From vCenter vSphere Client - 'Edit Settings' for VM does not display 'Virtual Hardware' settings

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Using the vCenter vSphere client you need to edit a VM's  Virtual Hardware Settings

Select VM > Right Click - select 'Edit Settings'

The 'Edit Settings' window will display but none of the 'Virtual Hardware'  settings will display.

The other 2 tabs 'VM Options', 'Advanced Parameters' - will display.

Environment

VM with a VMXNET Network adapter.

VM Guest OS is likely a deprecated/legacy 

VM's with VMXNET2 or VMXNET3 are not impacted.

Resolution

Use the ESXi Host Client to edit the VM settings.

Network Adapter should be VMXNET3 ideally.  

For guest operating systems in which VMXNET3 is not supported, we recommend using the E1000E virtual network adapter.

 

VMware Engineering are aware of this and are working to have this in upcoming releases of 8.x & 9.x

Additional Information

Choosing a network adapter for a virtual machine https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/321259/

Understanding guest operating system support levels https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/344481/ 

VMware Tools compatibility with guest operating systems https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/313371/