Skip to main content

How to use VMware Guest Console to control Guest OS from host remotely

VMware Guest Console is an incredibly powerful application from VMWare Labs that allows you to control the Guest operating system running on multiple virtual machines simultaneously. You can manage their processes, files, snapshots, run programs and so on, all remotely from the host.

The ideal usage scenario of the VMware Guest Console (VGC) will be on a network, where you have multiple virtual machines running on multiple physical machines. Using VGC you can run and control all the VMs from one physical location.

Using VMware Guest Console you can:

  • Access the Task Manager of the Guest OS from the Host OS and view processes, end processes, see amount of memory consumed and so on.
  • Launch new programs or task in the Guest
  • Mass deploy programs from the Host to the Guest
  • Copy programs or scripts to multiple guests and execute them. Useful for things like antivirus installation, agent deployment, test deployment etc
  • Explore files on the VM and perform basic operation like delete, rename etc.
  • Copy files from host to guest and vice-versa
  • Copy files between guests running on any machine.
  • View list of snapshots on all VMs on all connected hosts.
  • Manage snapshots and perform operations like Create, Delete and Revert with a single user action
  • View vital statistics of GuestOS like OS type/version, IP Address, Tools build number, Guest Uptime, Logged In user etc
  • View vital statistics of VM like Power State, CPU count, Memory, Hardware Version, Storage path etc
  • Remotely shut down, power up, suspend a VM

How to use VMware Guest Console

After installation run the program. You will be greeted by the start page.

VGC-1

Click on Add Host to add a host computer. Enter the IP address or hostname of the computer on which the VM you want to control is running.

VGC-2

After you have connected to the host you can see the VMs running on it. But to be able to manage it, you have to connect to the VM first.

Select the VM you want to manage, right click and choose Virtual Machine > Login In Guest.

VGC-3

Enter the username and password of the user account on the Guest OS to login.

VGC-4

You are now connected to the Guest OS. Click on the Virtual Machines tab to get detail information about the VM.

VGC-5

From the ‘Task Manager’ tab you can view all processes running on the Guest.

vgc-6

To explore files on the Guest, click on the ‘File Explorer’ tab. You can copy files, move them around, rename them without having direct access to the Guest OS.

To deploy a program from the Host to the Guest click on Applications menu in the toolbar and choose ‘Deploy Host Program’. You can now choose the program to execute in the host machine.

You can even make a Remote Connection to the Guest OS, just the way you can make a Remote Connection to a physical machine over a network. To do that click Virtual Machine > Launch Terminal.

Checkout the other menu items too. It’s a very powerful and useful tool for administrators.

Related: VMWare Tweaker lays bare dozens of hidden VMWare settings

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to Record CPU and Memory Usage Over Time in Windows?

Whenever the computer is lagging or some application is taking too long to respond, we usually fire up task manager and look under the Performance tab or under Processes to check on processor utilization or the amount of free memory available. The task manager is ideal for real-time analysis of CPU and memory utilization. It even displays a short history of CPU utilization in the form of a graph. You get a small time-window, about 30 seconds or so, depending on how large the viewing area is.
17 comments
Read more

How to Schedule Changes to Your Facebook Page Cover Photo

Facebook’s current layout, the so called Timeline, features a prominent, large cover photo that some people are using in a lot of different creative ways. Timeline is also available for Facebook Pages that people can use to promote their website or business or event. Although you can change the cover photo as often as you like, it’s meant to be static – something which you design and leave it for at least a few weeks or months like a redesigned website. However, there are times when you may want to change the cover photo frequently and periodically to match event dates or some special promotion that you are running or plan to run. So, here is how you can do that.
1 comment
Read more

Diagram 101: Different Types of Diagrams and When To Use Them

Diagrams are a great way to visualize information and convey meaning. The problem is that there’s too many different types of diagrams, so it can be hard to know which ones you should use in any given situation. To help you out, we’ve created this diagram that lays out the 7 most common types of diagrams and when they’re best used:
Post a Comment
Read more