Posts Tagged ‘ESXi’

A general system error occured: pending vpxa update.

Written by M.Pol on . Posted in VMware

When you upgrade a VMware vSphere environment the following error can occur when you just updated the VMware vCenter server.


In my case this was an upgrade of VMware vCenter 4.1 to VMware vCenter 5.1 with VMware vSphere ESX 4.1 hosts. In the installation of vCenter I checked the option to upgrade the vCenter agents on the hosts automatically. After the installation of vCenter I checked the status of the hosts. The following error was showing.


This sometimes happens. I started searching for a solution. I found VMware KB1002672 and VMware KB1003714 that describes my problem.

Reading both KB articles my first try was to manually restart the vpxa agent and the management agents. See VMware KB1003490

When reading the different articles my ESX host was already unreachable for my vCenter server. Communication to the host was no problem.

So I started SSH and restarted the management Agents. Then I restarted the vpxa agent service. Both where successful. Now select Connect in vCenter. The installation of the new vpxa agent started again and now it was successful after a couple of minutes. Problem solved.

If there are still problems, see VMware KB1003714 for a manual installation of the vpxa agent.

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What’s New in VMware vSphere 5.1?

Written by M.Pol on . Posted in VMware

vSphere 5.1 is VMware’s latest release of its industry-leading virtualization platform. This new release contains the following new features and enhancements:

Compute

  • Larger virtual machines – Virtual machines can grow two times larger than in any previous release to support even the most advanced applications. Virtual machines can now have up to 64 virtual CPUs (vCPUs) and 1TB of virtual RAM (vRAM).
  • New virtual machine format – New features in the virtual machine format (version 9) in vSphere 5.1 include support for larger virtual machines, CPU performance counters and virtual shared graphics acceleration designed for enhanced performance.

Storage

  • Flexible, space-efficient storage for virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) – A new disk format enables the correct balance between space efficiency and I/O throughput for the virtual desktop.

Network

  • vSphere Distributed Switch – Enhancements such as Network Health Check, Configuration Backup and Restore, Roll Back and Recovery, and Link Aggregation Control Protocol support and deliver more enterprise-class networking functionality and a more robust foundation for cloud computing.
  • Single-root I/O virtualization (SR-IOV) support – Support for SR-IOV optimizes performance for sophisticated applications.

Availability

  • vSphere vMotion® – Leverage the advantages of vMotion (zero-downtime migration) without the need for shared storage configurations. This new vMotion capability applies to the entire network.
  • vSphere Data Protection – Simple and cost effective backup and recovery for virtual machines. vSphere Data Protection is a newly architected solution based EMC Avamar technology that allows admins to back up virtual machine data to disk without the need of agents and with built-in deduplication. This feature replaces the vSphere Data Recovery product available with previous releases of vSphere.
  • vSphere Replication – vSphere Replication enables efficient array-agnostic replication of virtual machine data over the LAN or WAN. vSphere Replication simplifies management enabling replication at the virtual machine level and enables RPOs as low as 15 minutes.
  • Zero-downtime upgrade for VMware Tools – After you upgrade to the VMware Tools available with version 5.1, no reboots will be required for subsequent VMware Tools upgrades.

Security

  • VMware vShield Endpoint™ – Delivers a proven endpoint security solution to any workload with an approach that is simplified, efficient, and cloud-aware. vShield Endpoint enables 3rd party endpoint security solutions to eliminate the agent footprint from the virtual machines, offload intelligence to a security virtual appliance, and run scans with minimal impact.

Automation

  • vSphere Storage DRS™ and Profile-Driven Storage. New integration with VMware vCloud® Director™ enables further storage efficiencies and automation in a private cloud environment.
  • vSphere Auto Deploy™ – Two new methods for deploying new vSphere hosts to an environment make the Auto Deploy process more highly available then ever before.

Management (with vCenter Server)

  • vSphere Web Client –The vSphere Web Client is now the core administrative interface for vSphere. This new flexible, robust interface simplifies vSphere control through shortcut navigation, custom tagging, enhanced scalability, and the ability to manage from anywhere with Internet Explorer or Firefox-enabled devices.
  • vCenter Single Sign-On – Dramatically simplify vSphere admin- istration by allowing users to log in once to access all instances or layers of vCenter without the need for further authentication.
  • vCenter Orchestrator – Orchestrator simplifies installation and configuration of the powerful workflow engine in vCenter Server. Newly designed workflows enhance ease of use, and can also be launched directly from the new vSphere Web Client.

