VMware tools installation failed with error "The VMware tools should only be installed on virtual machine"
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VMware tools installation failed with error "The VMware tools should only be installed on virtual machine"

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Article ID: 438099

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Updated On:

Products

VMware vCenter Server VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

  • Issue reported on Windows virtual machines running on vSphere environment about the VMware Tools as stated below.

    The VMware tools should only be installed on virtual machine
  • Error information:

  • During the VMware tools installation procedure, if the option "Virtual Machine Validation" is skipped, VMware tools can be installed, but the service can not be started.

    • Go to Run --> services.msc and click on the VMware tools service, it reports "The VMware Tools service entered the running state" and "The VMware Tools service entered the stopped state " with Event ID 7036.

  • The VM is presented as Hyper-V in the Advanced Configuration Parameters:
    • Go to --> Edit Settings > Advanced Parameters> Configuration Parameters.
    • Search for "hypervisor.cpuid.v0" parameter, and verify if the value is defined as 1 or 0 ?
      • Value 1 represents "Hypervisor" VM.
      • Value 0 represents "Standalone" VM.

(AND / OR)

  • Guest OS of the Virtual Machine advertises itself as Hyper-V 
    • Login to the VM console and use PowerShell command for the validation from Windows command line:
      • Get-ComputerInfo | Select-Object HyperVisorPresent
    • If the output is "True", the VMware Tools installation will fail with error noted above, and the service may not start.

 

Environment

VMware vCenter Server

Cause

Possible causes:

  • If VM migrate from Hyper-V/Azure, Installation fails with error "The VMware tools should only be installed on virtual machine"
  • Guest OS "Windows" registry being wrongly updated with "Hypervisor Present" parameter as "True" or stale entry presence reported on GuestOS.
  • VM advanced options parameter "hypervisor.cpuid.v0" value is defined as 1 in Windows virtual machine.

Resolution

Contact the Guest OS vendor to correct the registry parameters. The VM must be configured as a standalone virtual machine rather than a hypervisor to allow the VMware Tools to get installed and to get the service to start.

Additional Information

Please note, the valid Virtual machine created in the vSphere environment should have the System Manufacturer and System Model as shown below

  • Login to the Windows VM and verify the below information with CLI command "msinfo32".

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