If you have set up VMware vSphere Hypervisor 7 License you will find that it defaults to the evaluation version giving you 60 days unlimited use. But, how to do you apply the serial number to use it after the evaluation has finished?
We have created a quick video below to help you with this easy process:
When using this in a lab environment, you could use the stripped back version of VMware vSphere Hypervisor 7 License with unlimited usage using the serial number below (as detailed in the video):
JM0C3-4C082-M8VG0-02AU2-0NKMH
If you need to use the many features VMware vSphere Hypervisor 7 License has to offer, then you would need to purchase a correct licence and enter that instead.
Version 5.5
If you are looking for a key for version 5.5, click here.
Version 6.0
If you are looking for a key for version 6.0, click here.
Version 6.5
If you are looking for a key for version 6.5, click here.
Version 6.7
If you are looking for a key for version 6.7, click here.
Feedback
If you have any questions on this post or just want to leave us a message, please do so using our comments section below.
If you are using a Nutanix Hyperconvergence solution in your infrastructure environment, then you may have come across a problem where the Nutanix CVM gets stuck in Maintenance Mode. Fixing this issue is very simple, but you will need the following information before starting the fix: Prerequisites PuTTy or other SSH client Nutanix Cluster administrator … Read more
If you reboot your VMWare vCenter Appliance, you may get into a situation where it reboots into the localhost login screen instead of the more familiar black and yellow/blue two tone layout with the management IP addresses shown like below: The first thing to do is not to panic. I have seen people get very … Read more
If you want to run a check against your VMWare infrastructure for virtual machines that have thick provisioned disks, you can use VMWare PowerCLI to do this quickly and easily.
Our step by step guide below will show you what you need to do to bring back the results that you need.
admin@vmware.local = administrator username with access to the vCSA
Pa55w0rd = Your administrator password
This should now show that you are connected to the vCSA.
Thick Disk Provision Command
Now that you are connected successfully to your local vCSA, you can run this command to get the Thick Provisioned Disks and which virtual machines that they are on:
Get-Datastore | Get-VM | Get-HardDisk | Where {$_.storageformat -eq "EagerZeroedThick" } | Select Parent, Name, CapacityGB, storageformat | FT -AutoSize
This will then output into a formatted table within the PowerCLI console, the full list of virtual machines, which disk it is, the capacity (GB) of the disk and the storage format.
Feedback
If you have any questions or problems with the guide, please feel free to leave us a message below in our comments section, or grab us on our social media channels and we will get back to you as soon as we can!
I have been using a physical computer for some time to run some automated programs that I use. However, that physical computer is now not in good shape and needs to be replaced. The problem is though, I have years of customised scripts, sequences and environment variables that I obviously do not want to lose and it would take forever to copy onto another device.
I started to look for a solution for this, things like imaging, partition captures but there did not seem to be anything that I really wanted.
Microsoft Virtual Machine Converter
I then came across Microsoft Virtual Machine Converter. This is a little tool directly from Microsoft themselves where you can migrate a physical to virtual machine to a Hyper-V server. Even better, it is completely free to download and use.
This seemed perfect for me so I downloaded it and installed it on my Windows Server where I have Hyper-V installed.
Pre-Requisites
Before you can go ahead and get Microsoft Virtual Machine Converter up and running, there are a fre pre-requisites that you will need to install first.
This is the list of features that you should enable on your Windows Server before trying your physical to virtual conversion:
Dot Net 3.5
Dot Net 4.5
BITS -> Compact Server
Once you have these pre-requisites installed, you are ready to go ahead and fire up the MVMC program.
Microsoft Virtual Machine Converter Wizard
The first page you will be greeted with will probably be the usual Microsoft Before you Begin page – but let’s just ignore that and click the Next button.
You will then be given the option to select either Virtual machine conversion or Physical machine conversion:
Click to Enlarge
I want to convert a physical machine so I’ll go ahead and select that option and then click the Next button.
Then comes the Source page. This is where the IP address, username and password of the physical machine needs to be entered:
Click to Enlarge
This is where I then got an error after clicking the Next button:
The RPC Server is Unavailable
Click to Enlarge
We need to fix this issue before we can go any further. To fix this issue, go back to the original physical machine and go into the Windows Defender Firewall -> Allowed applications:
Click to Enlarge
You will notice that most of the options to change anything are greyed out. To enable the buttons, click the Change settings button.
Scroll down the page until you find the following:
Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI)
Tick the box to enable it to be allowed through:
Click to Enlarge
Click the OK button and then go back to the Microsoft Virtual Machine Converter wizard and click the Next button.
You should now find that you can walk through all the rest of the wizard pages and start your physical to virtual conversion.
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If you have setup VMWare ESX you will find that it defaults to the evaluation version giving you 60 days unlimited use. But, how to do you apply your serial number? We have created a quick video below to help you with this easy process:
When using this in a lab environment, you could use the stripped back version of VMWare ESX with unlimited usage using the serial number below (as detailed in the video):
11295-DUH93-78R89-02886-20J52
If you need to use the many features VMWare has to offer, then you would need to purchase a correct licence and enter that instead.
Version 5.5
If you are looking for a key for version 5.5, click here.
Version 6.5
If you are looking for a key for version 6.5, click here.
Version 6.7
If you are looking for a key for version 6.7, click here
Version 7.0
If you are looking for a key for version 7.0, click here.
Feedback
If you have any questions on this post or just want to leave us a message, please do so using our comments section below.
