VMware Tools Repair or Change

If you experience problems with mouse actions or enhanced graphics, there might be a VMware Tools issue in cause. There is simple fix by repairing VMware Tools installation. You can do a VMware Tools repair from the user interface of many VMware products, not only vSphere.

The thing is that you can’t invoke the “repair” option from the Add/remove windows programs if you’re working directly with your VM through vSphere Client or in WMware Workstation/player.  From withing the virtual machine you can only uninstall the tools.

That’s certainly an option too but you would have to uninstall the package > reboot > re-install the package > and reboot again….. to restore the functionality.

The second way is the way you should go. It’s the one that you know, I’m sure, anyway….. You’ll be using the vSphere client, vSphere web client or VMware Workstation’s/player’s menu commands for that.

VMware Tools repair option

You should mount the appropriate ISO package, depending of which version of Windows you’re VM you’re working with. It depends of the OS template that you’re using (W2000, W2003.. etc…)

In vsphere Client:

Inventory > Virtual Machine > Guest > Install/upgrade VMware tools.

From there, if autorun is disabled, go and launch the VMware tools Installation wizard d:/setup.exe >  next > and use the Repair option. This option will fix the registry settings, repair the files, if broken, on the components which are already installed.

In VMware Workstation:

VM > Install/upgrade VMware Tools.

In VMware Player :

Virtual Machine > Install/Upgrade VMware Tools

If you want, you can also use the Modify option, and specify additional components to install.

 

More info at vladan.fr

 

A List of FREE VMware vSphere Tools

Take a look at the kendrickcoleman Web site and found a very cool list of free VMware VSphere tools.It’s not trials..it’s a really free stuff.

Also, look at the compilation of Free tools for Advanced Tasks and you can download them as an .iso format.

Source: kendrickcoleman

 

Free VMware Instructional Videos Available

VMware Education has released a new video site with over 50 of our free instructional videos, on products including: vSphere, vCloud Director, Site Recovery Manager (SRM), vFabric, and more. Now you can grow your IT skills with free training, expertise, and insights on VMware products, all in one convenient location.

Take a look on VMwareLearning

 

 

How to mount a vmdk file in windows

To mount the partitions of a vmdk file (read and writeable) under windows you can use the tool vmware-mount (part of the vSphere 5 Disk Development Kit).

After installation you need a commandline. With the parameter -h you will get a quick overview about the syntax and the possible parameters:

To mount a vmdk file (saved at C:\temp) in read-only mode use the following command:

vmware-mount.exe X: “C:\Temp\TestVM.vmdk”

Now you have a read-only access to the vmdk file using your windows explorer (navigate to driveletter X:).

If the vmdk file contains more than one partition you can use the parameter /v:x to mount the other volumes:

vmware-mount.exe /v:2 X: “C:\Temp\TestVM.vmdk”

If you need a writeable access just use the parameter “/m:w“.
This is extremly helpful if you need to replace a broken systemfile for example:

vmware-mount.exe /m:w X: “C:\Temp\TestVM.vmdk”

To delete the mapping to driveletter X: use the parameter /d:

vmware-mount.exe /d X:

And last but not least – if you want to list all the mounted virtual drives use /L:

vmware-mount.exe /L

 

You can download it here: vSphere Disk Development Kit

Microsoft Virtual Machine Converter Solution Accelerator – Just Release

The Microsoft Virtual Machine Converter (MVMC) Solution Accelerator is a Microsoft-supported, stand-alone solution for the IT pro or solution provider who wants to convert VMware-based virtual machines and disks to Hyper-V®-based virtual machines and disks.

MVMC provides the following features:

• Converts and deploys virtual machines from VMware hosts to Hyper-V hosts including Hyper-V on Windows Server® 2012. As part of the machine conversion MVMC converts the virtual disks attached to the source virtual machine. It also migrates configuration such as memory, virtual processor and so on from the source virtual machine to the converted virtual machine deployed on Hyper-V. It adds virtual network interface cards (NICs) to the converted virtual machine on Hyper-V.
• Converts VMware virtual disks to Hyper-V based virtual hard disks (VHDs).
• Supports conversion of virtual machines from VMware vSphere 4.1 and 5.0 hosts to Hyper-V.
  • Note MVMC also supports conversion of virtual machines from VMware vSphere 4.0 if the host is managed by vCenter 4.1 or vCenter 5.0. You have to connect to vCenter 4.1 or 5.0 through MVMC to convert virtual machines on vSphere 4.0.
• Offers fully scriptable command-line interfaces for performing virtual machine and disk conversions that integrates well with data center automation workflows and Windows PowerShell scripts.
• Has a wizard-driven GUI, making it simple to perform virtual machine conversion.
• Uninstalls VMware tools prior to conversion to provide a clean way to migrate VMware-based virtual machines to Hyper-V.
• Supports Windows Server guest operating system conversion, including Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2003 SP2.
• Enables conversion of Windows® client versions including Windows 7.
• Installs integration services on the converted virtual machine if the guest operating system is Windows Server 2003 SP2

