Lab Manager User’s Guide
40
VMware, Inc.
Customizing the Guest Operating System
Lab Manager
can
customize
the
network
settings
of
a
guest
operating
system
that
was
created
from
a
virtual
machine
template.
These
settings
include
the
machine
name,
IP
settings,
and
security
identifier
(SID)
for
Windows
guest
operating
systems.
The
customization
allows
you
to
create
and
deploy
multiple,
unique
virtual
machines
based
on
the
same
virtual
machine
template
without
a
machine
name
or
network
conflicts.
When
you
configure
a
virtual
machine
template
with
the
prerequisites
for
guest
customization
and
create
a
virtual
machine
that
uses
this
virtual
machine
template,
Lab Manager
creates
a
package
with
guest
customization
tools.
When
you
deploy
and
power
on
the
virtual
machine
the
first
time,
Lab Manager
copies
the
package,
runs
the
tools,
and
deletes
the
package
from
the
virtual
machine.
You
can
enable
or
disable
customization
for
a
virtual
machine
template
or
a
virtual
machine.
To
avoid
conflicts
when
you
are
not
using
guest
customization,
access
the
virtual
machine
console
through
Lab Manager
and
manually
set
its
network
parameters
to
unique
values.
By
default,
Lab Manager
enables
guest
customization
when
you
create
a
new
template.
Access the machine.id from an ESX Host
The
configuration
file
for
a
virtual
machine,
the
.vmx
file,
contains
a
machine.id
line.
The
Lab Manager
server
system
sets
the
values
for
this
line
while
deploying
virtual
machines.
Enabling
guest
customization
on
a
virtual
machine
template
configures
a
script
to
run
every
time
the
system
starts
up.
This
script
reads
the
machine.id
information
and
determines
which
action
to
take.
The
Lab Manager
server
system
does
not
set
any
actions
in
the
machine.id
line
while
deploying
virtual
machine
templates.
As
a
result,
the
guest
customization
script
does
not
perform
any
customization
for
the
virtual
machine
template
when
it
starts
up.
The
Lab Manager
server
system
does
set
customization
actions
in
the
machine.id
line
while
deploying
virtual
machines
or
changing
virtual
machine
network
settings.
When
these
virtual
machines
first
start
up,
the
guest
customization
script
performs
the
relevant
actions.
To access the machine.id line from the ESX/ESXi host
1
From
the
ESX/ESXi
host
system,
open
the
.vmx
file.
2
Find
the
machine.id
line.
Access the machine.id from a Guest Operating System
If
you
install
VMware
Tools,
you
can
access
the
machine.id
from
the
guest
operating
system
of
a
deployed
virtual
machine.
To access the machine.id line from the guest operating system
1
In
the
left
pane,
click
Workspace
s.
2
Move
the
pointer
over
the
configuration
name
and
select
Open
.
3
Move
the
pointer
over
the
deployed
virtual
machine
name
and
select
Show
Console
.
4
Search
for
machine.id
from
inside
the
guest
operating
system.
From
a
Linux
guest
OS,
type:
# vmware-guestd --cmd machine.id.get
From
a
Windows
guest
OS,
navigate
to
the
directory
where
VMware
Tools
is
installed
(usually
C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Tools
)
and
type:
>VMwareService.exe -cmd machine.id.get
Summary of Contents for Lab Manager 4.0
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