VMware ESXi – Adding a USB device to a Guest Virtual Machine
KB ID 0000778 Problem About a week ago a client asked me how to do this, and I was surprised I’d not got it covered on the site. I have already covered how to do this with VMware Workstation, but never got round to doing the same for ESX. There are a myriad of reasons why you may need to do this, either to connect a UPS, a printer, thumb drive, or a software dongle etc. But the process is identical. Solution 1. USB pass through...
VMware VI Client error ‘Unable to connect to the MKS: Failed to connect to server {ESX-Host}:902’
KB ID 0000815 Problem Seen when connected to the VMware VI client software, and attempting to open a console session with a virtual machine. Solution This is a pretty generic error, for whatever reason the client software cannot connect to the KMS (Keyboard, Mouse, and Screen). In NEARLY every case this is a communication issue, either the machine running the client software cannot resolve the name of the ESX host that is hosting the...
VMware ESX – When Deploying a Template ‘Network interface {name} uses network {name} which is not accessible’
KB ID 0000846 Problem I tried to deploy a VM Template today and was greeted with this error, I had renamed all the networks in this environment since I created this template, so I know why I was getting this error. But there seems to be no way to edit the template itself to change the value to the correct network. Solution In the procedure below I will be jumping backwards and forwards between Hosts and Clusters view and VMs and...
vSphere Error – ‘The operation is not allowed in the current connection state of the host’
KB ID 0000848 Problem You can see this either when attempting to power on a VM, or when attempting to deploy a VM from a template. Solution Thankfully it’s a really easy fix. 1. Connect to the console of your Virtual Center, (either through the VI client or via RDP) 2. Windows Key+R > Services.msc {Enter} > Locate the VMware Virtual Center Server service > Restart it. Note: If you have the vCenter appliance, simply...
VMware VI Client Error ‘Call “ServiceInstance.RetrieveContent” for object “ServiceInstance” on Server “IP-Address” failed’
KB ID 0000870 Problem This is a pretty generic error. It basically means “I cant connect to what you are asking me to connect to, on TCP Port 443 (https)”. Solution Internet searching for this error is very frustrating, everyone who was posting this error was seeing it because, instead of putting the IP address or name in the box (that actually tells you to put in the IP address or name (see image above)). If you put in...