Installing the Guest Customization Engine

The guest customization engine needs to be installed in a virtual machine before using the VirtualMachineGuestCustomizationManager.CustomizeGuest_Task method.You can download the installer from the VMware Customer Connect web site.

The guest customization engine is available for most popular Linux distributions, using either an RPM package or a DEB package. To download and install it within the guest operating system, use the following steps.

Prerequisites

Start a web browser in a running virtual machine. For instant clone operations, prepare the source virtual machine by installing the customization engine before creating clones.

Procedure

Login to https://my.vmware.com.
Navigate to the Download VMware vSphere page for vSphere7.0.
Click the Drivers & Tools tab.
Find the entry for the instant clone customization engine.
Download the installation package appropriate for your Linux distribution:
- The .rpm file for RHEL or SLES
- The .deb file for Ubuntu
Run the command to install the package in the guest:
- For the .rpm package, use this command:
```
sudo /bin/rpm -i --force yourdpkgFilePath >> ./rpm.log 2>&1
```
- For the .deb package, use this command:
```
sudo /usr/bin/dpkg -i --force-all yourdpkgFilePath >> ./dpkg.log 2>&1
```

What to do next

After the guest customization engine is installed, the guest is prepared to invoke VirtualMachine.InstantClone_Task or VirtualMachineGuestCustomizationManager.CustomizeGuest_Task. You can delete the installation package to save virtual disk space.