Troubleshooting a Failed VMware Tools Installation on Windows Guest Operating System After Upgrading ESX/ESXi

To correct this issue, you must perform a forced uninstall and re install of VMware Tools.  To uninstall and re install VMware Tools:

1. Right-click on the virtual machine.
2. Click Guest > Install/Upgrade VMware Tools.
3. Open a Console to the virtual machine and log into the guest operating system.
4. Click Start > Run, type cmd, and click OK to open a command prompt in Windows.
5. Change the drive to your CD-ROM drive (For example, D:\).
6. Type setup /c and press Enter to force removal of all registry entries and delete the old version of VMware Tools.Note: For 64-bit guest operating systems, type setup64 /c
7. Open My Computer and double-click the CD-ROM that contains VMware Tools.
8. After Auto-Run starts, follow the prompts to install.Note: This must be done from the GUI interface. Do not launch the install by running Setup from the Command Prompt. Also ensure that the CD-ROM is enabled. In the virtual machine properties select CD-ROM under Device Status, and ensure that Connected (if the virtual machine is powered on) and Connect at power on are selected.
9. When the installation is complete, reboot the guest operating system.
   

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This tech tip demonstrates how you can select the VLAN type and create VLANs. You can select to create either IEEE 802.1Q VLANs or port-based VLANs.

The screen functions differently for IEEE 802.1Q VLANs than it does for port-based VLANs.

There are two types you can select IEEE 802.1Q or port-based VLANS:

IEEE 802.1Q VLAN Configuration:

Step 1: As shown above, you would need to select ->Switching ->VLAN->Basic->VLAN Configuration.

Step 2: Select IEEE 802.1Q under VLAN Type Configuration

Warning: Changing the VLAN type erases all existing VLAN settings, static multicast groups, and trusted MAC addresses.

Step 3: Click “OK” on the warning screen

Step 4: You can change the VLAN Configuration fields: VLAN ID (from: 1 to 4094) and VLAN Name to your preference.

Perform one of the following actions:

 To add a VLAN:

• Enter your values in VLAN ID, VLAN Name
• Click Add

To delete a VLAN:

• Click the check mark next to the name and press delete

To change VLAN name:

• Select the check mark next to the name, change the name field and click apply

Port-Based VLAN Configuration:

Step 1: As shown above, you would need to select ->Switching ->VLAN->Basic->VLAN Configuration

Step 2: Select Port-Based under VLAN Type Configuration

Warning: Changing the VLAN type erases all existing VLAN settings, static multicast groups, and trusted MAC addresses.

Step 3: Click “OK” on the warning screen

Step 4: You can change the VLAN Configuration fields: VLAN ID (from: 1 to 4094) and VLAN Name to your preference

Perform one of the following actions:

 To add a VLAN:

• Enter your values in VLAN ID, VLAN Name
• Select Add

To delete a VLAN:

• Select the check mark, next to the name, and click delete

To change VLAN name:

• Select the check mark, next to the name, then change the field name and click apply

Task completed.

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How to use Windows Easy Transfer to migrate files and settings from one Windows-based computer to another Windows-Based computer

Models:

• Part 1: Windows Vista- Windows 7
• Part 2: Windows7- Windows vista
• Part 3: Windows7- Windows7

Summary:
This tech tip will guide you how to migrate your files and settings from one Windows to another Windows computer through Windows Easy Transfer

Prepare for migration to Windows Vista:

• Windows OS (Vista / 7)
• Windows Easy Transfer for Windows 7 
• Easy Transfer cable (optional)
• USB flash (optional)

 We highly recommend that you print this tutorial. Your computer will restart during the Windows 7 installation process, so having a printed copy will help you follow the steps if you can’t return to this webpage.

NOTE:  This article is divided into three models.  Content in this article may not be relevant to you.

