How to find the ISO images of VMware Tools embedded within an ESXi installation

Objective

This lab aims to understand how to use SSH to see the VMware Tools embedded within an ESXi host.

Prerequisites

• Familiarity with VMware vSphere
• Access to a vSphere environment with a vSphere client or Host Client to access the ESXi host

Step-by-step guide

1. Connect to the ESXi host: Use a remote management tool such as VMware vSphere Client or VMware Host Client to connect to the ESXi host where you want to find the VMware Tools ISO images.
2. On the local machine, use SSH to connect to the ESXi host. You can use the following command to access the ESXi host.
   $ssh root@<IP-or-FQDN-of-the-ESXi-host>                 
   Enter the root password to log in.
3. Locate the VMware Tools ISO: Look for a folder named vmimages in the shell. You can use the ls or the ll command to list all the files and folders within the directory.
4. Access the ISO images: Within the vmimages folder is the tools-isoimages folder, wherein you should find multiple ISO files. You will find 2 ISO files, linux.iso, and windows.iso. These are typically the VMware Tools ISO images. You can use the following commands to reach the said directory.
   $ cd  vmimages/tools-isoimages/
   $ ls -a
5. By following these step-by-step instructions, you should be able to locate the VMware Tools ISO images within the ESXi installation.Additionally, remember that you can download VMware Tools separately from the VMware website (https://my.vmware.com/) if you require a specific version or have no access to the ISO images within the ESXi installation.

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