Determine the guest OS from a VM configuration file

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi
• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Determine the guest OS type based on the guest ID within the VM configuration file

Environment

• ESXi 6.x
• ESXi 7.x
• ESXi 8.x
• ESX 9.x

Resolution

VMX file parameters information about guest OS type :

• Some Guest OS names may be missing.
• The following Guest OS list is not compatible with all vSphere/VM hardware versions/VM tools.
• Make sure to use the compatible version for each Guest OS during installation.

The information below summarizes the guestid and guestfullname for each Guest OS, which can be verified through vm configuration file(VM_NAME.vmx).

Additionally, it facilitates the ease of identifying the Guest OS type based on the guest id in certain VM configuration files

• from vmfs/volume/datastore/VM_NAME/VM_NAME.vmx file 
  • guestos ="GUEST_OS_TYPE"

• Windows OS :

GuestID	Guest OS Type
win2000ProGuest	Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional
win2000ServGuest	Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
win2000AdvServGuest	Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
winXPProGuest	Microsoft Windows XP (32-bit)
winXPPro64Guest	Microsoft Windows XP (64-bit)
winNetEnterpriseGuest	Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise (32-bit)
winNetDatacenterGuest	Microsoft Windows Server 2003 DataCenter (32-bit)
winNetStandardGuest	Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Standard (32-bit)
winNetWebGuest	Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Web (32-bit)
winNetBusinessGuest	Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Business (32-bit)
winNetEnterprise64Guest	Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise (64-bit)
winNetDatacenter64Guest	Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise_DC_(64-bit)
winNetStandard64Guest	Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise_SE_(64-bit)
winVistaGuest	Microsoft Windows Vista (32-bit)
winVista64Guest	Microsoft Windows Vista (64-bit)
winLonghornGuest	Microsoft Windows Server 2008 (32-bit)
winLonghorn64Guest	Microsoft Windows Server 2008 (64-bit)
windows7Guest	Microsoft Windows 7 (32-bit)
windows7_64Guest	Microsoft Windows 7 (64-bit)
Windows7Server64Guest	Microsoft Windows 2008 R2 Server (64-bit)
windows8Guest	Microsoft Windows 8 (32-bit)
windows8_64Guest	Microsoft Windows 8 (64-bit)
windows8Server64Guest	Microsoft Windows 2012 Server (64-bit)
windows9Guest	Microsoft Windows 10 (32-bit)
windows9_64Guest	Microsoft Windows 10 (64-bit)
windows9Server64Guest	Microsoft Windows 2016 Server (64-bit)
windows2019srv_64Guest	Microsoft Windows 2019 Server (64-bit)
windows11_64Guest	Microsoft Windows 11 (64-bit)
windows2019srvNext_64Guest	Microsoft Windows Server 2022 (64-bit)
windows12_64Guest	Microsoft Windows 12 (64-bit)
windows2022srvNext_64Guest	Microsoft Windows Server 2025 (64-bit)

 

• Linux OS :

