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Short tip: VMware vSphere 6.7 Guest Customization and openSUSE Leap 15.2

When automatically customizing openSUSE 15.2 guests under VMware vSphere 6.7 recently, I stumbled upon the famous “Guest Customization failed” issue (once again).

After eliminating the most common error (not having Perl installed which is necessary) I had a look at the VMware Compatibility Guide. Looks like openSUSE 15 is officially not supported under vSphere but only under the desktop hypervisors:

openSUSE is not supported under VMware vSphere

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15, which is technically comparable is supported on the other hand:

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15.2 is supported under VMware vSphere

Changing the operating system type configured for the VM has no effect on the issue at all. Having a deeper look at the appropriate log file (/var/log/vmware-imc/toolsDeployPkg.log) listet the following issue:

INFO: Getting hostname
DEBUG: Command '/sbin/uname -a'
DEBUG: Result:
DEBUG: Exit Code: -1
ERROR: Fatal error occured during customization !! Customization halted.
ERROR: Error: Customization Failure !! Unknown distribution. at /var/run/.vmware-imgcust-d2asUMq/scripts/Customize.pl line 107.

INFO: Return code is 255.

I compared two openSUSE and SLE 15 systems and spotted a difference between them regarding the file /etc/issue. openSUSE lists the following:

Welcome to \S - Kernel \r (\l).

While under SLE 15 the file has the following content:

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15

Changing the file content like for SLE 15 fixed the problem. Keep in mind that this is no official solution – even though openSUSE might become SLE upstream project in the future.

My expectation is that VMware realizes the changes between openSUSE and SLE and extends official support.

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4 Comments Add New Comment

  1. Ian says:

    Hi,

    I’m running ESXi 6.7u3 and matching vCenter.
    Trying this with Suse Leap 15.2, but despite updating the text in /etc/issue it still detects the OS as opensuse when the VM is powered, and refuses to give me customisations when it is a template.

    No errors, just no customisations. Seems they “fixed” it, but I can’t see what they are keying it off now.
    Has it broken for you with later VMWare updates ?

    Cheers
    Ian

    1. Christian says:

      Hi Ian,
      that’s interesting – I’m using exact the same version (Build 14368073) and the workaround does the trick for me.

      Unfortunately I have no access to the appliance management to update it and see whether this has been fixed in 3a to 3j or 7.0.

      Best wishes,
      Christian.

  2. Sylvestre says:

    vSphere Client version 7.0.3.00300 and still the same issue, thanks vmWare!
    Tried to change /etc/issue directly but it was going back to its original value after reboot (on openSUSE Leap Micro 5.2). Finally I created a /etc/issue.d/00-vmware_fix with “SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15” and this is persistent.
    Anyway thanks for the trick!

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