 

Source: Microsoft

RVTools 3.4 – Free for Manage VSphere

RVTools is a windows .NET 2.0 application which uses the VI SDK to display information about your virtual machines and ESX hosts. Interacting with VirtualCenter 2.5, ESX Server 3.5, ESX Server 3i, ESX Server 4i, VirtualCenter 4.0, ESX Server 4.0, VirtualCenter 4.1, ESX Server 4.1, VirtualCenter 5.0, VirtualCenter Appliance or ESX Server 5 RVTools is able to list information about VMs, CPU, Memory, Disks, Partitions, Network, Floppy drives, CD drives, Snapshots, VMware tools, ESX hosts, HBAs, Nics, Switches, Ports, Distributed Switches, Distributed Ports, Service consoles, VM Kernels, Datastores and health checks. With RVTools you can disconnect the cd-rom or floppy drives from the virtual machines and RVTools is able to update the VMware Tools installed inside each virtual machine to the latest version.

 

Latest Version: 3.4 | September, 2012
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VMware releases Mobile Knowledge Portal App

VMware just published a cool application which just does this all, the VMware Mobile Knowledge Portal. You can now watch videos and read collateral on how to install and use VMware products, stay up to date on what’s new at VMware, and explore best practices for our products and solutions. At home. In the office. On the go. Offline or online.

It is available now from the Apple App store

 

Download the VMware View Client for iPhone

There has been a VMware View Client for iOS for a while but you had to run it on your iPad as the iPhone was not supported. This has changed recently! VMware has released a iPhone compatible client to the Apple AppStore and you can download it for free. The new iPhone client supports the 3GS, 4 and the brand new iPhone 5 as well as iPod Touch from generation 3 and up.

Link: (iTunes) http://itunes.apple.com/de/app/vmware-view-for-ipad/id417993697?mt=8

 

 

What’s New in vSphere 5.1 whitepapers.

Take a look at the new VSphere 5.1 Whitepapers:

• What’s New in VMware vSphere 5.1
• What’s new in VMware vCenter 5.1
• What’s New in VMware vSphere 5.1 – Networking
• What’s New in VMware vSphere 5.1 – Platform
• What’s New in VMware vSphere 5.1 – Storage
• What’s New in VMware vSphere 5.1 – Performance
• Introduction to VMware vSphere Replication
• Introduction to VMware vSphere Data Protection
• What’s new in VMware vSphere Storage Appliance
• What’s new in vCloud Director 5.1

 

Source: VMware

VMware vSphere 5.1 vMotion Architecture, Performance, and Best Practices

A new white paper, “VMware vSphere 5.1 vMotion Architecture, Performance and Best Practices”, is now available. In that paper, we describe the vSphere 5.1 vMotion architecture and its features. Following the overview and feature description of vMotion in vSphere 5.1, we provide a comprehensive look at the performance of live migrating virtual machines running typical Tier 1 applications using vSphere 5.1 vMotion, Storage vMotion, and vMotion. Tests measure characteristics such as total migration time and application performance during live migration. In addition, we examine vSphere 5.1 vMotion performance over a high-latency network, such as that in a metro area network. Test results show the following:

• During storage migration, vSphere 5.1 vMotion maintains the same performance as Storage vMotion, even when using the network to migrate, due to the optimizations added to the vSphere 5.1 vMotion network data path.
• During memory migration, vSphere 5.1 vMotion maintains nearly identical performance as the traditional vMotion, due to the optimizations added to the vSphere 5.1 vMotion memory copy path.
• vSphere 5.1 vMotion retains the proven reliability, performance, and atomicity of the traditional vMotion and Storage vMotion technologies, even at metro area network distances.

Source: VMware.com