How/where does vm tools query a VM to obtain Guest OS info

[jasmurra]

Hello,

I was just curious on how/where vmware queries a guest VM and obtains the guest OS.  The reason I ask is I have two Windows 10 VMs and in the summary tab vmware reports that one is Windows 10, however on the other it is reporting that the guest os is Windows 8.   On the options tab both VMs were set to Windows 7 64 bit.  So just wondering if anyone knows where to look to see why this is happening.

Thanks

[daphnissov]

This information isn't queried in the guest OS, it is an OS description set by whomever initially created the VM. You can see this in the VMX file itself.

[jasmurra]

Makes sense other than these VMs were built as Windows 7 VMs and then upgraded to Windows 10.  So theoretically the VMX file should still reference Windows 7 right?

[daphnissov]

It should, yes, if that was the case.

[a_p_]

AFAIK the OS that's configured in the VM's settings is used to e.g.:

• provision the VM with OS optimized virtual hardware
• for selecting the appropriate VMware Tools image. when they are installed from the GUI
• use optimized runtime settings

The guest OS that shows up in the Summary tab, is the one that's determined by VMware Tools.

This doesn't explain why you see two different guest operating systems. However, maybe it's worth configuring the correct guest OS in the settings to see whether this helps.

André