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sleepnow
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Bulk upgrade of VMtools

We'd like to bulk upgrade the VMtools on our servers through the VIClient, but would like to do so without rebooting so that we can schedule that for a later date. Does anyone know the switch (if there is one) to use in Advanced Options that will allow us to supress rebooting?

Thanks

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merse
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I don't think there is a switch for suppressing the reboot on the advanced options, not one that I've seen documented at least.

An alternative method of bulk upgrading is to get hold of the Vmware Tools.msi file and use Windows Installer command lines to suppress the reboot.

If you carry out an interactive VMtools installation on a guest you can copy the msi off of the mounted Virtual CD drive. A sample command line for a silent install would be:

MSIEXEC /i "VMware Tools.msi" /qn /REBOOT="ReallySuppress"

I've used Altiris to deliver the tools en masse with this method.

merse

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merse
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I don't think there is a switch for suppressing the reboot on the advanced options, not one that I've seen documented at least.

An alternative method of bulk upgrading is to get hold of the Vmware Tools.msi file and use Windows Installer command lines to suppress the reboot.

If you carry out an interactive VMtools installation on a guest you can copy the msi off of the mounted Virtual CD drive. A sample command line for a silent install would be:

MSIEXEC /i "VMware Tools.msi" /qn /REBOOT="ReallySuppress"

I've used Altiris to deliver the tools en masse with this method.

merse

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Troy_Clavell
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rocker77
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1. Create schedulled task and use this script:


server\vmtools\setup.exe /s /v"/qn REINSTALLMODE=voums REINSTALL=ALL REBOOT=REALLYSUPPRESS"

You must copy VMtools install files to network share "vmtools"

2. Create another schedulled task which will reboot server

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sleepnow
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Thanks for your resposes!

I've tried a few different switches while trying to do it through VIClient with bizarre results (unable to open console to VM, having to restart VC service), so it looks like we'll have to roll out the upgrade the way you guys have mentioned and using switches on the MSI itself. Shame though, surely it would make sense for VMware to implement such a feature.

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