VMWare Tools - vmrun.exe

[Jazkal]

I've got all the vmware tool drivers integrated and working in WinPE(Win7/Win2k8R2).

However, I can not get vmrun.exe to connect to the WinPE once it is loaded in VMWare Workstation.

Anyone got this working? Or know what piece of VMWare Tools I need to work on?

[Tripredacus]

So you are trying to have the WinPE be the host? Make sure to disable its firewall.

Also do you get any errors?

[Jazkal]

Yes, I am trying to automate some system builds inside of VMWare, and WinPE is the first stage.

I have verified that the firewall is off. ( I know this because I can VNC to the system when the firewall is off, but not when it is on)

The error I get is:

Error: The VMware Tools are not running in the virtual machine: E:\VMWARE\Win2k8_SP2_Standard\Windows Server 2008 (experimental).vmx

I may have a second problem, as the vmrun command requires the username and password of the admin account so that it has the correct rights to run files, etc. However, WinPE doesn't have a real user account, is shows as "SYSTEM" and I can't change the password.

Edited May 25, 2010 by Jazkal

[arwidmark]

Except for the vmrun thing... what exactly are you trying to automate?

/ Johan

[Jazkal]

Except for the vmrun thing... what exactly are you trying to automate?

/ Johan

We have our Image creation application that runs on WinPE. We want to automate the selection of options (command line options will work), so that we can create and capture the images.

I have everything working for when the OS is actually installed in the virtual machine, but the first steps in WinPE aren't looking to good.

[arwidmark]

Since WinPE wasn't really designed to be a server os, most deployment tool vendors (including Microsoft) have a client applications or scripts (running in WinPE) reading ini-files, databases or web services from the deployment server rather than pushing them from the deployment server. A very good source of sample scripts is in the 30.000+ lines of vbscript repository you get when downloading MDT 2010. The link is http://www.microsoft.com/deployment

[Tripredacus]

This error is all over google. Is VMWare Tools related to say VM Additionals?

[Jazkal]

This error is all over google. Is VMWare Tools related to say VM Additionals?

Yes, but I have spent hours looking over google results, and haven't found anything useful. I have no idea what "VM Additionals" is.

[Tripredacus]

This error is all over google. Is VMWare Tools related to say VM Additionals?

Yes, but I have spent hours looking over google results, and haven't found anything useful. I have no idea what "VM Additionals" is.

VM Additionals is for another VM Program (I forget the one, I don't use it anymore) that gave additional functions to the VM. For example, without it you could not access network shares, etc.

Have you checked dependencies?

[joakim]

What is the exact vmrun command you are running?

The user/password might be a pain. Have you tried adding the system account to the administrators group prior to changing the password?

If all fails, there might still be a (alternative and definately unsupported) way of executing commands from host to guest, by injecting "key strokes". I experimented with this Autoit code a few days ago;

If $cmdline[0] = 1 Then 
	$cmd = $cmdline[1]
Else
	$cmd = InputBox("Type preferred command", "It will be executed inside your chosen guest VM", "ping localhost", "")
EndIf

$title = WinGetTitle("[CLASS:VMUIFrame]")
If WinActivate($title, "") Then
	Send("{CTRLDOWN}{g}" & "{LCTRL up}" & "{LWINDOWN}{r}" & "{LWIN up}")
	Sleep(100)
	Send($cmd & "{ENTER}")
Else
	MsgBox( 0, "Error", "Are you sure VMware is running?")
EndIf

This sample depends on the WinKey+r emulation in the guest (to launch "run" and inject commands to it). Since "run" most likely is not available in your winpe, you may want to substitute it with something else.. This way you don't need a user/password to run programs inside the guest.

Of course, using vmrun.exe should be the preferred way if possible.

Joakim

[Jazkal]

Have you checked dependencies?

No, not sure how to do that on something like this.

I was going to try and repackage the vmware tools, yank out what I see as the driver related stuff, and then try and create a winpe plugin for what was left.

What is the exact vmrun command you are running?

"C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware VIX\vmrun.exe" listProcessesInGuest "E:\VMWARE\Win2k8_SP2_Standard\Windows Server 2008 (experimental).vmx"

Have you tried adding the system account to the administrators group prior to changing the password?

net localgroup administrators SYSTEM /add

net user SYSTEM $trongPassword

'The user name could not be found.'

[joakim]

I suspect it is an "issue" of the session 0 vs session 1; http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/sysinternals/Session0Changes.mspx

However, I'm not sure if it applies to PE (as user=system).

How about adding a dummy account with password to the administrators localgroup, and connect to that?

Joakim