VMware Workstation 15 export to customers ESXi5.5 - vmware

I don't have ESXi inhouse, but am building a VM for a customer and they have two environments, an ESXi5.5 deployment and a 6.7.
At the moment I'm only able to export to an OVF/OVA format, which (for my customer) has worked in their 6.7 environment as I've downloaded the (Linux) version of Workstation 15 and am wondering how on earth I get to export the VM for ESX5.5. The VMware forums and online help don't seem to have been updated for Workstation 15 as they refer to a wizard which isn't available in the version of Workstation 15 that I have (only available in the paid version?)
I've also downloaded the VMware vCenter Converter (Windows version, standalone) as I was under the impression that that would be able to do convert anything to anything and therefore do what I needed, but it will only allow me to export to a 5.5 ESXi server within my environment, which I don't have.
What I'm looking at doing is building a VM that can be used in any ESXi environment, so I guess I should ask: what really is the best tool for me to be able to do that, considering that I don't have ESXi deployed here and am using VMWare Workstation and VirtualBox.
I had hoped that OVA/OVF would be a standard, and perhaps that's correct for newer VMWare Type I hypervisors?

My assumption is that you're running into an issue where the VM of a specific hardware version cannot be imported to the 5.5 environment. Each version of vSphere has a compatible hardware version, they're listed here: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.7/com.vmware.vsphere.vm_admin.doc/GUID-64D4B1C9-CD5D-4C68-8B50-585F6A87EBA0.html
To downgrade an existing VM's hardware, you can manually create a new (custom) VM in Workstation and when asked for the Virtual Disk, point to the existing disks you have already created. Additional information: https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/1028019

Related

Virtualize ESXi 6.7 under ESXi 6.0

Good day
Is it possible to virtualize ESXi 6.7 in an existing ESXi 6.0?
The reason for this is to do tests before upgrading the main ESXi 6.0.
Main:
hpe-DL380 --- ESXi 6.0 --- vCenter6.0-vm
Want to test:
hpe-DL380 --- ESXi 6.0 --- nested ESXi 6.7
Found these nested ESX packages from here.
https://williamlam.com/nested-virtualization/nested-esxi-virtual-appliance
Thank you.
So, today, i downloaded this file, Nested_ESXi6.7_Appliance_Template_v1.ova and tried to deployed it in the ESXi 6.0.
The result is a failure.
vSphere client complained about the unsupported hardware family, vmx-13.
Looks like the nested ESXi version must be at least the same version as the physical ESXi.
You may be in luck due to using 6.0 but you will need a very specific configuration and this procedure is completely bleeding edge and totally unsupported. Furthermore it's been a few years since I worked at VMware and I don't have access to an ESXi host so the commands may have some minor typos.
get to the ESXi command line (https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/7.0/com.vmware.vsphere.security.doc/GUID-12E27BF3-3769-4665-8769-DA76C2BC9FFE.html) and list the USB drivers manually using "vmkload_mod -l". If you see "usb-storage" you are in luck. If you see "vmkusb" then you're out of luck and can stop here (see below for why).
configure your ESXi 6.0 host to have no requirement for USB storage. For example, if your host boots from an SD card attached to the motherboard via a USB SD card reader then you need to get another host.
backup all your data or migrate the VMs you care about or whatever.
run these 3 commands (typos are possible)
service usb-arbitrator stop
vmkload_mod -u usb-storage
service usb-arbitrator start
You will have to repeat this after every reboot but you can make it permanent with this procedure: https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2147565.
download a bootable ISO image of ESXi 6.7 from, for example, https://customerconnect.vmware.com/downloads/details?productId=742&downloadGroup=ESXI670
burn the ISO image to a USB flash drive using, for example, https://miketabor.com/create-bootable-esxi-installer-usb-flash-drive/
attach the USB flash drive to your host and pass it through to your VM when your VM is powered off.
boot your VM from the ISO image on the USB flash drive and install the desired version of ESXi.
With newer versions of ESXi (6.7, 7.0) on the host this is no longer possible because the vmkusb native driver is monolithic so when the storage functionality is unloaded the host controller functionality also goes away.

