VMware Tools status shows Unknown when using GuestStore

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

• Trying to change the distribution point for all VMware tools installations and updates to a central datastore.
• Used the steps in How to Use GuestStore for VMware Tools Upgrades
• The GuestStore is configured on a NFS datastore  
• All of the Windows VMs show the Update status for VMware Tools is unknown

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi

Cause

File permission issues on the NFS datastore.

• Attempting to access or delete files from the directory configured on the NFS datastore for GuestStore use via the vSphere Client datastore browser results in errors.
• Using the command
  

  "C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Tools\VMwareToolboxCmd.exe" gueststore getcontent /vmware/apps/vmtools/windows64/metadata.json C:\Temp\metadata.json

  
  from Get Resource Content documentation results in error
  

  'getcontent' failed, GuestStore client library error: Content not found.

 

Resolution

Work with your storage administrator to verify that the permissions for the NFS share are correct.

Once permissions for the NFS share have been corrected, re-configure the GuestStore on all ESXi hosts

Note: Even if using the same NFS directory for GuestStore, unset and set it again using the steps below

1. Log in to the ESXi host via SSH
2. Unset the previous GuestStore configuration
   

   esxcli system settings gueststore repository set --url ""

3. Set the GuestStore configuration again
   

   esxcli system settings gueststore repository set --url "ds:///vmfs/volumes/DATASTORENAME/FOLDERNAME/"

4. vMotion the VM with outdated VMware Tools version to the ESXi host configured with GuestStore.
   
   Note: It may take a couple of minutes after the vMotion is complete for the banner "A newer version of VMware Tools is available for this virtual machine" to appear