Question(s) on VMware tools

[macpiano]

I used update manager to update the VMs to the latest tools. However when I checked them in their summary it still says out of date. I rebooted the server and then logged in and the old version was still there. I clicked VMware Toosl and I clicked the Update tools button. Nothing has happened.

What did I miss? What would be the sense of using update manager if they have to all be done manually anyways?

thanks

gary

[duhaas]

do the vm's your trying to update contain a virtual cd drive

[macpiano]

It looks like they do. I will disconnect and see if that helps. Thanks

gary

[macpiano]

I just tried it with the CD not connected to anything and it says  "unable to install tools etc.,  the required VMware tools iso image does not exist. It looks like it is in the patch repository." Hmmm.

[vcpguy]

Can you please read this kb - http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=1003910&sl...  and tell us what happens when you follow this steps .

Also, please tell us your guest OS type and if you see any error messages in your event logs

Thanks

[macpiano]

In our AD environment we have Autorun set to disabled because of viruses like Conficker which we had for a while. These are 2003 and 2008 machines. I suspect the disabled autorun is causing the failure. I may change the group policy momentarily when I update the Tools to enable autorun..

thanks

gary

[vcpguy]

I am think, i am missing a point here. You can always run the exe manually. Your earlier post mentioned that you were "unable to install the VMware tools".

[macpiano]

The point is do I really want to upgrade 50 VM's tools one by one? I just want update manager to do it otherwise why even have an UPdate Manager? Useless otherwise.

[vcpguy]

you can use the option to updagre the tools whenever the VMs are rebooted. Look under the options tab of each VM. I think there is also a Powershell script to do that. Let me search on the net and I will post it here.

[macpiano]

I noticed that as well and tried one of them but I got no dsiplay that it was installing the tools like the KB said it would. I will keep working on this as for me it is kind of a holy grail to get these things working in bulk.

[vcpguy]

I don't think you are going to get any display. Just select that options and reboot your VM. You might get this message on your console "Click ok to install" OR something link "click OK to reboot" wait for 3-4 minutes and i think you should have a update VMware tools.

The only potential problem that I think, (I have never tested this) is you have turn off autorun option.

thanks

[vcpguy]

Here you go. - Got this info from the following link - http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=102829...

Updating VMware Tools

Update-Tools  cmdlets can be used to update the VMware Tools on a single or multiple  virtual machines. This command reboots the virtual machine after  updating the VMware Tools. You can use the -NoReboot option to update the VMware Tools without rebooting the virtual machine.

In this example,  the VMware Tools for all of the virtual machines in Resource Pool vCloud  are updated without rebooting the virtual machine:

[vSphere  PowerCLI] C:\Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure\vSphere PowerCLI>  Get-ResourcePool vcloud | Get-VM | Update-Tools -NoReboot
WARNING: Automatic update of VMware tools is not fully supported for
non-Windows OSs. Manual intervention might be required.

[macpiano]

I will give that a whirl when I get a chance. I have used the powercli on several occaissions.

thanks

Gary

[chriswahl]

This is an article I wrote on updating via both advanced configuration in the vSphere Client GUI, and through PowerCLI. I've also provided tips to avoid a reboot.

http://wahlnetwork.com/2012/01/09/avoiding-those-pesky-reboots-when-updating-vmware-tools/

Hopefully one of the two assist.

Cheers.

[macpiano]

Turns out my ESXi did not have the tools inside the Tools folder hence no windows.iso that has the tools. The one you can attach as a CD drvive. I just installed a new ESXi host and the files are there. Don't know how I will upgrade that when new Tools come out but I will do that later.

[AndreTheGiant]

Which edition of ESXi are you using? The free one?

In VM properties do you have specify the right guest OS?