{{ $t('productDocDetail.updateTime') }}: 2025-12-18

Windows VMs

Introduction

Installing vmTools provides Windows VMs with high-performance paravirtualized drivers and system information passthrough. This improves VM IO and network performance and enables SCP to monitor CPU and memory usage in real time. vmTools is supported for all Windows VMs running on HCI and is a fundamental requirement for stable and efficient business operations.

1. Package contents: VirtIO driver, FastIO NIC, and system information passthrough app. The installation package is preloaded on the platform and requires no manual download.
2. Supported OS versions: Server OS versions (Windows Server 2003 SP2-2019) and PC OS versions (Windows XP SP3-10), compatible with both 32-bit and 64-bit systems.
3. Core values: Improves IO efficiency between the OS and virtualization layer, reduces IO latency, enables realtime reporting of resource usage for O&M and resource scheduling, and supports VirtIO disks and NICs for enhanced hardware performance.
4. Prerequisites: The VM must be powered on, and the OS must be installed. Otherwise, the CD/DVD installation package cannot be loaded during vmTools installation.

Constraints and Restrictions

1. Permissions: Log in to the VM using the administrator account or an account with administrator privileges. Otherwise, the installation will fail.
2. Max disks: Before vmTools is installed, the VM uses an IDE controller and supports a maximum of 4 disks or CD/DVD drives. If the VM is already connected to 4 disks, disconnect it from a disk temporarily to mount the installer, or manually copy the installer into the VM.
3. System compatibility: Incompatible with systems earlier than Windows XP. For Windows Server 2008 R2 and earlier, you need to install .NET Framework 3.5 before you can install vmTools.
4. Feature conflicts: Disable disk encryption before installing vmTools. Otherwise, drivers cannot be initialized.

Precautions

1. Restart: After installation is complete, restart the VM using the built-in restart feature of Windows instead of the Reset option on SCP. Otherwise, the VM may crash with a blue screen.
2. Domain controller configuration: If the VM is promoted to a domain controller, configure the NIC IP address manually before you install vmTools to avoid NIC driver issues after the promotion.
3. NIC naming: vmTools adds a FastIO NIC while preserving the original NIC. To rename the new NIC, delete the original NIC name from the registry (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces) to avoid naming conflicts.

Installation Procedure

Step 1.Power on the VM and log in to Windows with administrator privileges. Make sure no pending updates or reboot tasks are present.

Step 2.Go to the VM console on SCP, click Install Now to load the vmTools installation package (the CD/DVD drive is mounted automatically).

Step 3.Go to My Computer, find VMOptimizationTools, and double-click it, or right-click it and select Open. Run VMOptimizationTools.exe.

Step 4.After the installation is complete, a prompt appears indicating that a restart is required. Click Restart Now and wait for the VM to restart.

Step 5.After the VM is restarted, if a configuration change prompt appears, click Restart Now again for vmTools to take effect.

Result Verification

Step 1.Log in to SCP and go to Resource Center > VMs, find the target VM, and click its name to go to the details page.

Step 2.In the Basics section, check the vmTools status. If Running is displayed for vmTools, the installation is successful.

Step 3.Verify functionality (optional): Go to the resource usage page and confirm that CPU and memory usage statistics are displayed normally, and disk IO and network throughput are improved significantly.

Uninstallation Procedure

Step 1.Log in to the Windows VM console with administrator privileges.

Step 2.Open the Start menu, go to Control Panel, and open Uninstall a program (or Programs and Features).

Step 3.In the program list, find vmTools, right-click it, click Uninstall, and complete the uninstallation as prompted.

Step 4.When the message Driver uninstallation complete. Restart to apply changes appears, click Restart Now, and wait for the VM to restart.

Step 5.After the restart, log in to SCP and go to the VM details page to confirm that Not installed is displayed for vmTools, which indicates that the uninstallation is complete.

Linux VMs

Introduction

Installing vmTools provides Linux VMs with VirtIO support, resource information passthrough, and performance optimization. This improves disk IO and network throughput and enables SCP to collect realtime VM performance data. vmTools is supported for all Linux VMs and is especially useful for IO-intensive services (such as databases and big-data analytics).

