Mounting an ISO as client device fails with a Please specify a valid image file error

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

This issue may be caused by the file formats of the ISOs or invalid characters in their names. This article suggests some possible work-arounds.

Symptoms:

• When attaching an ISO file as a client CD / DVD ROM device, some ISO images fail to attach and t he following error is generated:
  
  Please specify a valid image file.
  
  
• The ISO can be opened and used by other ISO utilities (burned to CD, contents viewed, edited, etc)
• VI Client can open some ISOs but fails on others

Environment

VMware ESX Server 3.5.x
VMware VirtualCenter 2.5.x
VMware ESX Server 3.0.x

Resolution

To ensure you can mount an ISO as a client device, attempt one of the following actions:

Note: After each action determine if the ISO mounts as a client device.

1. Ensure the files extension is in lowercase (.iso not .ISO ).
2. Ensure the filename does not contain special characters such as ).
3. Copy the ISO to a datastore or /vmimages directory accessible by the host on which the virtual machine is running.
4. Mount the image as a Datastore ISO.

For more information related to performing these actions, see the ESX Server 3 Configuration Guide.