You can upload an ISO image file to a datastore from your local computer. You can do this when a virtual machine, host, or cluster does not have access to a datastore or to a shared datastore that has the guest operating system installation media that you require.

Prerequisites

  • Verify that the Client Integration Plug-In is installed. See Install the Client Integration Plug-In. The installation process requires you to close any open browsers.

  • Required privileges:

    • Datastore > Browse datastore on the datastore.

    • Datastore > Low level file operations on the datastore.

Procedure

  1. In the inventory, click Datastores and on the Objects tab, select the datastore to which you will upload the file.
  2. Click the Navigate to the datastore file browser icon (Datastore file browser).
  3. (Optional) Click the Create a new folder icon.
  4. Select the folder that you created or select an existing folder, and click the Upload a File icon (Upload file to datastore).
  5. If the Client Integration Access Control dialog box appears, click Allow to allow the plug-in to access your operating system and proceed with the file upload.
  6. On the local computer, find the file and upload it.

    ISO upload times vary, depending on file size and network upload speed.

  7. Refresh the datastore file browser to see the uploaded file in the list.

What to do next

After you upload the ISO image installation media, you can configure the virtual machine CD-ROM drive to access the file.