Microsoft Windows 8.1 guest operating system option is not available

Products

• VMware Desktop Hypervisor
• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

This article provides information on the guest operating system version to select when installing Windows 8.1 (32-bit and 64-bit) in a virtual machine.

Symptoms:

• The guest operating system options for Microsoft Windows 8.1 is unavailable.
• When installing Microsoft Windows 8.1 in a virtual machine, you see that the guest operating system option is not available.

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 5.5.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.1
VMware Fusion 7.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.5
VMware Workstation 10.x (Windows)
VMware vCenter Server 5.1.x
VMware Fusion 8.x
VMware Fusion 6.x
VMware Workstation 10.x (Linux)
VMware vCenter Server 5.0.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0
VMware Fusion 10.x

Resolution

A unique guest operating system option is not available for Microsoft Windows 8.1 (32-bit) and Microsoft Windows 8.1 (64-bit).

Use these guest operating system options when installing Microsoft Windows 8.1 (32-bit and 64-bit):
 

Guest Operating System	Recommended Guest Operating System version in vSphere 5.x
Microsoft Windows 8.1 32-bit	Microsoft Windows 8 (32-bit)
Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-bit	Microsoft Windows 8 (64-bit)

Note: VMware products do not need to differentiate between these minor OS releases in a virtual machine.