VMware Tools not reporting Windows 2019 as guest OS

[Gabrie1]

Hi,

We're having an issue with VMware Guest OS not reporting Windows 2019 as the OS but "Microsoft Windows Server 2016 or later (64-bit)". This happens for all VMware Tools version we're running ( 10.3.5, 11.1, 11.2.5, 11.2.6). VM hardware versions 13, 14 and 15. ESXi hosts are 6.7 and up. 

I'm NOT talking about the OS version you can configure at the VM level, this is about the OS version the VMware Tools are reporting using:

get-vm | Sort | Get-View -Property @("Name", "Guest.GuestFullName")

For administration purpose we would like to count the number of 2019 OS's using the VMware Tools, but that is now impossible.

[DavoudTeimouri]

Did you check it on vSphere 7.x and hardware version 17?

[Gabrie1]

Yes, I did. I restored the VM to a different vCenter, booted it and VMware Tools immediately reported 2019 as Guest OS.

So what I didn't expect, the Guest OS reported by VMware Tools is also related to the ESXi version, which seems a bit strange to me. I would have expected the VMware Tools to just report the Guest OS which it can query from the guest. I can't see the reason behind this that you would like the VMware Tools to report the correct OS version only if you're on the correct ESXi host.

With the VM config where you have to specify the OS version to be installed, I can imagine that ESXi version determines which Guest OS you can install. But with the report by VMware Tools, I can't image why the info from the Guest OS on which OS is running inside, is not directly reported. 

If anyone can explain, I'd be happy to listen.

[berndweyand]

only hw-version 17 (since vsphere7) offers you the option for server2019 and recognizes this version, but nevertheless server2019 is supported with 6.7

server2019 was not available when vsphere6.7 was released, so this option is missing.

[Gabrie1]

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@berndweyand wrote:

only hw-version 17 (since vsphere7) offers you the option for server2019 and recognizes this version, but nevertheless server2019 is supported with 6.7

server2019 was not available when vsphere6.7 was released, so this option is missing.

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Well, that is the OS Version you configure on the VM.

My point is that I don't get why the Guest OS reported by the VMware Tools is not the real OS inside the VM. When I name the VM Tes01, but inside of the VM the Guest hostname is VM003, then the VMware Tools report VM003 as the Guest OS name. VMware Tools can also report the iP address that is used inside the VM. Why can't they report correct Guest OS independent from the ESXi version, independent of wether the OS is supported or not? 

[nachogonzalez]

Hey, hope you are doing fine.
Can you check using RVtools?

the tool has an option to show Guest OS according to VMware tools and and option to show GuestOS according to Config File (or VMX, I don't remember the field name exactly)

Maybe the powercli snippet is getting the GuestOS you have configured at the moment of the provisioning of the VM.

[Gabrie1]

With RVtools it is the same. Also in the vCenter HTML5 GUI, you can see the guest OS as reported by VMware Tools, and this too differs from what is really running inside the VM, unless it is on ESXi 7.

[BeSoFe]

Hello I have the same issue here. Is there a solution or explanation, why vm tool cannot report OS version correctly?