Tag Archives: vm

VMware – Cannot Cut, Copy, or Paste to VM’s

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KB ID 0000515

Problem

Ever since ESX 4.1 this feature has been disabled and you have been unable to paste to VM, VMware say in their own documentation:

Source (Page 215 – ESX Configuration Guide ESX 4.1 vCenter Server 4.1).

To turn this feature back ON you have a few choices.

Please be aware: We are talking about copy and pasting TEXT to and from a guest VM NOT files and folders.

Solution

ESX Option 1 (Enable Copy and Paste to VM an individual Guest machine)

Using vSphere 8 or Above

Firstly, you need to shut the virtual machine down > Right Click it > Edit Settings >  Advanced > Add the following TWO attributes and values.

Add in the following two;
Attribute: isolation.tools.copy.disable, Value: false
Attribute: isolation.tools.paste.disable, Value: false

Click OK >  Power the VM back on.

Using HML5 Web Client (Enable Copy and Paste to VM)

Firstly, you need to shut the virtual machine down > Right Click it > Edit Settings > VM Options > Advanced  > Scroll down.

 

Edit configuration > Add configuration params;

Add in the following two parameters then click OK

Name: isolation.tools.copy.disable, Value: false
Name: isolation.tools.paste.disable, Value: false

Using Flash Web Client.

Firstly, you need to shut the virtual machine down > Right Click it > Edit Settings > VMware Option Tab > Advanced > Edit configuration > Add in the following;

Name: isolation.tools.copy.disable, Value: false
Name: isolation.tools.paste.disable, Value: false

 

OK > OK > Power on VM

Using VMware Client (Enable Copy and Paste to VM)

1. Firstly, you need to shut the virtual machine down > Right Click it > Edit Settings > Option Tab > Advanced > General > Configuration Parameters.

2. Select “Add Row” and add the following two options:

[box]isolation.tools.copy.disable

isolation.tools.paste.disable [/box]

Set both these values to FALSE > OK > OK > Power the VM back on again.

Note: Even without these values set, if a VM is vMotioned to an ESX host that has the copy.paste options set in it’s config file (see below) then these features are automatically enabled.

Option 2 (Enable Copy and Paste to VM on an individual Guest machine)

1. You can also achieve the same as above by directly editing the .vmx file for the virtual machine, Add the following two values as shown below:

[box]isolation.tools.copy.disable=”FALSE”

isolation.tools.paste.disable=”FALSE” [/box]

Note: Even without these values set, if a VM is vMotioned to an ESX host that has the copy.paste options set in it’s config file (see below) then these features are automatically enabled.

Option 3 (Enable Copy and Paste on the ESX host for all the VM’s on that host)

Note: This procedure will be removed/reset after an ESX upgrade. (You will need to carry out this procedure again post upgrade).

1. Connect to your ESX server, either directly on the console, or via SSH. and execute the following command:

[box]vi /etc/vmware/config[/box]

 

2. Press i to insert text and paste in the following two lines:

[box]isolation.tools.copy.disable=”FALSE”

isolation.tools.paste.disable=”FALSE” [/box]

Press Escape > then type :wq to save the changes.

Additional Steps for Linux / Ubuntu to allow Copy and Paste to VM

1. Assuming you have the VMware tools installed in your Linux guest VM, if not execute the following command:

[box]sudo apt-get install open-vm-toolbox[/box]

To enable copy paste on the guest execute the following command:

[box]vmware-toolbox &[/box]

One the VMware tools properties page pops up you will be able to copy and paste.

Enabling Copy and Paste in VMware Workstation

Out of the box, this functionality is switched on. However if you lose it then open the virtual machines settings > Options tab > Guest Isolation > Enable the Copy and paste option.

Related Articles, References, Credits, or External Links

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VMware vSphere – How to Import and Export OVF and OVA Files

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KB ID 0000562

Problem

I prefer to think of OVF Templates as “Zip” files for Virtual Machines and Virtual Appliances. Where as the OVA file is the complete appliance pre packaged. There are two things you will want to do with an OVF Template;

1. Export a VM to an OVF Template

2. Import an OVF Template (Note: VMware call this “Deploy an OVF Template”)

Note: There are tools for OVF templates for other VMware virtualisation products, this is just for vSphere / ESX.

Tech Note: I find it a lot simpler to do this from PowerCLI now, see the article below;

VMware: Export a VM to OVA With PowerCLI

Solution

Export a Virtual Machine to OVF (vSphere v6)

Note: Machine must be Powered Off and have No Snapshots!

Select the VM > Templates > Export OVF Template.

Change the name, annotation as required > OK.

Your files will be downloaded, (the location will depend on your browser settings!)

 

Export a Virtual Machine to OVF (vSphere v3, v4 and v5)

Note: Machine must be Powered Off and have No Snapshots!

