Installing VMTools in SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 fails if no rc[0-6].d folds

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• Installing VMTools fails.
• Running the below command installer exits and VMTools don't work at all:

# ./vmware-install.pl
...
What is the directory that contains the init directories (rc0.d/ to 
rc6.d/)? 

The path "" is not an existing directory.

Environment

VMware tools in SUSE Linux Enterprise 15

Cause

This occurs if virtual machine does not have rc[0-6].d folders under /etc/init.d/ or /etc/rc.d/.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, make sure insserv-compat was installed before installing VMTools. If your SLE 15 virtual machine is missing the required folders, install this package manually by running command:

# zypper install insserv-compat

Loading repository data...
Reading installed packages...
Resolving package dependencies...

The following NEW package is going to be installed:

  insserv-compat

1 new package to install.
Overall download size: 14.4 KiB. Already cached: 0 B. After the operation, additional 8.4 KiB will be used.
Continue? [y/n/...? shows all options] (y): y
Retrieving package insserv-compat-0.1-1.5.noarch (1/1), 14.4 KiB ( 8.4 KiB unpacked)
Retrieving: insserv-compat-0.1-1.5.noarch.rpm ...................................................................................[done]
Checking for file conflicts: ....................................................................................................[done]
(1/1) Installing: insserv-compat-0.1-1.5.noarch .................................................................................[done]

# ls /etc/init.d/
after.local boot.d boot.local halt.local rc0.d rc1.d rc2.d rc3.d rc4.d rc5.d rc6.d rcS.d

# ls /etc/rc.d/
after.local boot.d boot.local halt.local rc0.d rc1.d rc2.d rc3.d rc4.d rc5.d rc6.d rcS.d