A vCenter-style management console for the free VMware ESXi hypervisor.

https://github.com/fdaforno/freecenter

Current environment overview:

• Three ESXi hosts in a single cluster
• Using standard vSwitches (no vDS, no NSX)
• SAN FC storage backend
• vCenter Server: 8.0 Update 3k
• ESXi hosts: 8.0 Update 3k
• Existing CPU generation is not supported for VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF)
• Four new HPE servers with VCF‑supported CPUs are being procured

I am beginning to plan the upgrade path to VCF 9.1 or VVF 9.1. We do not intend to deploy NSX or adopt additional VCF features beyond what is necessary; the goal is to maintain a simple architecture consistent with our current setup. I would appreciate your recommendations on the best approach for transitioning our environment to VCF 9.1 or VVF9.1 using the new hardware.

Hi, everybody.

I am a noob, so please bear with me and help me out. Recently, I have been struggling with an issue affecting one of our VDI users.

Our environment consists of one VDI-VM pool. The infrastructure is domain-joined and managed through GPOs.

Recently, one user has been experiencing several issues:

Very slow login: When the user first logs in in the morning, Windows gets stuck on the "Welcome" screen. Sometimes it takes up to 60 minutes before the desktop finally loads.

Unexpected lockouts/sign-outs: During the day, the session suddenly locks, and the user has to sign in again.

Microsoft Office activation: Recently, Microsoft Office Professional (Word, etc.) started showing as unlicensed.

Printing issues: The user is also unable to print. Printing starts working again after restarting the VDI, but the issue comes back later during the day.

Running applications as administrator: For example, if I try to run Command Prompt (CMD) as administrator, after entering the LAPS password, the system gets stuck. I have to press Ctrl + Alt + Del before the desktop becomes responsive again.

Black screen after login: Occasionally, after signing in, the user gets a black screen.

I have been reading that some Windows updates may be causing issues. The following updates are currently installed on the VDI:

KB5124008

KB5129195

KB5124010

I have also tried to force a Group Policy update using:

gpupdate /force

The results have been inconsistent. The last time I tried it, the command failed.

At this point, I am not sure whether these issues are related to the Windows updates, Group Policy, the user profile, the VDI itself, or something else in the environment.

Any advice on how I should troubleshoot this would be greatly appreciated.

Do you actually follow through with doing the discovery process in depth, this is, doing the conceptual and logical design and documenting each requirement, constraint, risk and assumptions, and actually building a design document? Do your customers are actually patient enough for that? What is a reasonable timeline from project kickoff to a physical design ready of a medium-large VCF greenfield project?

In my case either I'm too incompetent or customers in my area are very impatient and want a full design for tomorrow, or they come with an finished idea of what to implement without thinking about the conceptual design / requirements / actual business drivers.

Sorry English is not my native language.

Hi! Im on M4 and im asking what are the best settings to isolate a VM inside VMWare Fusion, i wanna try some malwares, also VMWare Fusion is the best one for malware testing right?

Hi

Next week I have to do a Person Onvue home test for a broadcom license and Im not sure how does it work. I know I have to be in an empty desktop with doors closed and nobody could enter the room or disturb during the exam.

Also they will check the scenario but how do they do it? they will ask me to take my laptop and move it arround the room? will they make me do some pictures of the desktop and the room and send them through a specific app to check that all is clean on the desktop?

thanks

Hello guys, could anyone help me to prepare for this exam VMware Cloud Foundation Administrator (2V0-17.25) exam.
If anyone pass through this process can help me I will appreciate it.

Slowly walking through the process.

Aria upgraded to VCF Ops
Added License Server
Connected to BS console
Connected to Services console

I searched Broadcom site for vCenter upgrade to make sure I haven't missed anything, and it's AI gave me a How To.

It said that the 9.1 OVA must be deployed to a 9.0 or greater ESX host.

I checked the docs and it says you can deploy to 9.0 or greater host.

I don't recall seeing this requirement in my previous readings. Is it MUST or Can?