1. Connect to your host with the VI client > With your virtual machine powered off > Select it > File > Export > Export to OVF Template.

2. Select a location to save the files to > OK.

3. Depending on the size of the VM this can take a while.

4. It will give you the following message when it’s finished.

5. Here are the files that it has created.

Import / Deploy an OVF Template to a Virtual Machine

HTML5 Web Client: You can select Deploy OVF Template from either the Cluster or Host Level.

: 

Flash Web Client: If importing OVA or OVF files into vSphere via the vSphere Web client, you can import them at the vCenter, Host, or Cluster Level.

 

From this point forward: The procedure is the same for both Flash and HTML5 clients, Ill show the process using the HTML5 client.

Choose Files > Navigate to and select ALL the applicable files > Next.

  

Give the new VM a name, and, (if applicable) select a folder to put it into > Next > Select a host to deploy to > Next.

Review details > Next > Choose the storage, (and optionally disk format) > Next.

Select the Port Group you want to connect the new VM to > Next > Again review the details > Finish.

 

Import / Deploy an OVF Template to a Virtual Machine (vSphere v3, v4 and v5)

1. To create a VM from an OVF template, connect to your host with the VI client > File > Deploy OVF Template.

2. Browse to the location that the .ovf file is stored > Next.

3. Read the details > Next.

4. Give the new VM a name > Next.

5. Select the disk format (Thick or Thin) you want the new VM to use.

What does Lazy Zeroed and Eager Zeroed Mean?

Data on disks is stored as a 1 (one) or a 0 (zero), so if all the blocks on the disk are set to zero, when you put data on the disk, it only has half the work to do (i.e. write the ones). Eager Zeroed, puts zeros on all the blocks on the disks straight away, Lazy Zeroed puts all zeroes in a block the first time the block is read.

6. Read the summary, and if you want to power on the VM on completion, tick the box > Finish.

7. Depending upon the amount of data this can take a while.

8. It will give you the following message when it’s finished.

9. And here is your VM, imported, powered up, and working.

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Original Article Written 26/01/12

EVE-NG (VMware) Connecting to the Internet

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43

KB ID 0001432

Problem

I did an article a while back on doing this with UNL, so I thought I’d revisit it today for EVE-NG. I really like EVE-NG, for proof of concept work, testing, and just learning new products I cant think of any product better.

But what if you want to connect your labs to the outside world? 

Solution

In all honesty a lot of this article you can skip, I’m just showing you what’s going on down at the Linux level (so you can be sure yours will be OK).

I’m assuming you already have EVE-NG installed and some images in it, and know how to create a lab, and that you want to connect that lab to the internet.

Unlike UNL, EVE-NG will deploy with only one vNIC, (below I’m using vSphere 6), so to keep things nice and simple I’m just going to add one more;

VMXNet3 is fine, just make sure it’s connected to the correct port-group.

Note: You can probably skip down to allowing promiscuous mode below. As the good folk at EVE-NG have configured all the hard stuff for you!

SSH into your EVE-NG server > log on as the root user, and make sure it can see BOTH network cards, with the following command;

[box]ifconfig -a | grep ^eth[/box]

Above you can see the original eth0, and the one I just added eth1.

You probably already have nano installed, (it’s a text editor). But just in case, run the following command;

[box]apt-get install nano[/box]

Use nano to edit/view the network card settings; 

[box]nano /etc/network/interfaces[/box]

Scroll down to the settings for eth1 and make sure it is tied to, (bridged to)  pnet1 (as below). Repeat for any additional network cards.

To exit nano Press CTRL+X, (then if you have made any changes save them).

You can also see a summary of bridged interfaces with the following command;

[box]

brctl show

[/box]

Enable Promiscuous Mode

Your Hyper Visor (VMware) needs to be able to see traffic from your EVE-NG devices, coming out though the vNIC we added earlier, that means a lot of MAC addresses are going to be coming from the MAC address of that vNIC. By default VMWare will block that. so we need to enable promiscuous mode on the port-group that we connected to earlier, (mine was called VM Network).

If you are using the older VMware (Fat) client, see the link at the bottom of the page for the older UNL article.

Edit the port group;

On the Security tab > Tick ‘Override’, and set it to ‘Accept’ > OK.

Forged Transmits: You will also need to enable this, (if you use VLAN tagging in your network!)

Add Cloud Objects to EVE-NG

Above, (if you remember) the vNIC (eth1) was bridged to pnet1. These used to be labelled pnet1, pnet2, etc. Now they are labelled Cloud1, Cloud2, etc.

In your lab workspace add a ‘Network’ object.

Select Cloud1 (remember this is mapped to pnet1, which is bridged to eth1.). You may want to change the name from Net, to something like ‘Internet’.

