PowerCLI, VMware Tools update, etc.

(The following is based on this VMware KB article which is for ESXi 4.0 and earlier but can be made to work for later versions too).

In vSphere client we can see the VMware Tools related settings of a VM in the Options tab of the VM properties window. In PowerCLI these are exposed under the ExtensionData object. Specifically the ExtensionData.Config.Tools object.

PowerCLI> (Get-VM VS-SERVER).ExtensionData.Config.Tools


ToolsVersion         : 9354
AfterPowerOn         : True
AfterResume          : True
BeforeGuestStandby   : True
BeforeGuestShutdown  : True
BeforeGuestReboot    :
ToolsUpgradePolicy   : upgradeAtPowerCycle
PendingCustomization :
SyncTimeWithHost     : False
LastInstallInfo      : VMware.Vim.ToolsConfigInfoToolsLastInstallInfo

PowerCLI> (Get-VM VS-SERVER).ExtensionData.Config.Tools

ToolsVersion : 9354

AfterPowerOn : True

AfterResume : True

BeforeGuestStandby : True

BeforeGuestShutdown : True

BeforeGuestReboot :

ToolsUpgradePolicy : upgradeAtPowerCycle

PendingCustomization :

SyncTimeWithHost : False

LastInstallInfo : VMware.Vim.ToolsConfigInfoToolsLastInstallInfo

The ExtensionData object has many methods and properties – think of it like the advanced options menu in a GUI. One of these methods is ReconfigVM() which takes an object of type VMware.Vim.VirtualMachineConfigSpec and reconfigures the VM accordingly.

So to take the example of modifying the VMware Tools update settings all one has to do is create a new object of the type above and pass it to the ReconfigVM() method. Something as below.

First we create an object of this type:

$config = New-Object VMware.Vim.VirtualMachineConfigSpec

1	$config = New-Object VMware.Vim.VirtualMachineConfigSpec

If we look at this object now we will see that it has various properties and methods. The Tools related settings are controlled by a property called Tools of type VMware.Vim.ToolsConfigInfo. To modify these we need to create a new object of that type:

$config.Tools = New-Object VMware.Vim.ToolsConfigInfo

1	$config.Tools = New-Object VMware.Vim.ToolsConfigInfo

This has no settings by default:

$config.Tools


ToolsVersion         :
AfterPowerOn         :
AfterResume          :
BeforeGuestStandby   :
BeforeGuestShutdown  :
BeforeGuestReboot    :
ToolsUpgradePolicy   :
PendingCustomization :
SyncTimeWithHost     :
LastInstallInfo      :

$config.Tools

ToolsVersion :

AfterPowerOn :

AfterResume :

BeforeGuestStandby :

BeforeGuestShutdown :

BeforeGuestReboot :

ToolsUpgradePolicy :

PendingCustomization :

SyncTimeWithHost :

LastInstallInfo :

But we can set the properties we are interested in modifying.

For instance to set VMware Tools to be automatically updated upon power cycle do the following:

$config.Tools.ToolsUpgradePolicy = "upgradeAtPowerCycle"

1	$config.Tools.ToolsUpgradePolicy = "upgradeAtPowerCycle"

To undo that change set the value to “manual” (it only takes two options).

Here’s an example of me changing the VMware Tools updating settings to be manual.

PowerCLI C:\Windows\system32> $config.Tools.ToolsUpgradePolicy = "manual"
PowerCLI C:\Windows\system32> (Get-VM VS-SERVER01).ExtensionData.Config.Tools


ToolsVersion         : 10240
AfterPowerOn         : True
AfterResume          : True
BeforeGuestStandby   : True
BeforeGuestShutdown  : True
BeforeGuestReboot    :
ToolsUpgradePolicy   : upgradeAtPowerCycle
PendingCustomization :
SyncTimeWithHost     : False
LastInstallInfo      : VMware.Vim.ToolsConfigInfoToolsLastInstallInfo



PowerCLI C:\Windows\system32> (Get-VM VS-SERVER01).ExtensionData.ReconfigVM($config)
PowerCLI C:\Windows\system32> (Get-VM VS-SERVER01).ExtensionData.Config.Tools


ToolsVersion         : 10240
AfterPowerOn         : True
AfterResume          : True
BeforeGuestStandby   : True
BeforeGuestShutdown  : True
BeforeGuestReboot    :
ToolsUpgradePolicy   : manual
PendingCustomization :
SyncTimeWithHost     : False
LastInstallInfo      : VMware.Vim.ToolsConfigInfoToolsLastInstallInfo

PowerCLI C:\Windows\system32> $config.Tools.ToolsUpgradePolicy = "manual"

PowerCLI C:\Windows\system32> (Get-VM VS-SERVER01).ExtensionData.Config.Tools

ToolsVersion : 10240

AfterPowerOn : True

AfterResume : True

BeforeGuestStandby : True

BeforeGuestShutdown : True

BeforeGuestReboot :

ToolsUpgradePolicy : upgradeAtPowerCycle

PendingCustomization :

SyncTimeWithHost : False

LastInstallInfo : VMware.Vim.ToolsConfigInfoToolsLastInstallInfo

PowerCLI C:\Windows\system32> (Get-VM VS-SERVER01).ExtensionData.ReconfigVM($config)

PowerCLI C:\Windows\system32> (Get-VM VS-SERVER01).ExtensionData.Config.Tools

ToolsVersion : 10240

AfterPowerOn : True

AfterResume : True

BeforeGuestStandby : True

BeforeGuestShutdown : True

BeforeGuestReboot :

ToolsUpgradePolicy : manual

PendingCustomization :

SyncTimeWithHost : False

LastInstallInfo : VMware.Vim.ToolsConfigInfoToolsLastInstallInfo

So that’s it. Now to do this en-masse for a bunch of VMs you can make a loop.

$VMs="VS-VM01","VS-VM02","VS-VM03"
foreach ($VM in $VMs) {
	$VMObj = Get-VM $VM.Name
	$config = New-Object VMware.Vim.VirtualMachineConfigSpec
	$config.Tools = New-Object VMware.Vim.ToolsConfigInfo
	$config.Tools.ToolsUpgradePolicy = "UpgradeAtPowerCycle"
	$VMObj.ExtensionData.ReconfigVM($config)
}

$VMs="VS-VM01","VS-VM02","VS-VM03"

foreach ($VM in $VMs) {

$VMObj = Get-VM $VM.Name

$config = New-Object VMware.Vim.VirtualMachineConfigSpec

$config.Tools = New-Object VMware.Vim.ToolsConfigInfo

$config.Tools.ToolsUpgradePolicy = "UpgradeAtPowerCycle"

$VMObj.ExtensionData.ReconfigVM($config)

}

If the list of VMs is got from vCenter directly (via say something like Get-VM | where {(Get-Cluster).Name -eq “CLUSTER NAME”}) then the code needs a bit of change (the $VMObj line can be removed).

Just as a reference to future me, the output returned by the ExtensionData object is what you would get via the Get-View cmdlet.

Update: Came across this while writing this post. If you have multiple vCenter servers and want PowerCLI to work against entities in all of them the following will help.