How to determine whether given OS is running as Virtual Machine?

[rampang]

Are there any vm specific files or commands/apis that exist uniform across all the OS's when installed within ESX Server as guest OS?

If OS platform dependent, what mechanisms are available for each OS? (Specifically looking for Solaris, Windows, Linux, HPUX and AIX)

Thanks

[bmani27]

Hi,

Actually i cant get ur question clearly. If ur question is "How to determine the OS of a given VM?"

config.guestFullName property of a VM gives the OS name of the respective VM.

Eg: "Suse Linux Enterprise Server (32-bit)"

Hope that helps.

Thanks,

Mani

[tos2k]

Hi!

Just in case your question was about detecting if a OS is run within a VM, a popular reading should be this one:

http://theinvisiblethings.blogspot.com/2007/08/virtualization-detection-vs-blue-pill.html

Tos2k

[bertdb · Accepted solution]

you're talking about commands that you'd run inside an OS to see whether or not it runs in a Virtual Machine ?

looking at the PCI bus, you'll easily see if your environment is a VMware virtual machine or not. Other hardware details (such as the SCSI disk identification string, BIOS contents) can give it away as well.