VMware Cloud Community
wheelz311
Contributor
Contributor
‎08-27-2009 02:08 PM

How to extract the right VMTools drivers?

I need the raw drivers for the VMTools that come with vsphere for our unattended process. In 3.5 it was easy as you could just browse the installation files. However in 4 all but the SCSI drivers are in a .cab file. When you extract the cabs, they have multiple versions of the files and it isn't clear which one is which. Anyone know?

Thanks!

0 Kudos
3 Replies
RParker
Immortal
Immortal
‎08-27-2009 02:55 PM

Anyone know?

So extract them all to a folder. Windows plug and play handles the rest, all it needs is a folder. That's what the inf files are for, they identify the driver type and applies the correct driver.

0 Kudos
wheelz311
Contributor
Contributor
‎08-27-2009 03:09 PM

I'm pretty sure Windows PnP doesn't recognize .inf1, .sys_32, and .sys_64 files. Here is what I get when I extract the cab for the vmxnet3:

vmxnet3n51x64.sys_64

vmxnet3n51x86.sys_32

vmxnet3n61x64.sys

vmxnet3n61x64.sys_64

vmxnet3n61x86.sys

vmxnet3n61x86.sys_32

vmxnet3ndis5.cat

vmxnet3ndis5.inf

vmxnet3ndis6.cat

vmxnet3ndis6.cat1

vmxnet3ndis6.inf

vmxnet3ndis6.inf1

Which ones are for which OS? The _32 and _64 seem redundant but then why are they included? Also what's the difference between the .inf and the .inf1 files? I have multiple OSes that range from Windows XP to Windows 2008 R2 Server and need to know which is which.

0 Kudos
wheelz311
Contributor
Contributor
‎07-06-2010 12:20 PM

In case anyone else wants to know, I got my answer from support. Basically you have to set up a test machine for each OS you have and then do the installation of vmware tools. Once installed, go to the installation directory and pull the drivers directly from there.

This way is a pain and the old way I did it was many times easier, but I guess this is what we are stuck with. I hate it when things regress instead of progress. 😕

0 Kudos