vSphere ESXi 7.0 U2 and later versions configuration files for keymap and welcome message can no longer be edited

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

As part of the bigger goal of moving away from using stickybit files, VMware have removed /etc/keymap and other configuration files on ESXi. The configurations in these files are now stored in the ConfigStore. The ConfigStore is the single source of truth in ESXi 7.0 Update 2 and later.



Symptoms:
It is no longer possible to affect changes in keyboard layout or welcome message by editing /etc/keymap and /etc/vmware/welcome. In ESXi 7.0 Update 2 and later, files under /etc either no longer exist, or changes to them do not persist a reboot.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0.3
VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0.2
VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0.0

Resolution

Use the following esxcli commands to configure keyboard layout and welcome message. The commands have been modified to read/write to the configstore instead of interacting with a stickybit file.

To get the current configuration:

• esxcli system settings keyboard layout get
• esxcli system welcomemsg get

To set the configuration:

• esxcli system settings keyboard layout set
• esxcli system welcomemsg set

Additional Information

[Internal] ESXi configuration files for sfcb snmp and wbem can no longer be edited