Part 1: Windows Vista- Windows 7

• Download and install Windows 7 version of Windows Easy Transfer on the Windows Vista
• http://Windows.microsoft.com/en-ca/Windows7/products/features/Windows-easy-transfer
• First Windows Easy Transfer on the Windows Vista
• Then Windows Easy Transfer on the Windows 7

To start Windows Easy Transfer to the destination computer, follow these steps:

Windows Easy Transfer for Windows 7

1. Click Start Menu>Accessories>System Tools> Windows Easy Transfer

2. Press [Next]

Choose methods:

• USB Easy Transfer Cable
• Network connection
• Removable media
• USB Easy Transfer Cable

3. Press [An Easy Transfer cable]

4. Network connection

Press[A network]

5. Press [This is my new computer]

6. Press [I already installed it on my old computer]

7. Enter the transfer key from the old machine to the new Windows 7 and Press [Next].

8. Afterwards,  select the general settings and files from all the accounts on your PC, and then Press[Transfer]

9. Press [Save]

10. Press [Restart now]

11. Remove media

12. Press [This is my old computer]

13. Checkmark the appropriate account and then Press [Next]

14.  Afterwards, select the general settings and files from all the accounts on your PC and then Press [Transfer]

15. Set a password and Press [Save]

16. Select the appropriate location on your USB hard disk or memory stick and Press [Save]

17. Press [Next]

18. Press [Next]

19. Press [Close]

Part 2: Windows 7 to Windows Vista (use the Windows Vista version of Windows Easy Transfer)

• Download and install Windows 7 version of Windows Easy Transfer on the Windows Vista
• Download it follow this: http://Windows.microsoft.com/en-ca/Windows7/products/features/Windows-easy-transfer

1. Click Start Menu>Accessories>System Tools> Windows easy Transfer

2. Press [Next]

Choose methods:

• USB Easy Transfer Cable
• Network connection
• Removable media
• USB Easy Transfer Cable

3. Press [An Easy Transfer cable]

4. Network connection

Press[A network]

5. Press [This is my new computer]

6. Press [I already installed it on my old computer]

7. Enter in the transfer key from the old machine on the new Windows 7 and Press Next.

8. Afterwards,  select the general settings and files from all the accounts on your PC, and then Press[Transfer]

9. Press [Save]

10. Press [Restart now]

11. Remove media

12. Press [This is my old computer]

13. Checkmark the appropriate account and select [Next]

14. Afterwards,  select the general settings and files from all the accounts on your PC, and then Press [Transfer]

15. Set password and Press [Save]

16. Select the appropriate location on your USB hard disk or memory stick and Press [Save]

17. Press [Next]

18. Press [Next]

19. Press [Close]

Part 3: Windows7- Windows7

1. Click Start Menu>Accessories>System Tools> Windows Easy Transfer

2. Press [Next]

Choose methods:

• USB Easy Transfer Cable
• Network connection
• Removable media
• USB Easy Transfer Cable

3. Press [An Easy Transfer cable]

4. Network connection

Press[A network]

5. Press [This is my new computer]

6. Press [I already installed it on my old computer]

7. Enter in the transfer key from the old machine on the new Windows 7 and Press Next.

8. Afterwards, select the general settings and files from all the accounts on your PC, and then Press[Transfer]

9. Press [Save]

10. Press [Restart now]

11. Remove media

12. Press [This is my old computer]

13. Checkmark the appropriate account and select [Next]

14. Afterwards, select the general settings and files from all the accounts on your machine, and select [Transfer]

15. Set password and Press [Save]

16. Select the appropriate location on your USB hard disk or memory stick and Press [Save]

17. Press [Next]

18. Press [Next]

19. Press [Close]

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Increase your VMWare virtual disk from Linux for a VMWare Linux Guest OS.

Step by Step Approach:

1. First, check the partition table of the virtual disk in the guest

fdisk -l /dev/sda

Disk /dev/sda: 68.7 GB, 68719476736 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 10443 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

 Device Boot      Start         End     Blocks     Id  System
/dev/sda1   *     1             13      104391     83  Linux
/dev/sda2         14            8354    66999082+  8e  Linux LVM

2. Now, shutdown the guest before you resize the virtual disk

shutdown

 3. Once the CentOS Guest is back up, add a new partition using the free space available on your virtual disk.  NOTE: Use partition id 8e for Linux LVM.

fdisk /dev/sda
  n {new partition}
  p {primary partition}
  3 {partition number}

  t {change partition id}
  8e {Linux LVM partition}
  w

4.  You may need to reboot, if the update doesn’t’ work.

reboot

 5. Check the partition table after reboot

fdisk -l /dev/sda

Disk /dev/sda: 85.8 GB, 85899345920 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 10443 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

 Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks     Id  System
/dev/sda1   *     1             13       104391     83  Linux
/dev/sda2         14            8354     66999082+  8e  Linux LVM
/dev/sda3         8355          10443    16779892+  8e  Linux LVM

