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ibmjrsmith
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How do I install VMware tools in an ESXi 5.0 guest hypervisor?

I am running multiple instances of ESXi 5.0 as guest hypervisors under ESXi 5.0. If possible, I would like to install the VMware tools on each guest hypervisor. Is this supported? If so, how is it done? When I click Guest, then Install/Upgrade VMware Tools in vCenter, an error message is displayed that says "No VMware Tools Package is available. The VMware Tools package is not available for this guest operating system."

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Dave_Mishchenko
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Welcome to the VMware Communities forums.  I don't believe there is a VMware Tools package for ESXi.

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Dave_Mishchenko
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Welcome to the VMware Communities forums.  I don't believe there is a VMware Tools package for ESXi.

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admin
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Dave Mishchenko wrote:

I don't believe there is a VMware Tools package for ESXi.

That is correct.

ibmjrsmith
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When running ESXi 5.0 as a guest hypervisor under ESXI 5.0, will it recognize VMXNET2 and VMXNET3 or must I stick with E1000?

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admin
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You have to stick with E1000.

ibmjrsmith
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Thank you. I probably should have tried to add another network adapter using a different driver before I asked. I just did and found that the E1000E is also an option. It shows up as an Intel 82574L Gigabit Network Connection. The E1000 appears as an Intel 82545EM. Not sure if the change will provide any significant improvement. Any thoughts?

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admin
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I don't expect it to make any difference.

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beeguar
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Has anyone figure out how to install a tools package into the nested hypervisor?

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admin
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There isn't a VMware Tools package for an ESXi guest.

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beeguar
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That's been well documented, but there are multiple OSes where unsupported versions of tools work extremely well. I'm hoping for the same effect here using linux tools. The physical hypervisor sees the nested hypervisor as a linux VM and will deploy RHEL tools into it. I'm just wondering if they will actually stick or if anyone has been able to get a sucecssful install of them.

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admin
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Brett Guarino wrote:

That's been well documented, but there are multiple OSes where unsupported versions of tools work extremely well. I'm hoping for the same effect here using linux tools. The physical hypervisor sees the nested hypervisor as a linux VM and will deploy RHEL tools into it. I'm just wondering if they will actually stick or if anyone has been able to get a sucecssful install of them.

If you've configured your ESXi guest correctly, the host hypervisor sees it as an ESXi VM, not a Linux VM.  Regardless, the Linux version of VMware Tools will not work in an ESXi VM.

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beeguar
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Fair enough. It was a really old one I had built that has the vm version as "Other 64 bit Linux" instead of "VMware ESXi 5.x (experimental)."

I'd still like to make this work. I'm not giving up on it! Smiley Happy

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admin
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Which Tools, in particular, would you like to see supported in an ESXi VM?

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beeguar
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I'm not sure I follow the question, as there is no existing package that would just "work," but it would be nice to see the features native to VMTools available in a nested hypervisor... i.e. Ballooning, vmxnet3, power button functionality to issue a graceful shutdown/reboot, etc.

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admin
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Brett Guarino wrote:

I'm not sure I follow the question, as there is no existing package that would just "work," but it would be nice to see the features native to VMTools available in a nested hypervisor... i.e. Ballooning, vmxnet3, power button functionality to issue a graceful shutdown/reboot, etc.

ESXi 5.1 should have native support for vmxnet3.  There have been a number of requests for power button functionality.  You're the first I know of to request ballooning, but it makes sense.  I'll add it to the feature request list.

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beeguar
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Thanks so much! I suppose the features I want from Tools could easily be addressed without actually creating a VMTools package specifically for the hypervisor.

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