Accessing your virtual machine console allows you to view information about the virtual machine, work with the guest operating system, and perform operations that affect the guest operating system.

Prerequisites

Verify that the virtual machine is powered on.

Install VMware Remote Console on a Client

VMware Remote Console provides an embedded user-guest interaction in all virtual machines that are provisioned and managed by VMware Cloud Director. This section details the tasks required to install VMware Remote Console on Windows, Apple OS X, and Linux.

Prerequisites

Verify that you are logged in as a vApp User or a role with an equivalent set of rights.

Procedure

  1. Download the installer.
    • Navigate to the VMware Remote Console download page, and select the link for your platform.

      www.vmware.com/go/download-vmrc

    • On the Virtual Data Center dashboard screen in the VMware Cloud Director Tenant Portal, click the card of the virtual data center that you want to explore. Select a virtual machine, and from the Actions menu select Download VMRC.
  2. Run your platform installation.
    • If you are using Windows, double-click the .msi installer and follow the prompts.
    • If you are using Linux, log in with root privileges, run the .bundle installer, and follow the prompts.
    • If you are using Mac OS, double-click the .dmg to open it, then double-click the VMware Remote Console icon inside to copy to the Applications folder.

Results

After installation, VMware Remote Console opens when you click Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs) that begin with the vmrc:// scheme. VMware Workstation, Player, and Fusion also handle the vmrc:// URI scheme.

Open a Virtual Machine Remote Console

You can open a virtual machine console using VMware Remote Console through the VMware Cloud Director Tenant Portal.

Prerequisites

  • Verify that VMware Remote Console is installed on your local system.
  • Make sure that the selected virtual machine is in a powered-on state.
  • This operation requires the rights included in the predefined vApp User role or an equivalent set of rights.

Procedure

  1. On the Virtual Data Center dashboard screen, click the card of the VDC you want to explore and from the secondary left panel, select Virtual Machines.
  2. Click Card Icon to view the list in a card view and, optionally, arrange the list of VMs from the Sort by drop-down menu.
  3. From the Actions menu of the virtual machine, select Launch VM Remote Console.
    Note: If you do not have the VMware Remote Console installed, a pop-up window prompts you to either install VMware Remote Console or use the Web console.

Results

The virtual machine console opens as an external virtual remote console.
Note: When you connect to a VMware Cloud Director virtual machine by using VMware Remote Console, you are limited to console interaction only (sending Ctrl+Alt+Del). You cannot perform device operations, power operations, or settings management.

Open a Web Console from the VMware Cloud Director Tenant Portal

You can connect to the console of a virtual machine even if you do not have VMware Remote Console installed on your local system.

Prerequisites

  • Verify that the virtual machine is powered on.
  • This operation requires the rights included in the predefined vApp User role or an equivalent set of rights.

Procedure

  1. On the Virtual Data Center dashboard screen, click the card of the VDC you want to explore and from the secondary left panel, select Virtual Machines.
  2. Click Card Icon to view the list in a card view and, optionally, arrange the list of VMs from the Sort by drop-down menu.
  3. From the Actions menu of the virtual machine, select Launch Web Console.

Results

The virtual machine console opens in a new browser tab by using the VMware HTML Console SDK.

What to do next

Click anywhere inside the console window to start using your mouse, keyboard, and other input devices in the console.
Note: For information about supported international keyboards, see the VMware HTML Console SDK.