Setting the Force BIOS Setup option fails when vCenter Server or ESXi/ESX users are granted the Virtual Machine User role

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• When the vCenter Server 5.x or ESX/ESXi 4.1/5.x user is granted with the Virtual Machine User role on a virtual machine, you are unable to enable the Force BIOS Setup Boot option
• Enabling the Force BIOS Setup Boot option fails when users are granted the Virtual Machine User role on a virtual machine
• You see the error:
  
  Permission to perform this operation was denied.
  You do not hold privilege "Virtual machine > Configuration > Settings" on virtual machine "clone"

Environment

VMware ESXi 4.1.x Embedded
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.1
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Installable
VMware vCenter Server 5.1.x
VMware vCenter Server 5.0.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0
VMware ESX 4.1.x

Cause

This is an expected behavior.

vSphere 5.0 and later releases impose increased restrictions while setting the Force BIOS Setup option. In earlier releases, the ability to make configuration changes to a virtual machine also allows you to modify the Force BIOS Setup option. However, vSphere 5.0 and later releases require the Virtual Machine > Configuration > Settings privilege to modify the Force BIOS Setup option.

Resolution

To grant permissions to Force BIOS Setup:

1. Log in to the vSphere Client.
2. Click Home.
3. Under the Administration section, click Roles.
4. Right-click the Virtual Machine User role and click Edit Role.
5. Expand Virtual Machine > Configuration.
6. Select the Settings option.
7. Click OK.