VMWare ESXi 6.5 VM AutoStart Enable/Disable Config Through Web UI

Just a quick post today to outline how upgrade your VMWare Esxi 6.5 installation to have the ability to toggle AutoStart Enable/Disable settings. I wasted a lot of time trying to figure out where the settings were until I eventually realised it was an omission by VMware that needs to be re-added manually.

It's a pretty simple process, but like I said, I wasted many hours trying to figure it out and I hope this saves you the time. Let's start...

What you will need to successfully execute this tutorial are the following:

  • Your administrator username and password to log onto your Esxi instance
  • WinSCP which can be downloaded here...
  • Putty which can be downloaded here...
  • The latest ESXi Embedded Host Client which can be downloaded here...

Open your favourite browser and log onto your ESXi UI via the IP or host name like the following example:

https://<YourIPorHostname>/ui

I my case it was https://192.168.10.253/ui. Once you've logged on, ensure you have SSH enabled. To enable it, go to the Naviagtor menu on the left expand Host > Manage. Then click the Services tab and scroll down to TSM-SSH and highlight it and click Start. We're now going to upload the ESXi Embedded Host Client VIB file you downloaded from the instructions earlier in the tutorial.

Open up WinSCP and connect to your ESXi instance. Once you've connected, navigate to /tmp then drag and drop the VIB file into the /tmp directory. In my case the VIB file was called esxui-signed-12086396.vib, but yours may be different. Once the file has been successfully uploaded you can close WinSCP.

Now open Putty and log onto your ESXi instance again. Once you've successfully logged on execute the following:

Change the directory to /tmp

[root@localhost:~] cd /tmp

Execute the VIB installation syntax. Remember to change the name of the VIB file to your actual file name. The example below is using my VIB file name

[root@localhost:/tmp] esxcli software vib update -v /tmp/esxui-signed-12086396.vib

Once the installation is completed you should see the following message:

[root@localhost:/tmp] esxcli software vib update -v /tmp/esxui-signed-12086396.vib
Installation Result
   Message: Operation finished successfully.
   Reboot Required: false
   VIBs Installed: VMware_bootbank_esx-ui_1.33.1-12086396
   VIBs Removed: VMware_bootbank_esx-ui_1.8.0-4516221
   VIBs Skipped:
[root@localhost:/tmp]

This upgrade does not need you to restart ESXi. Just make sure you close any browser you have open and then re-open and log back onto your ESXi server.

To check whether you can now Enable and Disable your AutoStart settings against each of your VMs, navigate to:

Host > Manage > Autostart

You should now see a list of your current VMs below the Autostart settings display, where you can easily Enable and Disable to suit your requirements.

If you've found this useful, you may want to sign up to our newsletter where you'll receive notices on when we post new articles and helpful "how tos". Just fill out your details below and we'll do the rest...

3 Responses

  1. This article was done perfectly and I followed to the letter and worked . Well done thanks.
  2. I am very grateful to have found your page. This was driving me crazy (as I'm sure it was for you as well!) I followed your instructions and the auto startup code started working again. Wonderful!
  3. THANK YOU A LOT!!!

Leave a comment


Sign up to our newsletter where you’ll receive notices on when we post new articles and helpful “how tos” to make your IT life easier.