“You cannot use the vSphere Client to edit the settings of virtual machines of version 10 or higher.”

After using the VMware 5.5 Convertor to perform a physical to virtual migration, I noted the following error when attempting to edit the properties of the VM in vSphere:

“You cannot use the vSphere Client to edit the settings of virtual machines of version 10 or higher.”

esxiversion10-error

Thankfully there is an easy work around!

Confirm the VM is powered-off.
Right-click the VM and remove from inventory:
remove-vm-from-inventory
Enable SSH on the host and connect.
03-enablessh
Change directory to your vm:
cd /vmfs/volumes/YOURDATASTORENAMEHERE/YOURVMNAME
04-cdvmfs

Open your VMX file with vi:
vi VMNAME.vmx
05-vivmx

Find the line that says ‘virtualHW.version'(ie.virtualHW.version = “10”) and change to “8”
Hint: Delete 10, type “i” to start editing, put 8 between the quotes, then Esc key when done, “:wq” to save changes (:q! to exit without saving).
06-vihwversion 06-vihwversionb

Re-register the VM in Vsphere: vim-cmd solo/registervm /vmfs/volumes/YOURDATASTORENAMEHERE/YOURVMDIRECTORY/YOURVM.vmx

You should now be able to edit your VM!

07-vmedit

About AJ McKean

Based in sunny Tauranga, New Zealand, AJ McKean is a Senior Systems Engineer in Mt Maunganui. With over 15 years of professional IT experience working in both New Zealand and the United States, he holds several certifications including MCSE(2000-2003), MCITP:Enterprise(2008), MCSA(2012), VMware VCP-DCV5.5, CompTIA A+ & is an HP Storage Architect. He is passionate about all things IT, especially virtualization, automation & cloud technologies.

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