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.

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.

Prerequisites

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.

Procedure

  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

What to do next

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.