VMware Knowledge Base Blog

We learned today of a particular set of circumstances which, when updating to Update 1, can lead to PSODs (purple screens). 3rd party agents are a key component of this problem.

To avoid this potentially nasty problem please read the following Knowledgebase article for details:

 Note: This KB continues to be updated. Re-visit page for latest information.

Symptoms

When attempting to upgrade ESX 4.0 to ESX 4.0 Update 1, you may experience the following symptoms:

• Update manager (VUM) upgrade operation fails or times out at 33%.
• Upon reboot, the host that was being upgraded displays a purple diagnostic screen with the following error:
  COS Panic: Int3 @ mp_register_ioapic

Licensing is by far, the most misunderstood, confusing, and sometimes frustrating part of vSphere and vCenter, and generates a ton of calls into support. And we've noticed. Today the Knowledgebase Team released another video KB: Licensing ESX 4.0, ESXi 4.0, and vCenter 4.0  We anticipate this KB will become a heavy-hitter before long.

If you are:

• Unable to remove ESX 4.0/ESXi 4.0 from Evaluation Mode
• Unable to upload the license file for vSphere
• Unable to connect vSphere 4 to vCenter Server
• Unable to activate vSphere

…proceed directly to Licensing ESX 4.0, ESXi 4.0, and vCenter 4.0 (1010839). The KB guides you through steps to add, assign, and remove the licenses of  ESX 4.0, ESXi 4.0, and vCenter 4.0, in video form with accompanying detailed test instructions.

You are welcome to leave your Star rating and/or feedback in any KB including this one.  Enjoy!!

VMware Fusion® 3 launched just two days ago and we're starting to hear some comments in social media circles. There are tons of accolades and we appreciate everyone saying how much they love the new release!

As with any product however there might be an annoyance here or there that we didn't think about. Here's an example Tweet we heard this morning:

Don't like how VMWare Fusion 3 adds a menu bar item that I can't get rid of

That was enough for the Knowledgebase Team to spring into action to publish a new KB on how to turn this menu bar item off. Some people want the control of whether they want to see this icon or not, and we did put this option into the product. It's just not obvious how to change this setting.

Presenting KB article: Modifying the VMware Fusion 3 menu bar item

We went one step further and also created related KB: Understanding Unity and the Windows System Tray in Fusion 3 (1015362) in case there is any confusion about that change to the product too.

Hopefully these two KB articles will help many of you get Fusion setup just the way you want it, so you can get down to really using it. We are committed to monitoring social networks for customer feedback about our products, and responding. We benefit directly from your reactions to our products – so please keep up the chatter!

Follow us on Twitter!

@vmwareKB
@VMwareCares

You may already be familiar with our popular KB article: VMware ESX and ESXi 3.5 Comparison (1006543).  A lot of you weren't quite sure of which product had which specific feature. We know you all love wading through our marketing material but some of you are strangely drawn to just plain facts.

Just for you folks, we have created a new KB which talks about the latest version of VMware ESX and ESXi, that is, version 4. The article provides a detailed comparison of VMware ESX and ESXi 4.0. It is separated into capabilities or features and compared at that level.

Here you go, enjoy!: VMware ESX and ESXi 4.0 Comparison (1015000)

We have an announcement today!

The VMware Knowledge Base now features Answer Wizards!

What is an answer wizard you ask? An Answer Wizard is an easy-to-use tool that guides you through the process of resolving your problem.  You start by picking the problem that most closely resembles your problem. After that, you are guided through a series of checks and tests in a logical order to help resolve your problem in the simplest way.

Look for the new link to the Answer Wizards on the main Knowledgebase page shown here to get started.

Watch for the number of Answer Wizards available to grow as we roll this out!

Mac OS X (10.5 and above) includes Time Machine, a utility that makes backups of all changed files on your Macintosh HD. This is suitable for Mac files, but many customers are unaware that Time Machine is not a suitable solution for virtual machine files. If you have ever tried restoring a VM from a Time Machine backup it will most likely fail.

Below are some highly recommended Knowledgebase articles that address these very issues for Mac users and help you backup your virtual machines.

We continue to see a high demand for answers about the licensing of VMware products, so today we're highlighting some new KB articles that are quickly gaining in popularity.

If you don't see what you're looking for here perhaps we already covered it in this previous post.

We completed our earlier poll and while we were happy with the result, we know there is always room for improvement.

Please help us by answering these 4 quick follow-up questions.

Today marks a milestone for the VMware Knowledge Base. We have made the leap into video content to help simplify the message being presented.

Many procedures outlined in KB articles can be confusing, especially when you are dealing with new terminology or when you're not sure of which product is being referenced.

By presenting a video, VMware can show you "how to" as well as "what to" do. Included with each video are printed instructions as well.

Our inventory of videos is still pretty small, but we expect it to grow substantially over the months.

Click here to watch our first batch of videos.

If you have any feedback on our videos use the comment box below, and you like the videos, be sure to use our Star Rating System in the KB to say so!

Hey everyone – let's ask a question today.

On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the VMware Knowledge Base?