Learn More

For information on upgrading to vSphere 5.1, visit the vSphere Upgrade Center at http://www.vmware.com/products/vsphere/upgrade-center/overview.html

vSphere is also available with the new vCloud suites from VMware. For more information, visit http://www.vmware.com/go/vcloud-suite

 

Source: VMware What’s new in VMware vSphere 5.1 document. Link

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Device Manager is running in read-only mode

Written by M.Pol on . Posted in Microsoft, VMware

Today I was creating a template for my VMware environment, when I was trying to change the graphical interface card I was running into some problems. This is the message the Device Manager is giving me.

The result is that I cannot change any drivers or devices.

The solution is very simple but not obvious. My computer name is longer than 15 characters. This is a problem for NetBIOS computers. It turns out this is also a problem for the device manager. So I changed my computer name to a name with less than 15 characters, now everything works normal again.

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VMware vSphere 5 links

Written by M.Pol on . Posted in VMware

Eric Siebert created a list of links about all the VMware vSphere 5 content he could find. See vSphere-Land for the complete list. I’ve selected a few that are important to me or are worth reading.

What’s New Whitepapers

What’s New in VMware vSphere 5.0 Platform (VMware)
What’s New in VMware vSphere 5.0 Storage (VMware)
What’s New in VMware vSphere 5.0 Performance (VMware)
What’s New in VMware vSphere 5.0 Networking (VMware)
What’s New in VMware vSphere 5.0 Availability (VMware)
What’s New in VMware vCloud Director 1.5 (VMware)
What’s New in VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0 (VMware)
What’s New in VMware Data Recovery 2.0 (VMware)

Documentation

VMware vSphere product documentation (VMware)
VMware vSphere Basics Guide
vSphere Installation and Setup Guide
vSphere Upgrade Guide
vCenter Server and Host Management Guide
vSphere Virtual Machine Administration Guide
vSphere Host Profiles Guide
vSphere Networking Guide
vSphere Storage Guide
vSphere Security Guide
vSphere Resource Management Guide
vSphere Availability Guide
vSphere Monitoring and Performance Guide
vSphere Troubleshooting
VMware vSphere Examples and Scenarios Guide

Licensing.

VMware vSphere 5.0 Licensing, Pricing and Packaging (VMware)
vSphere 5 Purchase Advisor (VMware)
vSphere 5 Entitlement Mapping (VMware)
Upgrading to VMware vSphere License Keys (VMware)
vSphere Desktop – vSphere Edition to host Desktop Virtualization FAQ (VMware)
Understanding the vSphere 5 vRAM Licensing Model (VMware – Rethink IT)

Storage

vSphere 5.0 Storage Features Part 1 – VMFS-5 (VMware vSphere Blog)
vSphere 5.0 Storage Features Part 2 – Storage vMotion (VMware vSphere Blog)
vSphere 5.0 Storage Features Part 3 – VAAI (VMware vSphere Blog)
vSphere 5.0 Storage Features Part 4 – Storage DRS – Initial Placement (VMware vSphere Blog)

Upgrade

VMware vSphere Upgrade Center (VMware)
Ivo Beerens upgrade blog (IvoBeerens.nl)

Best Practices

Performance Best Practices for VMware vSphere 5.0
VMware vSphere vMotion Architecture, Performance and Best Practices in VMware vSphere 5
VMware vSphere 5.0 Upgrade Best Practices

vCenter Server

vSphere 5 – vCenter as a linux VM (ESX Virtualization)
vSphere vCenter 5 Design Considerations (Kendrick Coleman)
vCenter 5 – To Appliance or Not? (Kendrick Coleman)
vSphere 5 vCenter Server Virtual Appliance Quick-Start Guide (VMwire)
VMware vCenter Server Virtual Appliance (VCSA) features and benefits (VMwire)

Books

Announcing Mastering VMware vSphere 5 (Scott Lowe)
Hot of the press: vSphere 5.0 Clustering Technical Deepdive (Yellow Bricks)

Certification & Training

vSphere 5 – New Training Courses: What’s New [V5.0] and VCP5 (NTPro.nl)
VMware vSphere: Install, Configure, Manage [V5.0] Training Course by VMware Education (ESX Virtualization)
VCP5 vs VCP4: Comparing exam blueprints (vmDK)

Download

vSphere 5 download link.

