Kreslavsky IT blog » VMware

Manual uninstall of VMware Tools Windows 2003 and 2008

Gil Kreslavsky — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 15:32:18 +0000

When you try to upgrade to new version of VMware tools , Installation wizard asks you to uninstall older version .
If you can’t do it , or uninstall feature failed to complete, you will need to uninstall them manually.

You may receive the following errors
A previous version of VMware Tools is already installed

To remove old VMware tools follow the steps bellow:

Open registry editor
Navigate to the following key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionuninstall search for VMware Tools related branch and delete the key Please note:Do not delete the entire uninstall branch.
Navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwareClassesInstallerProducts search for VMware Tools related branch and delete the key
Please note:Do not delete the entire Products key
Navigate to
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTInstallerProducts search for VMware Tools related branch and delete the key
Please note:Do not delete the entire Products key
Navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwareVMware Delete the branch called VMware Tools.
Delete the "VMware Tools" directory within in the Vmware directory under Program Files
Restart the server
Install updated version of VMware Tools through Vsphere Client or VMware client

P2V Linux OS to VMware ESX

Gil Kreslavsky — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 07:22:03 +0000

New VMware P2V v4 client allows physical to virtual convert for various Linux distributives.
P2V allows transferring of Linux machines to Virtual VMware ESX compatible.

Currently supported versions are:

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0
Red Hat Linux Advanced Server 2.1
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 8, 9, 10
Ubuntu Linux 5.x, 6.x, 7.x, 8.x

Other Linux versions can be converted by imaging tools to the following format:

(*.vmc *.pvs *.vmx *.sv2i *.spf *.tib)
Microsoft Virtual Pc format (*.vmc)
Parallels Virtualization ( *.pvs)
VMware Consolidated Backup (*.vmx)
Symantec LiveState Recovery Image (*.sv2i *.sv2)
StorageCraft Shadow Stor Image (*.spf)
Acronis True Image Backup (*.tib)

note:Linux sources should allow root login through SSH.

Vmware ESX 3 installation wizard

Gil Kreslavsky — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 22:20:35 +0000

NetApp — Virtualization — NetApp VMware View Integration

Gil Kreslavsky — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 22:29:35 +0000

Installing VMWare ESX server within VMWare Workstation 6

Gil Kreslavsky — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 22:19:36 +0000

Resize VMware VMDK File

Gil Kreslavsky — Wed, 20 May 2009 07:56:23 +0000

Resize a VMWare disk

You probably got end of free space on your virtual machine and looking how to increase your disk.

One of the ways to perform this task. is to use : VMware Converter.

Please make sure to have a good backup before you begin!!!

Turn off the virtual machine;
Start the VMWare Converter utility;
Open the wizard;
Select ‘standalone virtual machine’ as the source and destination system;
Choose ‘Select volumes and resize to save or add space’;
Enter a desired size and you are done.

Convert VMDK to VHD files – Download

Gil Kreslavsky — Wed, 06 May 2009 08:47:34 +0000

Download Free converter from VMware VMDK to Microsoft VHD

Download from VMtoolkit

How to enter VMware ESX Virtual Machine Bios

Gil Kreslavsky — Mon, 04 May 2009 09:25:01 +0000

In order to enter to VM machine bios settings follow the steps bellow

Navigate to desired virtual machine
Press on “Edit Virtual Machine Settings”
Navigate to Options>Boot Options
In the right side you have 2 options

Power on Boot Delay
Force BIOS setup

You can use each one of the first will set system boot delay time and will give you the ability to enter system BIOS – You can set it to 1000 miliseconds

The Other one will force entering in to bios on next boot.

Can’t Boot VMware ESX Virtual Machine from CD or ISO image

Gil Kreslavsky — Mon, 04 May 2009 09:05:54 +0000

You connect new ISO image and try to boot from it , but instead booting from Image , VMware loads installed OS , sounds familiar?

Here what you should check:

First make sure that CD room or image are selected as “Connected” and “Connect at power on”
By default VM machine tries to boot first from attached CD device

If you still can’t boot navigate to Options>Boot Options and in the right pane under “force BIOS Setup” select "The next time the virtual machine boots, force entry into the BIOS setup screen”

After you start VM machine you will be able to access BIOS settings and Edit boot priority.

Related Blogs

Related Blogs on Boot
Alliance Party of New Zealand » Blog Archive » Give Boot Camps the …

Related Blogs on ESX Management
Windows Virtualization Team Blog : SCVMM and VMware ESX management
Smarticlesmart Daily Updates » VMware ESX
Fault Tolerance Checklist – NTPRO.NL
Using APC PowerChute with VMWare ESX – sheenaustin.com

Related Blogs on VMware
VMware ESX 3.5 Update 2 Issue!

Install ESX Web Management MKS Plug-in to Firefox 3

Gil Kreslavsky — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 06:55:06 +0000

Install ESX Firefox Web Management Plug-In for Windows

Download the MKS plug-in file from the Stage Manager server using Internet Explorer from the following address:
https://Servername/StageManager/ControlPanel/Machines/MachineDetails/ActiveXControls/xpihandler.ashx?filename=vmware-mks-windows-ff-3.xpi
Where fill your server hostname.
Rename the extension of the file from .xpi to .zip .
Unzip the file’s contents into %ProgramFiles%Mozilla Firefoxplugins .
Copy ssleay32.dll and libeay32.dll to %ProgramFiles%Mozilla Firefox .

Install ESX Firefox Web Management Plug-In for Linux

Download the MKS plug-in file from the Stage Manager server using wget from the following address:
https://Servername/StageManager/ControlPanel/Machines/MachineDetails/ActiveXControls/xpihandler.ashx?filename=vmware-mks-linux-ff-3.xpi
Where is your server hostname.
Rename the extension of the file from .xpi to .zip .
Unzip the file’s contents into ~/.mozilla/plugins .

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