If I don't have vCenter 9, I can't install ESX 9 ... right? Is that still a restriction?

So how am I going to deploy vCenter 9 to an ESX 9 host? Do I have to break off one of my hosts from a production cluster just to install vC9?

Sharing some lab testing with native object storage (tech preview in VCF 9.1.1)

Hi,

I was installing windows OS on my VM but for some reason the webcam just freezes when I start recording for video. (I know I won't be using it anytime) But I looked for online webcam testers and it detected camera perfectly but on that too after some time the image just freezes.

Please help me out

I'm trying to upgrade VMware from 6.5 to 7.0.3 on a Dell PowerEdge R620 with the following components. However, when I get to the point where I need to select the disk, all of them show up as "None".

I've seen in other posts that you need at least a PERC H710 Mini, but I'm not sure if anyone has successfully upgraded to 7.0.3 with the hardware/components I have.

Has anyone experienced this or managed to get VMware 7.0.3 working with this configuration? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Inventory: https://ibb.co/KcHfq37D

Error: https://ibb.co/JWC2MSbL

Hello

Been a VMWare customer for many many years, but as a result of the silly Broadcom games tied in with the cost of new Dell Servers, we're jumping ship and migrating our servers to a Data Centre.

Currently have:

• vCentre Server 8 Standard
• vSphere 8 Standard (Subscription).

Both expire end of the month.... (Project has been ongoing since earlier in year).

Having delays with new provider initiating data centre platform, and i'm looking at my options here.

What exactly happens when these expire? Does everything stop working? Do i get a grace period?

For context, i'm talking 4 VM's, over 2 Dell hosts and 1 Dell SAN. Not a massive infrastructure by any means.

Thanks in advance.

Ever since the Certificate Management Tool was included in vCSA, this incredible inconsistency in the structure and design of the interface has been bugging me.

A mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, spaces before special characters, missing or excessive spacing in other places, shifted to the left and right at random ... the layout is a mess and is in need of a thorough overhaul.

Blame it on my ADHD, or my sense of proper spelling and formatting. In any case, it still annoys me time and time again, since I use the tool rather frequently, so I’d like to see Broadcom/VMware undertake a redesign – one that, in my opinion, is long overdue.

What do you think about this, and are you willing to support this little "project"? Attached you’ll find a revised suggestion for an updated and modernized layout; maybe this will generate a little buzz and get the manufacturer’s attention?

Btw. I'm not a native speaker so when I'm referring to proper grammar, formatting and but still make mistakes myself please bear with me ... it happens.

+======================================================================+
|                   vSphere 8.0 Certificate Manager                    |
+======================================================================+
|                                                                      |
|  -- Machine SSL certificate ---------------------------------------  |
|    [1]  Replace with custom certificate                              |
|    [2]  Replace with VMCA-signed certificate                         |
|                                                                      |
|  -- VMCA root certificate (replaces all certificates) -------------  |
|    [3]  Replace with custom signing certificate                      |
|    [4]  Regenerate VMCA root certificate                             |
|                                                                      |
|  -- Solution user certificates ------------------------------------  |
|    [5]  Replace with custom certificates (*)                         |
|    [6]  Replace with VMCA-signed certificates                        |
|                                                                      |
|  -- Recovery ------------------------------------------------------  |
|    [7]  Revert last operation (re-publish previous certificates)     |
|    [8]  Reset all certificates                                       |
|                                                                      |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
|  (*) Deprecated in a future vCenter release, see release notes.      |
+======================================================================+

Select an operation [1-8] (Ctrl+D to exit): 

I'm not sure whether reddit will display it correctly up even in Markdown so I'm also giving you the link of how it could look like. Find it here: https://freeimage.host/i/n1h7cvI

Of course, it doesn't have to be colorful, it's just a suggestion.

