VMware Tools checkvm utility does not report correct virtual hardware version

Products

• VMware
• VMware Desktop Hypervisor
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• You attempt to query the virtual hardware version of a virtual machine using this command from within the guest operating system:
  
  /usr/sbin/vmware-checkvm -h

• The output of the command returns a value that does not match the actual virtual hardware version that you see in the virtual machines Summary tab via the vSphere Client.
  
  For example, the output may indicate that the virtual mchine's hardware is version 4, whereas the Summary tab indicates that it is version 7.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 5.1
VMware Workstation 6.x (Windows)
VMware Player 4.x (Linux)
VMware ACE 2.6.x
VMware Workstation 9.x (Linux)
VMware Player 5.x (Windows)
VMware Workstation 8.x (Windows)
VMware Player 4.x (Windows)
VMware ACE 2.7.x
VMware ESXi 4.0.x Installable
VMware ESX 4.1.x
VMware ACE 2.5.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0
VMware Workstation 8.x (Linux)
VMware Workstation 9.x (Windows)
VMware Workstation 7.x (Linux)
VMware Fusion 4.x
VMware ESXi 4.0.x Embedded
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Embedded
VMware Workstation 7.x (Windows)
VMware Fusion 5.x
VMware Player 5.x (Linux)
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Installable
VMware ESX 4.0.x
VMware Workstation 6.x (Linux)

Cause

The print virtual machine hardware version (-h option) from the VMware Tools checkvm utility does not report the same value that is found in the Summary tab of the virtual machine or in the virtualHW.version line of the virtual machine's .vmx file and therefore should not be relied upon to determine what version of virtual hardware is in use.

Resolution

To verify the virtual machine's virtual hardware version, use the Summary tab of the virtual machine or the virtualHW.version line of the virtual machine's .vmx file.