ERROR FOR INSTALLATION ESXI 7 ON THE VMware Workstation (No network adapters were detected)

I want to use VMware Workstation 15.5.1 to install VMware vSphere ESXi 7 on one VM.
I am using virtual network adaptor which works on my other windows VMs on my vmware workstation( such as AD, and ... ).
I want to install VMware vSphere ESXi 7, and I am getting bellow error :
“No network adapters were detected. Either no network adapters are physically connected to the system, or a suitable driver could not be located. A third party driver may be required.
Ensure that there is at least one network adapter physically connected to the system before attempting installation. If the problem persists, consult the VMware Knowledge Base.”enter image description here
WHY CANNOT I INSTALL ESXi ON VMWARE WORKSTATION?
HOW CAN I ADD MY NETWORK CARD DRIVER TO MY ISO FILE?
I really appreciate if you have any idea on this problem. I am really stuck!!!
There's an issue with the network adapter type being used for some reason. You can change the E1000 adapter to VMXNet3 to resolve the issue.
Alternatively, VMware does provide a pre-built OVA template for situations like this. The 7.0 version is available at the following: link

Trying to run VMWare Workstation on Google Cloud Platform instance?

Windows:
Now, I want to install a VMWare Workstation on the Windows Google Cloud Platform instance and next install another OS on that VMWare Workstation.
But I get this BSOD.
Linux:
Now, I want to install a VMWare Workstation on the Linux Google Cloud Platform instance and next install another OS on that VMWare Workstation.
But I get this error.
This host supports intel VT-x. but the Intel VT-x implementation is incompatible.
This host does not support Intel EPT hardware assisted MMU virtualization.
Module "CPUIDEarly" power on failed.
Failed to start the virtual machine.
How can I do it?
I agree with Martin that you may not want to run VMware workstation, but you may need nested virtualization for other stuff like VMware ESXi/qemu.
GCE VMs do support nested virtualization please see Enabling Nested Virtualization for VM Instances on how to do it. This will enable VT-x support inside the VM.
It is rather useless to install a type 2 (hosted) hypervisor inside a GCE virtual machine.
There are a) other options for VMware hosting or b) migrate these containers with Velostrata.
c) That one error message (assuming you'd go the proposed nested virtualization route) might require monitor.allowLegacyCPU = "true" in file config.ini, because it seems the CPU is not supported by VMware Workstation 14 (this at least works for some elder Intel® Xeon® CPU).

What are the steps or process required for VMWare upgrade?

Hi i am studying for an interview where i want to know the process required for upgrade process for VMWare ESXi 4.0 to 5.1 to 5.5?
What do we upgrade first VCenter or ESXi or VMS?
What process do we have to follow and which tools do we use?
Before beginning any upgrade, make sure that the hardware is compatible with the version of VMware you want to install. This can be verified using the VMware HCL. Also, make sure that the ESX version is compatible with the VM guest OS. On occasions there are legacy systems on extremely outdated versions of Windows that get virtualized. Plan for downtime. Upgrading VM hardware and VMware tools require reboots. If this is not planned it can result in unplanned outages, downtime, etc.
You upgrade vCenter first, followed by the host and lastly VMware tools and virtual machine hardware version on VMs. Be careful when upgrading the virtual machine hardware. Upgrading to the latest VM hardware removes some of the manageability from the vSphere desktop client and forces you to use the web client.
You can also use update manager to schedule host upgrades, patching, etc as well as VMware tools deployment. This is just an overview; there is obviously more to it than this.

Enable hyper-V on Windows 2012

I have a window7 (32 bit) machine. I installed Virtual Box and created a VM (Windows 2012 {64bit} with enabled VT-x/AMD-V,Nested Paging).
I want to enable Hyper-V on this VM any Idea?
I tried following links but not working for me:
Link1
Link2
but in my case I am using Virtual Box.
How can I enable Hyper-V feature?
Do you want to expose VT-x/AMD-V to the guest system in the VM so it can run Hyper-V inside VM? As far as I know, VirtualBox does not support it, but VMWare does, even in their free VMWare Player.
I have been running Windows Phone 8 emulator in VMWare Player without problems. Yes, it required manual editing of .vmx file, but is works reliably and without any problems at all.
If you decide to give VMWare Player a try, make sure you have VT-x/AMD-V available and enabled on your physical host computer. Then add the following setting to your VMWare machine:
hypervisor.cpuid.v0 = "FALSE"
mce.enable = "TRUE"
and you should be able to start Hyper-V inside your VM.
For more information, see these links:
Unable to use Hyper-V platform inside a Windows 8 virtual machine
How to Enable Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V Role in VMware
and some useful topics on VirtualBox forums which explain why the feature is not available on VirtualBox:
https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=20589
https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=52625&p=304452
I really miss this feature on VirtualBox because I find VMWare Player to be bloated and it slows the host system down much more than VirtualBox does.