How to add VMTools version info to an existing OVF/OVA template

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

How to add VMTools version info to an existing VMDK file.

Symptoms:
A customization task fails with error message:
Customization of the guest operating system is not supported due to the given reason: Tools is not installed in the GuestOS. Please install the latest version of open-vm-tools or VMware Tools to enable GuestCustomization.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 6.5
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.0
VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0

Cause

If VMTools version info is not set in a VMDK file, an OVF/OVA template created from that VMDK file will not include VMTools version info, and any VM deployed from the OVF/OVA template reports VMTools is not installed.

Resolution

Virtual Disk Development Kit (VDDK) can be used to add VMTools version info to an existing VMDK file:

1. Download the Virtual Disk Development Kit (VDDK)
2. Install the VDDK package according to VDDK documentation  
3. Develop your software to use the "Write Metadata Table to Disk" API
4. Use the software to write "ddb.toolsVersion=2147483647" to the existing VMDK file

For more information, see the API Documentation for Virtual Disk Development Kit Programming Guide (7.0)

For example, vixDiskUtil in VMware Photon is a tool which calls the VDDK API to edit VMDK files, see Github - vixDiskUtil.