The required VMware Tools ISO image does not exist or is inaccessible

[netlib]

I successfully installed Windows 2019 Server on vSphere Essentials 5. However when I try to install VMWare Tools I get the following errors:

The required VMware Tools ISO image does not exist or is inaccessible.

Call "VirtualMachine.MountToolsInstaller" for object "Win2019" on vCenter Server "SERVER4" failed.

Unable to install VMware Tools. An error occurred while trying to access image file "/usr/lib/vmware/isoimages/windows.iso" needed to install VMware Tools: 0 (Connection timed out).

I found an article about how to download and install VMWare Tools for non-Windows operating systems, but not for Windows.  Any idea where I find the ISO?

Thanks.

[diegodco31]

Hi

The Windows server 2019 is not support in vsphere 5.

VMware Compatibility Guide - Guest/Host Search

[cyberpaul]

Hi, there are a few things to try.

First, you can ssh onto the ESXi host in question and verify that the ISO is actually reachable. The isoimages directory should be a working symlink to /productLocker/vmtools, verify like this:

ls -ls /usr/lib/vmware/

If the symlink is broken, rebooting the host can sometimes help.

If you don't want to go through all this, you can download the ISO manually from and connect it to your VM's virtual CD-ROM. The exact procedure is here:

VMware Knowledge Base

However, be aware that Windows Server 2019 is not supported on vSphere 5 so there might be issues with VMware Tools.

[netlib]

Thanks for the reply.  I went to the KB you mentioned to download the ISO.  I ended up navigating to this folder:

https://packages.vmware.com/tools/esx/5.0/windows/x64/index.html

However it turns out that the folder contains an executable, not an ISO:

VMware-tools-8.6.0-425873-x86_64.exe

Does that mean I run the EXE on the VM I just installed?

[ChrisFD2]

You should fix the original problem, which is working out why the tools won't install from the host.

Have you done as above and looked at the symbolic link and directory contents?

I have seen sda5 become corrupt, which is where the symlink points to.

[netlib]

I ended up downloading and installing the EXE on the Client VM.  It now says that VMWare Tools us running but unsupported.  However it seems to work satisfactorily.

[cyberpaul]

Hi, that's cool. Glad it worked.

Best regards, Pavel