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ESX and ESXi logfile locations

Written by M.Pol on . Posted in VMware

Location of ESX log files

You can see ESX logs:
  • From the Service Console
  • From the vSphere Client connected directly to the ESX host (click Home > Administration > System Logs)
  • From the VMware Infrastructure Client connected directly to the ESX host (click Administration > System Logs)
The vmkernel logs (which log everything related to the kernel/core of the ESX) are located at /var/log/vmkernel
The vmkwarning logs (which log warnings from the vmkernel) are located at /var/log/vmkwarning
The vmksummary logs (which provide a summary of system activities such as uptime, downtime, reasons for downtime) are located at /var/log/vmksummary
The hostd log (which is the log of the ESX management service of the ESX) are located at /var/log/vmware/hostd.log
The messages log (which log activity on the Service Console operating system) is located at /var/log/messages
The VirtualCenter Agent log is located at /var/log/vmware/vmware/vpx/vpxa.log
The Automatic Availability Manager (AAM) logs are located at /var/log/vmware/aam/vmware_<hostname>-xxx.log
The SW iSCSI logs are located at /var/log/vmkiscsid.log
The System boot log is located at /var/log/boot-logs/sysboot.log

Additional Information

For related information, see the main article in this series, Location of log files for VMware products (1021806).

Location of ESXi log files

The VMkernel, vmkwarning, and hostd logs are located at /var/log/messages
The Host Management service (hostd = Host daemon) log is located at /var/log/vmware/hostd.log
The VirtualCenter Agent log is located at /var/log/vmware/vmware/vpx/vpxa.log
The System boot log is located at /var/log/sysboot.log
The Automatic Availability Manager (AAM) logs are located at /var/log/vmware/aam/vmware_<hostname>-xxx.log
Note: The logs on an ESXi host can be rolled over and or removed after an ESXi host reboot. VMware recommends configuring the ESXi host with a syslog server. For more information on syslog server configuration, see your product versions Basic System Administration guide.

Additional Information

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Best practices for virtual machine snapshots in the VMware environment

Written by M.Pol on . Posted in VMware

After troubleshooting some problems with snapshots I ran in to an article on the VMware Knowledge base with some good info. See document ID 1025279 at http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=1025279

This is the article.

Purpose

This article provides best practice information for snapshots. It also provides links to resources that help you understand snapshots and troubleshoot snapshot issues.

Resolution

Best practices

  • Snapshots are not backups. As the snapshot file is only a change log of the original virtual disk, do not rely upon it as a direct backup process. The virtual machine is running on the most current snapshot, not the original vmdk disk files.
  • The maximum supported amount in a chain is 32. However, VMware recommends that you use only 2-3 snapshots in a chain.
  • Use no single snapshot for more than 24-72 hours.
    • This prevents snapshots from growing so large as to cause issues when deleting/committing them to the original virtual machine disks. Take the snapshot, make the changes to the virtual machine, and delete/commit the snapshot as soon as you have verified the proper working state of the virtual machine.
    • Be especially diligent with snapshot use on high-transaction virtual machines such as email and database servers. These snapshots can very quickly grow in size, filling datastore space. Commit snapshots on these virtual machines as soon as you have verified the proper working state of the process you are testing.|
  • If using a third party product that takes advantage of snapshots (such as virtual machine backup software), regularly monitor systems configured for backups to ensure that no snapshots remain active for extensive periods of time.
    • Snapshots should only be present for the duration of the backup process.
    • Snapshots taken by third party software (called via API) may not show up in the vCenter Snapshot Manager. Routinely check for snapshots via the command-line.
  • An excessive number of snapshots in a chain or snapshots large in size may cause decreased virtual machine and host performance.
  • Configure automated vCenter Server alarms to trigger when a virtual machine is running from snapshots. For more information, see Configuring VMware vCenter Server to send alarms when virtual machines are running from snapshots (1018029).
  • Confirm that there no snapshots are present (via command line) before a Storage vMotion. If snapshots are present, delete them prior to the Storage vMotion. For more information, see Migrating an ESX 3.x virtual machine with snapshots in powered-off or suspended state to another datastore might cause data loss and make the virtual machine unusable (1020709).
  • Confirm that there are no snapshots present (via command line) before increasing the size of any Virtual Machine virtual disk or virtual RDM. If snapshots are present, delete them prior to increasing the size of the disk/s. Increasing the size of a disk with snapshots present can lead to corruption of the snapshots and potential data loss. For more information, see Increasing the Size of a Virtual Disk.

