VMware vSphere SDKs and Tools 8.0

8.0 7.0 6.7 6.5

Installing the Guest Customization Engine
Last Updated December 16, 2024

The guest customization engine needs to be installed in a virtual machine before using the
VirtualMachineGuestCustomizationManager.CustomizeGuest_Task
 method.You can download the installer from the VMware Customer Connect web site.
Start a web browser in a running virtual machine. For instant clone operations, prepare the source virtual machine by installing the customization engine before creating clones.
The guest customization engine is available for most popular Linux distributions, using either an RPM package or a DEB package. To download and install it within the guest operating system, use the following steps.
  1. Login to Broadcom support site and find VMware.
  2. Navigate to the Download VMware vSphere page.
  3. Click the
    Drivers & Tools
     tab.
  4. Find the entry for the instant clone customization engine.
  5. Download the installation package appropriate for your Linux distribution:
    • The
      .rpm
       file for RHEL or SLES
    • The
      .deb
       file for Ubuntu
  6. Run the command to install the package in the guest:
    • For the
      .rpm
       package, use this command:
      sudo /bin/rpm -i --force yourdpkgFilePath >> ./rpm.log 2>&1
    • For the
      .deb
       package, use this command:
      sudo /usr/bin/dpkg -i --force-all yourdpkgFilePath >> ./dpkg.log 2>&1
After the guest customization engine is installed, the guest is prepared to invoke
VirtualMachine.InstantClone_Task
 or
VirtualMachineGuestCustomizationManager.CustomizeGuest_Task
. You can delete the installation package to save virtual disk space.

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