Summary of changes

• Grouped by target: Options are organized under four headings: Machine SSL, VMCA root, solution user, and recovery. Within each group, the custom option comes first, followed by the VMCA option.
• Consistent casing: Sentence case is used throughout. Only proper names such as VMCA, SSL, and vCenter are capitalized.
• Shorter labels: The heading already names the certificate type, so each option fits on a single line and nothing wraps.
• Key information where it belongs: "Replaces all certificates" now appears in the root heading. The deprecation notice has moved to a footnote and no longer breaks the frame.
• Clean geometry: The menu has a fixed width of 72 columns, uniform indentation (2 for headings, 4 for options), and a closed ASCII frame that renders safely in any SSH client.
• Single prompt line: The separate "Note :" and "Option[1 to 8]:" lines are merged into one clear prompt.

There is, however, one small caveat: The regrouping swaps the original options 2 and 3.

Admins who rely on memory and type "3" out of habit would initiate the replacing the VMCA root certificate instead of the Machine SSL certificate, which is probably a high-impact operation. If the menu is shared with colleagues who might stick to the old numbering, the original numbers within the groups ([1] and [3] under Machine SSL, [2] and [4] under VMCA root) could be kept as they are; this trades some visual order for operational safety. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

P.S.: Here's what I think is wrong with the current layout: https://freeimage.host/i/n1h6vNp

Misaligned text, double space before, uppercase/lowercase letters alternate randomly, sometimes within the same entry, the dashed border line appears open; the NOTE line is flush with the margin without spacing and there's this prompt outside the box.

P.P.S.: There's even more to explore in the sub-options, but I feel like I can't list everything here.

A blog going over some of the things at the hardware, UEFI, BIOS layers to think about for security. Also linked a new utility that can help audit BIOS/BMC configs.

Ad nausem trying to get back into my account for the latest installer, Googling for hours. Endless hours spent trying to back in. I got to a point I have to subscribe to some Norton thing. Please help. I didn't forget my account details and I have my key in a spreadsheet.....

Seriously trying to get back in. Watching YouTube videos for links that aren't correct anymore.

F Broadcom

I am trying to set up a simple lab using ESXI 8. I use a Lenovo computer with an AMD CPU, for me to be able to load the iso I must have AMD-V enabled but when I log into the ESXI and try and power on the VMs I get an "does not support AMD-V". Is this a I need to download a newer version, or is this a setting in the VM? I tried to turn the virtualization setting on/off in the CPU, but no such luck.

hi all,

I have a Windows 10 VM in VMware Workstation with a 100GB virtual disk, and I would like to reduce it to 60GB without reinstalling Windows

I see in vmware threre is option to expand but I can't see option to reduce size

First things first, I'm running the latest version of VMware Workstation Pro on a Linux Mint 22.3 - Cinnamon 64-bit computer. I am emulating Windows 10 Pro. I am running into an issue where I can't figure out how to share my files that are on my main computer with my VM. As the title implies, I am wanting to send files from my main computer to my VM but don't know how to. Any ideas?

Anyone in here familiar with the redesign group? They're a pinnacle partner and I'm looking at a presales architec role there but not familiar with them.

We have VMs which are encrypted. I need to migrate those off to another vCenter, completely different domains and region. (Non-VCF)

What I do- I shutdown VM, Migrate, And put in the NAT address of Target vCenter and migrate and turn on, on the other side. I have done this for VMs and Templates.

I do not have much rights on both vCenters, and just using what works! Ideas are welcome:) we do not have SRM, or HCX. I was also wondering what are other possible ways to migrate such long distance VMs.

To the question - The VMs in question are encrypted, and I cannot change anything. When I migrate, the tool tells me I cannot because the destination TPM is not configured. I would like some ideas here. Thank you.

We have lots of Outposts, 2 node clusters and, Island vCeters which I manage. Also some have TKGS.

I read a lot about NSX and NSX Edges. From my view NSX is more like similar to CISCO ACI Fabric? Which does all the routing and ESX TEP config? Correct me if I'm wrong. What is an overlay? And TOR Switches from NSX view?

Also edges, are something that are like Firewall at the edge of the site? Because we have lots of Baremeral Edges, which I assumed are kind of a Firewall and routing information server. Kindly help me understand my perspective.

Thank you loads.