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Renaming a virtual machine and its files

Written by M.Pol on . Posted in VMware

When I was renaming some virtual machines in my test lab, I discovered that the file names are not renamed with the virtual machine. In the future this may be causing some problems so I was looking for a method to rename the files also. On the VMware site I’ve found a knowledgebase article about it. It describes the correct way to rename also the files. See KB Article: 1029513. Original link: http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=1029513

Purpose

This article provides steps to rename a virtual machine and its files.
These steps may be useful if you rename a virtual machine, but its files retain the original file names. You may want to rename the virtual machine disk files to prevent possible confusion.

Resolution

The content of the displayName configuration option is updated when you rename a virtual machine. However, the underlying files are not renamed.

Renaming the files

To rename the files:
  1. Log into the VMware vSphere Client.
  2. Locate the virtual machine in your host inventory.
  3. Begin a Storage vMotion or an offline Storage Migration of the virtual machine.For more information, see :
  4. The destination copy’s file names are be updated to your desired values.

If this is not an option, you may also rename the files by hand after the virtual machine has been powered down.

Manually renaming virtual machine files

Warning: Before proceeding, ensure that:

  • The virtual machine has a current backup and that it has been powered down.
  • The virtual machine does not have snapshots or virtual disks shared with other virtual machines.

To manually rename the virtual machine’s files:

  1. Log into the VMware vSphere Client.
  2. Locate the virtual machine in your host inventory.
  3. Power down the virtual machine.
  4. Right-click on the virtual machine and choose Remove from inventory.
  5. Connect to the terminal of the ESX server via SSH, System Management Interface, or directly at its console, and log in.Note: For additional instructions for ESXi, see Tech Support Mode for Emergency Support (1003677).
  6. Navigate to the directory containing the virtual machine. For example, cd /vmfs/volumes/<datastore>/<virtual machine>/.
  7. Run this command to rename the virtual disk files:vmkfstools -E “originalname.vmdk” “newname.vmdk”Note: Is it unnecessary to once again rename the originalname-flat.vmdk file after running the vmkfstools command.
  8. Copy the virtual machine configuration file (.vmx) using the command:cp “originalname.vmx” “newname.vmx”
  9. Edit the copied configuration file, such as (newname.vmx), using the vi editor:vi “newname.vmx”Note: For VMware ESX hosts, the nano editor is also available. If you are uncomfortable using the vi editor, seek assistance from a Linux/Unix administrator or file a Support Request and contact VMware Technical Support.
  10. Within the configuration file, modify all old instances of the virtual machine’s file names to the new file names. There should be at least the following to adjust:nvram = “originalname.nvram”
    displayName = “originalname”
    extendedConfigFile = “originalname.vmxf”
    scsi0:0.fileName = “originalname.vmdk”
    [...]
    migrate.hostlog = “./originalname-UUID.hlog”

    Repeat this process for each virtual machine disk. Such as:

    scsi0:1.fileName = “originalname_1.vmdk”
    scsi0:2.fileName = “originalname_2.vmdk”

    Correct the VMkernel swap file reference:

    sched.swap.derivedName = “/vmfs/volumes/DatastoreUUID/originalname/originalname-UUID.vswp

    To

    sched.swap.derivedName = “/vmfs/volumes/DatastoreUUID/newname/newname-UUID.vswp

    Note: Be sure to rename both the .vswp file and the directory name for the swap file, bolded above.

  11. Correct any other remaining lines referencing the original path or file names.
  12. Save the file and exit the editor.
  13. Rename all the remaining files, except for the .vmx configuration file, to the new names desired. For example:mv “originalname.nvram” “newname.nvram”
  14. Change directory to the parent directory using cd .. and rename the directory for the virtual machine:mv “originalname” “newname”
  15. Using the VMware vSphere Client, browse the datastore and navigate to the renamed virtual machine directory.
  16. Right-click on the virtual machine’s configuration file (.vmx) and choose Add to inventory.Alternatively, you can use this command to inventory the virtual machine:vmware-cmd -s register “/vmfs/volues/DatastoreName/newname/newname.vmx”
  17. Power on the virtual machine.
  18. A question for the virtual machine displays in the Summary tab during power-on. Review the question by:
    • Clicking the Summary tab
    • Right-clicking the virtual machine in your inventory and selecting Answer question.When prompted, select I moved it, then click OK.Warning: Selecting I Copied It results in a change of the virtual machine’s UUID and MAC address, which may have detrimental effects on guest applications that are sensitive towards MAC address changes, and virtual machine backups that rely on UUIDs.