Background

1. Package contents: VirtIO driver, kernel module, and performance monitoring agent. The default installation path is /usr/local. You can also specify a custom installation path.
2. Supported OS versions: Linux 2.6.25 and later (including mainstream versions such as CentOS, RedHat, Ubuntu, and SUSE). The built-in VirtIO driver cannot be installed for OSes earlier than Linux 2.6.25.
3. Core values: Enhances compatibility with Linux systems, reduces IO scheduling latency, reports resource usage in real time, and supports CPU hot-add, memory hot-add, and the HA and dynamic scheduling features of HCI.
4. Prerequisites: The VM stays powered on and has a virtual CD/DVD drive mounted (check this on the VM editing page on SCP).
5. Constraints and Restrictions
6. Kernel compatibility: Upgrade to Linux 2.6.25 or later. Linux systems earlier than version 2.6.25 do not have the built-in VirtIO driver, which causes the installation to fail.
7. CD/DVD drive dependency: Load the installation package through the virtual CD/DVD drive. If the VM does not have a CD/DVD drive, add one in the VM editing page on SCP.
8. Permissions: Log in as the root user or a user with sudo permissions. Otherwise, you cannot mount the CD/DVD drive or install the VirtIO driver.
9. Feature conflicts: Remove raw disk mappings and encryption cards from the VM before installation. Otherwise, driver loading conflicts may occur.

Precautions

1. Driver compatibility: If the VM OS (such as some legacy Linux systems) do not have the built-in VirtIO driver, the installation will fail. You need to download the VirtIO driver SP for the corresponding OS.
2. CD/DVD drive mounting error: If the error special device /dev/sr1 does not exist is reported after you run the command mount /dev/sr1 /mnt/cdrom, change the mount path to /dev/sr0 or /dev/cdrom. After the CD/DVD drive is mounted, make sure the VMOptimizationToolsLinux.tar.gz file exists in the /mnt/cdrom directory.
3. Restart after installation: After the installation is complete, enter yes to restart the VM. Otherwise, the driver cannot be loaded. If the OS fails to start, click Uninstall next to vmTools on the VM details page of SCP and then reboot the system.
4. Custom installation path: If you need to specify an installation path, use the following command: sudo ./install.sh -path <Custom Path> (such as /usr/local/vmtools). Ensure the target directory has sufficient storage space.
5. Firewall configuration: After vmTools is installed, the monitoring agent port (5988 by default) will be enabled. You need to allow the port in the Linux firewall (firewalld/iptables) to ensure SCP can obtain monitoring data.

Installation Procedure

Step 1.Log in to the Linux system as the root user or a user with sudo permissions, and stop unnecessary backend processes to avoid resource contention.

Step 2.Go to the VM console on SCP, click Install Now to load the vmTools installation package (the virtual CD/DVD drive is mounted automatically).

Step 3.Log in to the VM and run the following commands to mount the virtual CD/DVD drive and install vmTools: sudo mkdir -p /mnt/cdrom # Create the mount point, sudo mount -t iso9660 /dev/sr1 /mnt/cdrom # Mount the CD/DVD drive (use /dev/sr0 if /dev/sr1 is not found), cd /mnt/cdrom # Go to the mount point, sudo .sudo ./install.sh # Run the installation script (add -path if a custom path is used)

Step 4.Follow the prompts during installation. When Need to reboot! appears, enter yes to restart the VM.

Step 5.After the VM is restarted, log in to the VM and run the lsmod | grep virtio command. If VirtIO-related kernel modules are displayed, the driver has been loaded successfully.

Result Verification

Step 1.Log in to SCP and go to Resource Center > VMs, find the target VM, and click its name to go to the details page.

Step 2.In the Basics section, check the vmTools status. If Running is displayed for vmTools, the installation is successful.

Step 3.Verify functionality (optional): Go to the resource usage page and confirm that realtime CPU, memory, and disk usage statistics are displayed. Run the following command to test disk IO performance, which should show noticeable improvement compared with pre-installation performance: dd if=/dev/zero of=/tmp/test bs=1G count=1 oflag=direct

Uninstallation Procedure

Step 1.Log in to SCP and go to Resource Center > VMs, find the target VM, and click its name to go to the details page.

Step 2.In the Basics section, click Uninstall next to vmTools.

Step 3.The following message appears: VM performance will degrade and some disks may be unable to be identified after uninstallation of vmTools. Click OK.

Step 4.Wait for the uninstallation task to complete. You can go to Task Center to view the progress. After the uninstallation is successful, Not installed will be displayed for vmTools on the VM details page.

Step 5.(Optional) Log in to the Linux VM and run the lsmod | grep virtio command. If no VirtIO-related kernel modules are displayed, the driver has been removed successfully.