Darwin user not being created

[BillStreet00]

I am following the Prepare a Windows Reference Machine to Support Software vRA 7.3 found here. The server is a Windows 2012 R2 OS.  I extracted the JRE files and verified the java version. I extracted the GuestAgent files to c:\VRMGuestAgent.

Downloaded the bootstrap software, extracted to c:\temp. Went to c:\temp and ran the install.bat file, with an elevated command prompt, as the document says:

install.bat password=LOCAL ADMIN PW managerServiceHost=MY IAAS SERVER FQDN ServicePort=443 httpsMode=true cloudProvider=vca (as I am using vRA)

Everything runs without an error.  When complete I end up in the c:\opt\vmware\app-director directory.  I double check local users and the darwin account is not there.

Anyone else run into this issue?

[daphnissov]

In 7.3, there is a far easier way to get the guest/software agent installed than this. On https://<FQDN>/software/index.html scroll down and get the PS script as shown.

Run that and select the localSystem option. This removes the need for the local user named "darwin" which causes problems with some types of software installations due to system permissions associated.

[BillStreet00]

I ran the powershell script and it came out clean.  The agent is running.  Any way to find out if its actually working?  I created a small batch file that was to create a directory under windows temp as part of the server blueprint (VirtualMachine.Software1.ScriptPath - Batch file UNC is the value) and its not creating the folder. 

[daphnissov]

I write pretty extensively about use of the guest agent in a three-part blog series. You might want to give at least the first of these a read for testing the readiness of your agent installation.

1. Adding Machine Requestor to Local Administrators Group in vRA 7
2. Running in-guest scripts on Windows VMs in vRA 7
3. Running Bash commands in the Linux guest agent in vRA 7

[BillStreet00]

Very nice.  I have not seen these in my searches yet.  I will dig in now.