Additional Information

The command-line interpreter on ESX is case-sensitive and requires escaping of special characters used in some virtual machine file names. The above examples encourage the use of quotation marks around command arguments to ensure spaces and special characters are interpreted literally and do not require escape sequences.

For example, a virtual machine named “Original VM” is referenced either as:
“Original VM” with quotation marks, or Original\ VM.

Special characters such as opening and closing parentheses also require character escaping. For a virtual machine named “Original VM (1)”:
“Original VM (1)” with quotation marks, or Original\ VM\ \(1\).

The former quotation method simplifies the process considerably and improves readability.

Additional information on escape characters can be found in the Bash Reference Manual.

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Upgrade paths for ESX/ESXi hosts

Written by M.Pol on . Posted in VMware

Purpose

There are several methods to upgrade ESX/ESXi. This article outlines the available upgrade paths.   Note: This is not a comprehensive guide on how to upgrade ESX/ESXi. For more information on performing an upgrade, see the links in this article.

Resolution

This table lists the methods available to upgrade your ESX/ESXi host, and identifies the version to which you can upgrade:

ESX/ESXi version that is currently installed Version that it can be upgraded to CD-ROM Installation Wizard *1 Using esxupdate from the Service Console *2 vSphere Remote CLI *3 Host Update Utility or Infrastructure Update *4 Update Manager *5 Offline Upgrade from Service Console *6
ESX 2.x ESX 3.0.x x x
ESX 3.0.x ESX 3.0.3, 3.0.3 U1, 3.5, 3.5 U1 – U5 x x
ESX 3.0.2 ESX 4.0 x x
ESX 3.0.3 ESX 3.5, 3.5 U1 – U5 x x x
ESX 3.0.3 ESX 4.0 x x x
ESX 3.5 ESX 3.5 U1 – U5 x x x x
ESX 3.5 ESX 4.1 x x
ESXi 3.5 ESXi 3.5 U1 – U5 x x x
ESX 3.5 ESX 4.0 x x x
ESXi 3.5 ESXi 4.0 x x
ESXi 3.5 ESXi 4.1 x
ESX 4.0 ESX 4.0 U1 – U2 x x x
ESX 4.0 ESX 4.1 x x x x
ESXi 4.0 ESXi 4.0 U1 – U2 x x x
ESXi 4.0 ESXi 4.1 x x

For more information about upgrading using:

Note: The Host Update Utility replaced Infrastructure Update and is available when you install the vSphere Client. It is a tool for upgrading ESX/ESXi hosts from 3.x to 4.0.x and for patching ESXi hosts only.  Patching ESX with this utility is not supported.  Also, as of vSphere 4.1 the Host Update Utility has been discontinued.

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VMware vSphere 4.1 Released

Written by M.Pol on . Posted in VMware

Today VMware released a new version of their virtualization product VMware vSphere 4.1. There are a lot of new things and features in this product. Eric Siebert has created a good article with all the new stuff that comes with this release. You can find the original article here: http://vsphere-land.com/news/vsphere-41-the-links.html

Downloads.

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Sysprep file locations and versions

Written by M.Pol on . Posted in VMware

Symptoms

  • When attempting to customize the deployment of a virtual machine the radio buttons are disabled (grayed out)
  • When a virtual machine is deployed from a template, the SID is always the same, despite the fact that you chose the option to generate a new SID during template deployment and guest operating system customization
  • When attempting to create a new virtual machine from a template in ESX 3.5, you receive the following error message:
Warning: Windows customization resources were not found on this server
  • You see this error in the guestcust.log file:
deploy doesn't contain known sysprep files

Purpose

This issue may occur if Microsoft’s Sysprep files are not found on the VirtualCenter host, are not the correct version, or are not in the location they are expected.

This article guides you through the process of determining the correct version of Sysprep to use and the correct locations for these files.