GuestID	Guest OS Type
asianux3Guest	Asianux Server 3 (32-bit)
asianux3_64Guest	Asianux Server 3 (64-bit)
asianux4Guest	Asianux Server 4 (32-bit)
asianux4_64Guest	Asianux Server 4 (64-bit)
asianux5_64Guest	Asianux Server 5 (64-bit)
asianux6_64Guest	Asianux Server 6 (64-bit)
asianux7_64Guest	Asianux Server 7 (64-bit)
asianux8_64Guest	Asianux Server 8 (64-bit)
asianux9_64Guest	Asianux Server 9 (64-bit)
centosGuest	CentOS 4/5 (32-bit)
centos64Guest	CentOS 4/5 (64-bit)
centos6Guest	CentOS 6 (32-bit)
centos6_64Guest	CentOS 6(64-bit)
centos7_64Guest	CentOS 7 (64-bit)
centos8_64Guest	CentOS 8 (64-bit)
centos9_64Guest	CentOS 9 (64-bit)
coreos64Guest	CoreOS (64-bit)
debian6Guest	Debian GNU/Linux 6 (64-bit)
debian6_64Guest	Debian GNU/Linux 6 (64-bit)
debian7Guest	Debian GNU/Linux 7 (32-bit)
debian7_64Guest	Debian GNU/Linux 7 (64-bit)
debian8Guest	Debian GNU/Linux 8 (32-bit)
debian8_64Guest	Debian GNU/Linux 8 (64-bit)
debian9Guest	Debian GNU/Linux 9 (32-bit)
debian9_64Guest	Debian GNU/Linux 9 (64-bit)
debian10Guest	Debian GNU/Linux 10 (32-bit)
debian10_64Guest	Debian GNU/Linux 10 (64-bit)
debian11Guest	Debian GNU/Linux 11 (32-bit)
debian11_64Guest	Debian GNU/Linux 11 (64-bit)
oracleLinuxGuest	Oracle Linux 4/5 (32-bit)
oracleLinux64Guest	Oracle Linux 4/5 (64-bit)
oracleLinux6Guest	Oracle Linux 6 (32-bit)
oracleLinux6_64Guest	Oracle Linux 6 (64-bit)
oracleLinux7_64Guest	Oracle Linux 7 (64-bit)
oracleLinux8_64Guest	Oracle Linux 8 (64-bit)
oracleLinux9_64Guest	Oracle Linux 9(64-bit)
rhel5Guest	Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (32-bit)
rhel5_64Guest	Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (64-bit)
rhel6Guest	Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 (32-bit)
rhel6_64Guest	Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 (64-bit)
rhel7Guest	Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 (32-bit)
rhel7_64Guest	Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 (64-bit)
rhel8_64Guest	Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 (64-bit)
rhel9_64Guest	Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 (64-bit)
fedoraGuest	Red Hat Fedora Linux (32-bit)
fedora64Guest	Red Hat Fedora Linux (64-bit)
opensuseGuest	OpenSUSE Linux (32-bit)
opensuse64Guest	OpenSUSE Linux (64-bit)
sles10Guest	Suse Linux Enterprise Server 10 (32-bit)
sles10_64Guest	Suse Linux Enterprise Server 10 (64-bit)
sles11Guest	Suse Linux Enterprise Server 11 (32-bit)
sles11_64Guest	Suse Linux Enterprise Server 11 (64-bit)
sles12Guest	Suse Linux Enterprise Server 12 (32-bit)
sles12_64Guest	Suse Linux Enterprise Server 12 (64-bit)
sles15_64Guest	Suse Linux Enterprise Server 15 (64-bit)
sles16_64Guest	Suse Linux Enterprise Server 16 (64-bit)
ubuntuGuest	Ubuntu Linux (32-bit)
ubuntu64Guest	Ubuntu Linux (64-bit)
rockylinux_64Guest	Rocky Linux (64-bit)
coreos64Guest	CoreOS Linux (64-bit)
otherlinuxguest	Linux 2.2x Kernel (32-bit)
otherlinux64guest	Linux (64-bit)
other4xLinuxGuest	Other 4.x Linux (32-bit)
other4xLinux64Guest	Other 4.x Linux (64-bit)
other5xLinuxGuest	Other 5.x Linux (32-bit)
other4xLinux64Guest	Other 5.x Linux (64-bit)

 

• Mac OS :

Guest ID	Guest OS Type
darwin14_64Guest	Apple macOS 10.10 (64-bit)
darwin15_64Guest	Apple macOS 10.11 (64-bit)
darwin16_64Guest	Apple macOS 10.12 (64-bit)
darwin17_64Guest	Apple macOS 10.13 (64-bit)
darwin18_64Guest	Apple macOS 10.14 (64-bit)
darwin19_64Guest	Apple macOS 10.15 (64-bit)
darwin20_64Guest	Apple macOS 11 (64-bit)
darwin21_64Guest	Apple macOS 12 (64-bit)
darwin22_64Guest	Apple macOS 13 (64-bit), Apple macOS 14 (64-bit)

 

• Other OS:

Guest ID	Guest OS Type
dosGuest	MS-DOS
eComStationGuest	eComStation 1.x
eComStation2Guest	eComStation 2.0
freebsdGuest	FreeBSD
freebsd64Guest	FreeBSD x64
solaris10Guest	Solaris 10 (32 bit) (experimental)
solaris10_64Guest	Solaris 10 (64 bit) (experimental)
solaris11_64Guest	Solaris 11 (64 bit)

 

• VMware products:

Guest ID	Guest OS Type
vmwarePhoton64Guest	VMware Photon (64 bit)
vmkernel7Guest	VMware ESXi 7
vmkernel8Guest	VMware ESXi 8
vmkernel9Guest	VMware ESX 9.x