6. Now, create a new physical volume with the new partition

pvcreate /dev/sda3

 7. Use vgdisplay to list and identify the volume groups that you have

vgextend VolGroup00 /dev/sda3

 8. Now, extend the logical volume again, using lgdisplay to list and identify the logical volumes that you have.

lvextend /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 /dev/sda3

 9. Finally, resize the file system in the logical volume

resize2fs /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00

 10. Verify the file system size

df -h

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Requirements:
Cisco TFTP Server for Windows (Download Here)
Windows OS

Installation – Part I:
ESW500 Series requires TFTP connection to allow download of the configuration. First need to install Cisco TFTP Server for Windows on your computer.  Once TPFTP Server has been installed, launch the application. You will notice in the top bar, displays your IP Address and Root folder.

Note: Upon opening the applicaiton, you might be prompted to allow access through the firewall. Please allow access through the firewall.

To Change TFTP server root directory, Go to Tools -> Options.

Backup of Configuration – Part II:
Now we can backup the configuration files. First, login to the Switch Configuration Utility.

From the left panel, navigate to Maintenace -> File Management -> Copy Configuration File. Click on via TFTP, then BACKUP. Fill out the required information.
- TFTP Server is your IP Address.
- Source File Type -> Select which configuration to backup
- Destination File Name is the file name you wish to save as
Then click Apply to start the transfer.

Once you click Apply, you should see the status of the upload.

On the TFTP Server, you should see the status of the download.

In the root directorty for TFTP, you will see the backup file.

Before performing any upgrades, it is recommended to backup your current configuration.

How it Works
The script is very simple. When an event is triggered, Dell OpenManage executes the specific application, then the application connects to an external SMTP Server, and send the email with the message of the event.

Requirements:
-Dell Server with OpenManage Installed
-Microsoft .Net Frameworks v2.0 (Download Here)
-DellSMTPNotify Application (Download Here)
-DellSMTPNotify Alert List (Download Here)

Installation – Part I:
Extract files to C:\DellSMTPNotify
Edit Config.xml and configure DefaultEventSettings to your SMTP server.

Now we are going to test the SMTP settings by running the script. Open command prompt and navigate to C:\DellSMTPNotify. Then type the following: “DellSMTPNotify.exe 1“.

DellSMTPNotify associates numbers to messages. Looking at config.xml, you can customize the messages. In this case, “1″ would send message “Message from server: Watchdog ASR”.

You should have received an email alert. If you didn’t receive an email, check your SMTP settings in config.xml.

Note: Sometimes emails are delivered to junk box.

If you didn’t recieve an email, re-check your config.xml SMTP settings.

Installation – Part II:
Now that we have our DellSMTPNotify.exe working properly with our SMTP settings. We can now get it to work with Dell OpenManage.

Login to Dell OpenManage and navigate to Alert Management

Under Alert Actions, select Watchdog ASR.

Under “Set Alert Actions for Watchdog ASR”, enable “Execute application.” In the whitebox, place the Abolute patch to DellSMTPNotify.exe with code to Watchdog ASR. The code for Watchdog ASR is 1, and would place the following “D:\DellSMTPNotify.exe 1“.

Now we have setup email alert for Watchdog ASR. We will have to do the same thing for the rest of the alerts.

Installation – Part III:
Once we have setup the email alerts, now we have test the configuration. We want to get Dell OpenMange to trigger an alert and so would execute our application. The safest test we can do on a production server is thermal settings.

First we have to ensure that Thermal Shutdown is disabled. Under Shutdown -> Thermal Shutdown, set “Thermal Protection Shutdown Severity” to disabled.

From left panel, navigate to System -> Main System Chassis -> Temperatures. Select probe name “System Board Ambient Temp”.

From here, we want to get OpenMange trigger an event. One way is to force the Minimium Warning Threshold to be higher that the current reading. To do this, we click on “Set to Value” and change Minimium Warning Threshold to 1 degree higher than current reading. In our case, our current reading is 24.0 C, and so we place value of 25.0 C for Minimium Warning Threshold.

You should have recieved an email alert from OpenManage in regards to Temperature Probe Warning. This proofs that email alert is setup on Dell OpenManage. You can now change the Minimium Warning Threshold back to default.

To fix the error: ”Someone else is already using the program under this name. Please use another username and or try again later” you need to end all processes on the server called “mysqld-nt.exe”.

