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VMware VirtualCenter 1.1 Support Documentation


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Preparing for Guest Customization

When you deploy a template or clone an existing virtual machine, you have the opportunity to customize the new guest operating system. A Guest Customization wizard guides you through the configuration options.

Before you run the Guest Customization wizard, that means, before you start the Template Deployment or Clone wizards, if you intend to perform a Guest Customization, perform the following:

Installing the components required to support guest operating system customization are covered in the following sections:

Installing the Microsoft Sysprep Tools

Installing the Microsoft Sysprep Tools

If you plan to customize a Windows guest operating system, you must first install the Microsoft Sysprep tools on your VirtualCenter client machine.

In the physical world, computers are typically deployed from disk image files created using tools such as Ghost and DriveImage. To create an image of a Windows computer, you typically run Microsoft Sysprep on the template computer and then capture or creates an image from that computer. Sysprep prepares the template computer for deployment by installing special software that reconfigures the operating system on the next boot.

In VirtualCenter, you never have to run Sysprep manually on a virtual machine before use the virtual machine as a template or the source of a clone operation. VirtualCenter's guest customization technology automatically performs the Sysprep preparation step during deploy or cloning operation.

Manually running Sysprep in a template virtual machine or source virtual machine is unnecessary, but harmless. VirtualCenter automatically runs Sysprep on the virtual machine a second time, overriding and overwriting files and configuration settings from the first Sysprep operation.

The following process must be performed once if you are going to customize virtual machines with any of the supported Windows guest operating systems installed. Refer to VirtualCenter Guest Operating System Customization Requirements for a list of the supported guest operating systems.

To install the Microsoft Sysprep tools:

  1. Download the Sysprep package from the Microsoft Web site. www.microsoft.com/windows2000/downloads/tools/sysprep/default.asp

    Though the Sysprep version indicates Windows 2000, it works with both Windows XP Professional and Windows Server 2003.

  2. Run the Microsoft installer.

    Q257813_w2k_spl_x86_en.exe

  3. Locate the directory to place the expanded files.
    1. From the dialog box Browse to the default installation location:

      C:\[VirtualCenter_installation_directory]\resources\
      windows\sysprep\1.1

    2. Click OK.

      The expanded directory structure resembles the following:

      ...\resources\windows\sysprep\1.1\
      ...\resources\windows\sysprep\1.1\contents.txt
      ...\resources\windows\sysprep\1.1\docs\...
      ...\resources\windows\sysprep\1.1\tools\...
      ...\resources\windows\sysprep\1.1\samples\...

      You are now ready to customize a new virtual machine with supported Windows guest operating system as you clone an existing virtual machine or deploy a template.

Installing the VMware Open Source Components

Installing the VMware Open Source Components

If you plan to customize a Linux guest operating system, you must first install the VMware Open Source components on your VirtualCenter server machine. VMware has packaged these components into a separate package called VMware Open Source Components, which you download from the VMware Web site. Refer to: www.vmware.com/download

Perform the following process once on the VirtualCenter server to support the Linux guest operating systems:

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS 3.0
  • Red Hat Advanced Server 2.1
  • SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 8

To install the VMware Open Source Components:

  1. On the machine running VirtualCenter server, disable any anti-virus application that interferes with Active Scripting.

    VirtualCenter server uses Windows Active Scripting to perform some of its tasks. Certain anti-virus applications may disable active scripting or block scripts from accessing system resources. When this happens, some features of VirtualCenter behave unexpectedly or fail to work. In Norton AntiVirus, the feature is called Script Blocker. in McAfee, it's known as ScriptStopper. If you have one of these, or another anti-virus application that interferes with Active Scripting, it is important that you disable these features on the machine running VirtualCenter server.

  2. From your VirtualCenter server machine, open a browser.

    Perform this on every machine that has a VirtualCenter server.

  3. Locate, download, and start the VMware Open Source Components installer.
    1. Go to the browser path: www.vmware.com/download
    2. Follow the link to the VirtualCenter download page.
    3. Click the download link to the Open Source Components installer.

      Answer the prompts to place the installer file on your system.

  4. Start the Open Source Components installer.

    Double-click on the VMware Open Source Components .exe file.

    The VMware Open Source Components installer starts up and displays a download dialog box.

  5. Complete the installation.

    Follow the installer instructions.

    You are now ready to customize a new virtual machines with a supported Linux guest operating system as you clone an existing virtual machine or deploy a template.

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