Connect a device to it, (I’m using a router, because they are quick and easy to setup).

My Network has DHCP on it, so my router picked up an IP from my LAN, and once I’d given it a default route, I now have full internet access from the lab.

Related Articles, References, Credits, or External Links

Unified Networking Lab – Connecting ESX VM to the Internet

Booting USB: Boot VMware Guest from USB

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KB ID 0000250

Problem

Booting USB: Last week I wrote an article about installing Windows PE on a USB thumb drive, after making several trips across the room to test my progress by booting the spare PC with said USB drive, I thought “there must be a simpler way to do this?”.

VMware Workstation guest VM’s do not support booting from USB devices, (its not built into their “BIOS”). However there’s nothing to stop you booting to CD then using that to boot to USB.

Booting USB

1. Download the PLoP Boot manager.

2. When you have downloaded the .zip file extract it, and inside you will find an ISO image called plpbt.iso that’s all we need you can get rid of everything else.

3. Set your virtual machine to use this .iso file as its CD drive.

4. Connect your USB drive to the guest VM by clicking VM > Removable Devices > The device you wish to connect > Connect.

5. Boot the VM with your PLoP CD, image and select USB from the boot options.

 

 

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VMware – This Virtual Machine Appears To Be In Use

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KB ID 0000959 

Problem

I wanted to give a copy of a VM to a colleague, so I removed all the snapshots, and cloned one of my test VM’s. When I went to power on the original this happened;

The virtual machine appears to be in use.

If this virtual machine is not in use press the “Take Ownership” button to obtain ownership of it. Otherwise press the “Cancel” button to avoid damaging it.

Configuration file: {path-to-vmx-file}

And when I attempted to ‘Take Ownership’ of the machine, that failed also;

Could not open virtual machine: {path-to-vmx-file}
Taking ownership of this virtual machine failed.
The virtual machine is in use by an application on your host computer.
Configuration file: {path-to-vmx-file}

Solution

I knew it was not in use, as there was only me using my laptop. So I figured VMware had some files ‘locked’. Navigate to the folder that holds the VM’s files, (Note: The path is on the error message above).

.

Locate any folders that have a .lck extension appended to their name (as above), and move them to another folder. Then attempt to power on your VM.

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VMware – Ubuntu Screen Resolution Problem

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KB ID 0000411 

Problem

I have a guest VM on my vSphere test rig that’s running Ubuntu 10.10. That I use for testing, for a while I could not get the screen resolution above 854×480 (For wide screen or 16:9 format).

 

Solution

Note I’m assuming you already have the VMware tools installed!

1. Shut down your guest machine, open the VMware VI client and go to the settings of the guest machine. go the the hardware tab and select video card. By default it will be set to auto detect, change it to a nice high resolution, and click OK.

Note: For VMware workstation the setting is under “Display” see below.

2. Power the guest VM back on again and now you should have a better range of resolutions.

 

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Possible bug in VMware Client

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KB ID 0000413

Problem

Unable to use multiple console sessions in Windows 7.

1. Seen on Windows 7 x64 Ultimate, with and without aero enabled, on two separate machines.

2. Happens if connected to VCenter OR directly to ESXi (build 4.1.0, 260247)

3. Does NOT happen with the same software from Server 2003. (Same systems, same vesion of the VI client).

4. Does NOT happen on Server 2008 R2 Standard x64 (Same systems, same version of the VI client).

5. Does NOT happen on Server 2008 R2 Standard x64 with Service Pack 1 (Same systems, same version of the VI client).

6. Does NOT happen on Server 2008 R2 Standard x64 aero Enabled with Service Pack 1 (Same systems, same version of the VI client).

7. Does NOT happen on Windows 7 Enterprise (Service Pack 1) x86 (Same systems, same version of the VI client).

Description

 

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VMware ESX – When Deploying a Template ‘Network interface {name} uses network {name} which is not accessible’

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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 Templates view. I’m assuming you know the difference between them, and how to switch between. Note: If you can’t see the templates then switch to VMs and Templates If you can’t see the storage then switch to Hosts and Clusters.

1. Browse your datastore(s), and locate the filename.vmtx that is associated with your ‘problem’ template, and download it to your PC/Laptop.

2. Open the vmtx file with a text editor, and locate the entry that refers to the ‘old network’.

3. Get the correct name of the new network from an existing working VM like so.

4. Change the entry in the vmtx file to the new name, then save the changes.

5. Now upload the edited file, to over-write the one in your datastore.

At this point you would thing that’s all you need to do. However before the change is recognised by Virtual Center, you need to remove then re-register it again.

6. Locate the template and remove it from the inventory.

7. Then right click your edited vmtx file and add it back to the inventory.

8. Now your template should deploy correctly.

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