NOTE: Before attempting to end the processes, ensure that all users are logged off.

※ Disk2vhd

• Download it following this –
  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/ee656415.aspx

• Disk2vhd Supports the following guest operating systems –
  Windows XP SP2, Windows Server 2003 SP1, and higher, including x64 systems.

1. Run the Disk2vhd.
2. Select name and location for the new virtual machine.
3. Choose a Hard drive which convert to VHD.

- If there are more than 2 partitions, make .vhd image all of them.
- If there is not enough space, choose another computer in the same network.
- Virtual PC supports a maximum virtual disk size of 127GB. If you create a VHD from a larger disk it will not be accessible from a Virtual PC VM.

※ Import to Hyper-V

1. Run the Hyper-V.
   
2. Click right button on user’s computer name, and then select New – Virtual Machine.
   
3. The wizard introduces what will do in this wizard. – Click Next.
   
4. Choose a Virtual Machine’s name. – Click Next.
   
5. The Virtual Machine needs memory. User can change the memory size after installation (1024MB = 1GB, 2048MB = 2GB). – Click Next.
   
6. Network Settings – You could setup the Network to be
   a) Internal – The virtual Machines configured would not be able to communicate with the host or outside the Virtual network.
   b) External – The Virtual Machines configured would be able to communicate with the host, host network and other Virtual Machines configured for External Network.
   
7. Connect VHD image to new Virtual Machine. – Click Next.
   
8. The wizard will show the summary what you set. – Click Finish.
   
9. Now, Hyper-V Manager has Virtual Machine. Click right button on the Virtual Machine. -> Connect.
   
10. Hyper-V will run the Virtual Machine. Click Start button. – Finish.
    

1) The Hyper-V has installed already. Click Start –> Administrative Tools –> Hyper-V Manager.

2) The Hyper-V Manager has name of user’s computer.

3) Click right button on user’s computer name, and then select New – Virtual Machine.

4) The wizard provides an introduction to “What is the Virtual Machine”. – Click Next.

5) Choose a Virtual Machine’s name and the location where this Virtual Machine will be stored. – Click Next.

6) The Virtual Machine needs memory. User can change the memory size after installation (1024MB=1GB, 2048MB=2GB). – Click Next.

7) Network Settings – You could setup the Network to be

• Internal – The Virtual Machines configured would not be able to communicate with the host or outside the Virtual network
• External – The Virtual Machines configured would be able to communicate with the host, host network and other Virtual Machines configured for External Network.

8) The virtual machine needs storage space to install an operating system. The operating system will be installed in Virtual Hard Drive (.vhd) at the same location what you set earlier. – Click Next.

9) Installation of operation system can be done using a CD/DVD or an ISO file or a network based installation server. Select the appropriate option and click Next.

10) The screen shows summary about new Virtual Machine. – Click Finish.

11) Hyper-V Manager will have new Virtual Machine after finish the wizard. Click right button on the Virtual Machine and select Start.

What is Hyper-V

Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 is the hypervisor-based server virtualization product that allows you to consolidate workloads onto a single physical server. It is a stand-alone product that provides a reliable and optimized virtualization solution enabling organizations to improve server utilization and reduce costs.

Requirement for installation of Hyper V

The requirements are as follows –

• X64-based processor
• Hardware Assisted virtualization
• Hardware Data Execution Prevention (DEP)
• Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2

Hyper-V : Supported Guest OS list

• http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc794868%28WS.10%29.aspx

How to Install Hyper- V on Windows Server 2008 R2

1. Click on Start –> Administrative Tools –> Server Manager

2. Click Roles on the top left of the screen and select the option Add Roles

3. The wizard helps in the installation of Roles on the Server. Click Next.

4. Select Hyper-V – Next.

5. Introduction of hyper-V. Click Next.

6. Select the network adapter for the Virtual Machine. You can add two or more network adapters for the same Virtual Machine. One of the best practices is to have the host with two network adapters – One used by the host computer and the other used by the Virtual Machine.

7. Now ready to install the Hyper-V. Click Install.

8. The computer will require rebooting for installation of Hyper-V. Click Close and when the computer asks reboot the server, click Yes.

9. After the server reboots, the Server Manager will run automatically and it starts the installation.

10. After few minutes, wizard will show a message that Hyper-V has installed successfully. Click Close. -> Finish