VMware tools - location on CD?

[Chris_Howard]

Hi,

I'm planning to upgrade an ESX 3.0.2 host to ESX 3.5 update 1.

Once this is complete, I plan to install a bunch on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 VMs to this host.

I will be using a kickstart script to automate the installation of RHEL. I would like to include the installation of the VMware tools as part of this.

I have downloaded the ESX 3.5 update 1 iso. I was planning to extract the VMware Tools iso for this OS from this CD image, so I could have a play with the installation of the tools. - I can't seem to find this on the CD. - I assume it must be in an tar/ gzip file.

Does anyone know how to get to the iso for this without having to actually install ESX 3.5? - or any other advice about bulk installing the VMware tools to a bunch of linux guests.

Many thanks,

Chris Howard.

[admin · Accepted solution]

The tools iso's are stored in an rpm in the ESX ISO in the directory VMware/RPMS

Not sure about 3.5 U1, but In 3.5 build 64607 the package is called VMware-esx-tools-3.5.0-64607.i386.rpm. I assume its something similar in ESX 3.5 U1.

To extract the iso's from the rpm, using a linux distro that supports rpm or from ESX service console:

rpm2cpio package.rpm | cpio -idmv

[Chris_Howard]

Perfect - many thanks.