Allow vmware tools upgrade via vCenter

[ProjectD22]

Hello there!

I've ran into a weird problem with some vm's in one of our clusters today. When trying to upgrade the vmware tools an error is stating that the tools weren't found or aren't accessible on the host. After some research I found an advanced setting (isolation.tools.autoInstall.disable) that prevents vcenter from upgrading vmware tools.

The solution to this:

The required VMWare Tools ISO image does not exist or is inaccessible. | Kalle's playground

I've no idea how this happened but I need to change this setting on every vm in this cluster. The problem is we can't shutdown 85 productive vm's to change this setting.

Here's some infos:

ESX Host OS

• Hypervisor:VMware ESXi, 6.5.0, 8294253 (Image provided by CISCO)

I'm using a vcenter server appliance 6.5 U2.

Is there anyway to fix this issue without shutting down the machines?

Thank you in advance!

[rcporto · Accepted solution]

You can try change the settings using PowerCLI, since it will allow you change the settings while VM is running.

Check the following link for additional details: The system must disable tools auto install.