Resolution

Microsoft has a different version of Sysprep for each release and service pack of Windows. You must use the version of Sysprep specific to the operating system you are deploying. The differences are not immediately visible in the packaging and documentation of the service packs, so it is necessary to manually investigate.

The contents of the Sysprep deploy.cab file must be extracted to the Sysprep Directory on the VirtualCenter Server host. If the file downloaded from the Microsoft Web Site is a .cab file, the Installing the Microsoft Sysprep Tools appendix of the Basic System Administration guide details how to install the Sysprep Tools.

If the file downloaded from the Microsoft Web Site is a .exe file the following additional steps must be executed to extract the files from the .exe:

  1. Open a Windows command prompt. For more information, see Opening a command or shell prompt (1003892).
  2. Change to the directory where the .exe file is saved.
  3. Enter the name of the .exe file with the /x switch to extract the files. For example: WindowsServer2003-KB926028-v2-x86-ENU.exe /x
  4. When prompted, choose a directory for the extracted files.
  5. Browse the directory and copy the extracted files directly to the Sysprep Directory or extract the files from the deploy.cab and copy to the Sysprep Directory.

When the contents of the of the Sysprep deploy.cab file have been extracted to the Sysprep Directory on the VirtualCenter Server:

  1. Log in to the VirtualCenter Server as Administrator.
  2. Click Start > Programs > Accessories > Windows Explorer.
  3. Navigate to the Sysprep Directory as listed in the table below.
  4. Right-click on the sysprep.exe file and choose Properties.
  5. Click the Version tab. Record the number at the top next to File Version:.

The table below lists the Sysprep Version for the Windows Versions that are supported for Image Customization. Compare the Sysprep Version number with the Windows Version it is intended for:

Windows Version Sysprep Directory Sysprep Version
Windows 2000 Server SP4 with Update Rollup 1
Download at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=0c4bfb06-2824-4d2b-abc1-0e2223133afb		 <directory_path>\2k 5.0.2195.2104
Windows XP Pro SP2
Download at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=3E90DC91-AC56-4665-949B-BEDA3080E0F6		 <directory_path>\xp 5.1.2600.2180
Windows 2003 Server SP1
Download at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=A34EDCF2-EBFD-4F99-BBC4-E93154C332D6		 <directory_path>\svr2003 5.2.3790.1830(srv03_sp1_rtm.050324-1447)
Windows 2003 Server SP2
Download at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=93f20bb1-97aa-4356-8b43-9584b7e72556		 <directory_path>\svr2003 5.2.3790.3959(srv03_sp2_rtm.070216-1710)
Windows 2003 Server R2
Download at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=A34EDCF2-EBFD-4F99-BBC4-E93154C332D6		 <directory_path>\svr2003 5.2.3790.1830(srv03_sp1_rtm.050324-1447)
Windows 2003 x64
Download at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=C2684C95-6864-4091-BC9A-52AEC5491AF7&displaylang=en		 <directory_path>\svr2003-64 5.2.3790.3959(srv03_sp2_rtm.070216-1710)
Windows XP x64
Download at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=C2684C95-6864-4091-BC9A-52AEC5491AF7&displaylang=en		 <directory_path>\xp-64 5.2.3790.3959(srv03_sp2_rtm.070216-1710)
Windows XP Pro SP3
Download at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=673a1019-8e3e-4be0-ac31-70dd21b5afa7&displaylang=en		 <directory_path>\xp 5.1.2600.5512
Windows Vista System Preparation tools are built into the Windows Vista operating system and do not have to be downloaded. Not Applicable Not Applicable
Windows Server 2008 System Preparation tools are built into the Windows Server 2008 operating system and do not have to be downloaded. Not Applicable Not Applicable
Windows Server 2008 R2 System Preparation tools are built into the Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system and do not have to be downloaded. Not Applicable Not Applicable
Windows 7 System Preparation tools are built into the Windows 7 operating system and do not have to be downloaded. Not Applicable Not Applicable

Notes:

  • If vCenter Server is installed on Windows Server 2008, <directory_path> is %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter\sysprep which translates to C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter\sysprep by default.
  • If vCenter Server is installed on any other Windows operating system, <directory_path> is %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Application Data\VMware VirtualCenter\sysprep\ which translates to C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter\sysprep\ by default.

Additional Information

For additional information, see:

Source: VMware knowledge base http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1005593

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