Reinstall ESXi 5 on USB flash drive?

[Marshel87]

Hello everybody!

I think I have crashed my ESXi 5 yesterday.

I wanted to install the VMware Tools via vSphere Cliente on a new VM like everytime. But nothing happens on the VM, no installation manager, no error after 5 or 10 minutes. Then I tried it again and again nothing...

Then I restarted the VM and wanted to try it again. But after a few minutes  this error comes up (Translated with www.translate.google.de):

Usage of "VirtualMachine.MountToolsInstaller" for object "VM Name" on ESXi "ESXi name" failed.
VMware Tools can not be installed. When attempting to access the image file '/ usr / lib / vmware / isoimages / windows.iso' access required to install VMware Tools
required, an error has occurred: 0 (No such device or address). If your product is included with the VMware Tools package, install VMware ESX
and try to install the VMware Tools package inside the virtual machine.
The required ISO image for VMware Tools is not available or can not be accessed.

And when I try to browse to the folder "isoimages" nothing happens, but the folder itself exists.

I think something went wrong with this folder or with the tools...

Now my question is if I can reinstall ESXi 5 and how to handle it?

We have it installed on an USB flash drive.

Is it possible to just install it again oder do I need to formate the drive and install and config again?

Is it possible to save the current configuration?

What would happen to the VMs in the datastores, will they be registered automatically or do I need to register each VM manually?

I hope you can help me

Best regards!

Marcel

[nielse]

If you re-install you will have to register the VM's again if this is a standalone host. You can however preserve the VMDK disk during the install and you can backup the current configuration before performing the fresh install so you can use it again later.

Even tho I don't think that a re-install is needed. Can you see if there is a CDROM connected on the VM (edit settings)?

If so can you change this to for "Client Device" and then rightclick the VM -> Guest -> Install VMware tools and select the first option (Interactive Tools Upgrade). With this way you can do a full VMware re-install.

[iw123]

Hi

isoimages is a sym link pointing to the productlocker partition. Have a  look at the following KB article to see if it helps:

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=103740...

Thanks

[saurabhbhattach]

Can you please check if this helps?

http://www.torkwrench.com/2011/12/05/unable-to-install-vmware-tools-no-such-file-or-directory/

[Sreejesh_D]

The following vmware tool ISOs should present in isoimages.

<snip>

~ # cd /usr/lib/vmware/isoimages/

/vmfs/volumes/4f8e05d1-003593bf-cd0a-68b599b7b654/packages/5.0.0/vmtools # ls

darwin.iso                 linux_avr_manifest.txt     winPre2k.iso

darwin.iso.sig             netware.iso                winPre2k.iso.sig

freebsd.iso                netware.iso.sig            winPre2k_avr_manifest.txt

freebsd.iso.sig            solaris.iso                windows.iso

linux.iso                  solaris.iso.sig            windows.iso.sig

linux.iso.sig              tools-key.pub              windows_avr_manifest.txt

</snip>

Since you mentioned you cant see those files there may be some problem with the symbolic link "/usr/lib/vmware/isoimages/" or the target folder "/productLocker/vmtools/ ".

Do "ls -ls /usr/lib/vmware/" and see the output.

isoimages -> /productLocker/vmtools/

If symbolic link is broken try fixing it by using command ln -sf . If you are not comfortable with it I would recommend to reboot the host.

It should fix the problem.

Here are answers for your questions:

>>>>>>Now my question is if I can reinstall ESXi 5 and how to handle it?

I don't  recommend to reinstall the host to fix this issue. As mentioned above try fixing the sym liink issue by doing a host reboot.

>>>>>>Is it possible to just install it again oder do I need to formate the drive and install and config again?

Yes, you have to do the configurations again.

>>>>Is it possible to save the current configuration?

Yes, by using vCLI or vMA you can take backup of the configurations. Please refer the following article.

http://professionalvmware.com/2010/05/how-to-backup-esxi-configuration-the-missing-piece/

>>>> What would happen to the VMs in the datastores, will they be registered automatically or do I need to register each VM manually?

yes, you have to register the VMs manually.

[Marshel87]

Hi again and thanks for your help.

At the moment I just tested tese steps:

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=103740...

my path /usr/lib/vmware/isoimages is a symlink to /productlocker/vmtools

but if I try to cd to /productlocker/vmtools it says that it's not possible to cd there...

then I tried "ls -l" and I got this(short version):

/usr/lib/vmware/isoimages -> /productlocker/vmtools

/productlocker -> /locker/packages/5.0.0

/locker -> /store

/store -> /vmfs/volumes/4f7c0538-604....

/vmfs

And I can't cd to /locker or anything else...

I am not used to Linux. How can I find the place where the ISO should be to check if it is still there?

If I got more time I will try the other solutions you posted!

EDIT: Thanks for your answer, I was writing mine while you post yours...

ls -ls /usr/lib/vmware   results in

...

isoimages -> /productLocker/vmtools/

...

[Sreejesh_D]

/store -> /vmfs/volumes/4f7c0538-604...

try CD to /vmfs/volumes/4f7c0538-604...

If its working then the problem is with the broken symlinks. If its not, i would recommend to restart the host once.

[Marshel87]

cd /vmfs/volumes/4f7c0538-604a895f-73c0-0015176d139d

can't cd to  /vmfs/volumes/4f7c0538-604a895f-73c0-0015176d139d

okay, I will try to restart the mashine if possible.

Just to be sure: Restarting the host means restarting the whole server (shutting down the VMs and then restart the machine), and not restarting the management console?

[Sreejesh_D]

Restarting the whole server not the management console.

[Marshel87]

Thanks so far!

I'll tell you if I have managed to restart it.

Marcel

EDIT:

For your information:

cd /vmfs/volumes

ls

Results in a "Connection timed out"

for all thre datastores

[Sreejesh_D]

Am not sure why datastores are missing. That's weird. Hope restart will fix all these issues.

Good luck.

[Marshel87]

Hi again!

Today I wanted to restart the ESXi Server and it ends up with an "operating system not found" ...

No desktop PC found the USB device, so that it seems as if it is broken and we need a new one and have to install the ESXi again...

[zXi_Gamer]

Hi,

    I had faced one such issue, and to confirm, are you facing this issue with IBM servers?. Also since you are to reinstall ESXi, the next time, you hit the issue, can you tell us if fdisk -l shows the 8th partition?