 3 mouse clicks ;-D

Scriptit is no longer distributed but I would send it to anyone interested (220kb zip file).

Basically, I created a network share (\\Server\Share) to host scriptit.exe, the w2k3.txt script and an update.cmd batch file. You have to run scriptit locally from the server where it is hosted at least once (it generates a dependancy DLL).

In the share, I created a Tools folder that homes the latest copy of VMware tools CD content.

A shortcut calls "\\Server\Share\scriptit.exe \\Server\Share\w2k3.txt" (double click). Scriptit starts and process the w2k3.txt file. I have a security dialog box still because I run an unsigned .exe from a network share (3rd click).

[SCRIPT]
run="\\Server\Share\update.cmd"
VMware Tools+The installation wizard will=~##
VMware Tools+Some files that need=!i
Hardware Installation=!c
Hardware Installation=!c
Security Alert - Driver Installation=!y##
VMware Tools=!f

For more information regarding scriptit commands, look at: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/archive/winntas/downloads/scriptit.mspx

The w2k3.txt script execute a batch file: upgrade.cmd:
@Echo off
msiexec.exe /i "\\Server\Share\tools\VMware Tools.msi" /qf REINSTALLMODE=vamus REINSTALL=ALL REBOOT="ReallySuppress"
exit

Then it parses the VMware Tools install and just push the correct answers for you. I had to call a batch file because scriptit does not handle well nested "".

Old school, not fully silent automated but still save time.

JP

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

Randy_B — Fri, 08 Jul 2005 15:45:11 GMT

I finally edited the msi with Wise and specified that this package would upgrade the previous package (had to give it a new product code). I first published the msi to an administrative install share, got that from another post:
http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?threadID=13440&start=15&tstart=0

For the driver signing in W2K3, I created a .inf that sets the local security and import it with secedit.

Contents of the .inf to disable the unsigned driver warning:

[Unicode]
Unicode=yes
[Version]
signature="$CHICAGO$"
Revision=1
[Registry Values]
MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Driver Signing\Policy=3,0

To reset it back to default:
[Unicode]
Unicode=yes
[Version]
signature="$CHICAGO$"
Revision=1
[Registry Values]
MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Driver Signing\Policy=3,1

Now that these steps all work individualy, I'm going to wrap it all up in a vb script. I'll post the whole thing when I'm done.

Randy

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

moenster — Fri, 08 Jul 2005 09:57:25 GMT

Hi

I wasn't able to make it work as described above, but the following made it work for me

SET VMTOOLPATH=
path

regedit /s "%VMTOOLPATH%\disableDriverSigningWarning.reg"
msiexec.exe /i "%VMTOOLPATH%\VMware Tools.msi" /q REBOOT="ReallySuppress"
regedit /s "%VMTOOLPATH%\enableDriverSigningWarning.reg"

By editing a single value in the msi-file, using orca, I can change the installation type.

How come the first didn't work?

This was all on windows 2000, the driver signing stuff doesn't seem to work on server 2003.

Regards Henrik

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

Randy_B — Thu, 07 Jul 2005 20:34:02 GMT

I am trying to use this method to upgrade the VMware tools on our existing servers. I can't get it to run without an error about another version already installed. I tried calling out the transforms they have in there but no luck there either. It leaves me to believe that the logic for the upgrade may be in the setup.exe. Has anyone else had any luck with this?

Thanks,
Randy

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

Jasemccarty — Wed, 29 Jun 2005 15:52:08 GMT

After many scripting attempts, I would dare to say that this is the most effective/easiest method that I've seen.

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

Rajeev — Wed, 29 Jun 2005 13:43:28 GMT

You have to force the server to update it's policies by issuing the SECEDIT (windows 2000) command or gpupdate (Windows 2003/XP).

Re: ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

TomVDB — Wed, 29 Jun 2005 12:58:29 GMT

can't get this to work...
when i use the bat file and the reg files.. the vmtools keeps asking about the driver signing

when i check the local policy's it tells me that it is still enabled and prompts for an action..

any sugestions?

(we don't want to do it with a Group Policy..

ESX VMWare Tools Silent Install/Upgrade ANSWER!

quihong — Tue, 19 Apr 2005 19:06:49 GMT

HOW TO INSTALL/UPGRADE VMWARE TOOLS SILENTLY ON ESX 2.5.

This is not going to be too detail. I am sure you guys can figure it out.

I used the following batch file:

SET VMTOOLPATH=\\ServerName\PathToVMWareTools

regedit /s "%VMTOOLPATH%\disableDriverSigningWarning.reg"
msiexec.exe /i "%VMTOOLPATH%\VMware Tools.msi" /qn REINSTALLMODE=vamus REINSTALL=ALL REBOOT="ReallySuppress"
regedit /s "%VMTOOLPATH%\enableDriverSigningWarning.reg"
shutdown /l /r /t:10 /c

The first problem with silently installing VMTools is the Driver Signing Warning.

This can be disabled via Group Policy. However, for some people (like me, no AD) this is not an option.

To disable the Driver Signing Warning I use the following registry file.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Driver Signing]
"Policy"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Driver Signing]
"Policy"=hex:00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Driver Signing]
"BehaviorOnFailedVerify" = dword:00000000

Copy the above and paste it into disableDriverSigningWarning.reg file. Merge this into the registry with the command "regedit /s disableDriverSigningWarning.reg"

The command that does the silent install is the following:

msiexec.exe /i "%VMTOOLPATH%\VMware Tools.msi" /qn REINSTALLMODE=vamus REINSTALL=ALL REBOOT="ReallySuppress"

Not sure what all the switches mean since I copied it from another community member. Thanks frond!

After the installation I enable the Driver Signing Warning (change registry value from 0 to 1) and then I do a reboot with the "shutdown.exe" that is part of the resource kit.

I have tested this on a Windows 2000 server and everything works well.

Let me know if it works for you or if you have any questions.

Qui