Virtual machines are having the same serial number of the ESXi host instead of a unique serial number

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

The serial number of virtual machines shows the same serial number as the ESXi host on which the VM is running.

 

Cause

This happens when the vmx of the VM has a specific configuration: SMBIOS.reflectHost, and it is set to True.

Resolution

To remove the configuration, please follow the steps shared below:

1. Power Off the VM.
2. SSH to the host that has the VM and navigate to the VM folder.
3. Edit the vmx and change the SMBIOS.reflectHost to False.
4. Save and exit
5. Power on the VM and validate that the serial number should be changed.