If you have setup VMWare ESX you will find that it defaults to the evaluation version giving you 60 days unlimited use. But, how to do you apply your serial number? We have created a quick video below to help you with this easy process:
When using this in a lab environment, you could use the stripped back version of VMWare ESX with unlimited usage using the serial number below (as detailed in the video):
0H6A3-2UJ5P-38U89-0UAUM-9XU3L
If you need to use the many features VMWare has to offer, then you would need to purchase a correct licence and enter that instead.
Version 5.5
If you are looking for a key for version 5.5, click here.
Version 6.0
If you are looking for a key for version 6.0, click here.
Version 6.5
If you are looking for a key for version 6.5, click here.
Version 7.0
If you are looking for a key for version 7.0, click here.
Feedback
If you have any questions on this post or just want to leave us a message, please do so using our comments section below.
If you have setup VMWare ESX you will find that it defaults to the evaluation version giving you 60 days unlimited use. But, how to do you apply your serial number? We have created a quick video below to help you with this easy process:
When using this in a lab environment, you could use the stripped back version of VMWare ESX with unlimited usage using the serial number below (as detailed in the video):
JV425-4H100-VZHH8-Q23NP-3A9PP
If you need to use the many features VMWare has to offer, then you would need to purchase a correct licence and enter that instead.
Version 5.5
If you are looking for a key for version 5.5, click here.
Version 6.0
If you are looking for a key for version 6.0, click here.
Version 6.7
If you are looking for a key for version 6.7, click here.
Version 7.0
If you are looking for a key for version 7.0, click here.
Feedback
If you have any questions on this post or just want to leave us a message, please do so using our comments section below.
We have recently come across an issue when trying to deploy a test virtual machine using Hyper-V (Generation 2 – UEFI) that once you have selected your task sequence, you get an error and the task sequence bombs out.
This is because we had not setup the correct drive partitions to be able to deploy using Generation 2 technology. To fix it, you need to manually create the correct disk partitions using diskpart, which you can access from within WinPE and with the new Configuration Manager feature of being able to click Back, you can start the process again without having to reboot using USB or PXE.
Something to note, if you are using virtualisation, you should ensure that secure boot is not enabled.
Instructions
So the first thing you will want to do when your task sequence stops is to click the back button so that the machine does not automatically reboot or you don’t accidently reboot the machine yourself.
Then go ahead and press the F8 key to bring up a command box (this is assuming that you have enabled Command Support in your boot image). You should then follow these simple steps to create the correct disk partitions.
Type diskpart and press the enter key
Type list disk and press the enter key
This will now show all of the disks that you have connected to your machine:
Click to enlarge
Note the disk number that you want to create the partitions on and continue with the following steps:
For this guides purposes, we will go ahead and use Disk 0
Type select disk 0 and press the enter key (amend the 0 if required)
Type clean and press the enter key (this will remove all partitions on the disk)
Type convert gpt and press the enter key (this will convert the disk to GPT)
Type create partition efi size=200 and press the enter key (this will create the EFI system partition)
Type assign letter=x and press the enter key (this will assign the letter x to this partition but you can use any available drive letter)
Type format fs=FAT32 quick and press the enter key (this will format the ESP to the FAT32 file system, quickly)
Type create partition msr size=128 and press the enter key (this will create the MSR partition)
Type create partition primary and press the enter key (this will create the Windows partition)
Type assign letter=c and press the enter key (this will assign the drive letter C to the Windows partition)
Type format fs=NTFS quick and press the enter key (this will format the primary partition to the NTFS file system, quickly)
This will have now created all of the partitions that you need to build a UEFI based machine. You can check the partitions by typing list part – you should see all the partitions you have just created, if not, start the above process again.
Feedback
If you have any questions or feedback on this guide, please feel free to leave us a message below in the comments section and we will get back to you as soon as we can.
If you are using VMWare version 6 or above and want a full export list of all your machines on it, then you can quickly and easily export all this information using the web interface.
Instructions
Login to your VMWare Web Client and then click into Hosts and Clusters:
Then click on the VMs tab in the middle panel:
Then at the bottom right corner, you should see an Export button:
Go ahead and click this and it will pop-up the Export List Contents where you can select what information you want to export to CSV:
Once you are happy with your selections, click the Generate CSV Report button. This will then go ahead and create the report – this can be almost instant through to a few minutes depending on your hardware, selections and number of virtual machines you have on the host.
Once this has completed, you should then go ahead and click on the Save button. This will then ask you for a location to save the CSV file to and you will then have all the information you need in the CSV file.
Feedback
If you have any questions or feedback on this guide, please feel free to leave us a message using our comments section below.
When using VirtualBox you may at some point enter Scale or Full Screen Mode and then wonder how the hell you get out of it again and get your menu toolbar back!
Click to Enlarge – VirtualBox Toolbar
Well the solution is very simple but not very clear. In the settings you will notice that mentioned a lot is the Host+(something) key. One of these key presses is to exit scale or full mode which is Host+C or you can use Host+Home to bring up the menu bar and then you can click the View menu option and change the settings.
But – what if you are using a Windows machine – what the hell is the Host key!?. Well, the Host key on a Windows machine is actually the Right Ctrl key (unless you have manually reconfigured the shortcut keys). So you can go ahead and press the Right Ctrl + C to exit these modes.
So what other Host key presses can I use in VirtualBox?
Well, below is a few key presses that you can use and some that you may want to avoid. We have seen people desperately pressing multiple keys to try and exit scale mode and ending up shutting their virtual machine down – usually followed by a number of expletives!
