Part 15 – VMware vSphere 8 Nested Home Lab – Creating Your First Virtual Machine

Welcome back to virtshinobi.blog. In this guide, I’ll walk you through the process of deploying a new virtual machine using the vSphere Client.

But before we begin creating the virtual machine, we will need an ISO file for installation. I have downloaded the Windows Server 2022 iso from Microsoft and we will begin with uploading that to the NFS ISO datastore we created earlier.

Connect to the vCenter server https://vcenter01.virtshinobi.local/ui. Click on the Datastore view, select the NFS_ISO datastore. Navigate to Files tab and click UPLOAD FILES.

Navigate to folder where the ISO is stored. Select the Microsoft Windows Server 2022 ISO file and click Open.

Note: You might face a problem where the upload might initially fail. That is because we are using self signed certificates on the ESXi hosts. To work around the issue, import the ESXi hosts certificates to the local certificate store on the machine from where you are accessing the vCenter Server Web Interface and try again.

Monitor the upload progress. Once the upload completes you should see the ISO file uploaded and it can be used to provision virtual machines.

To start creating your first virtual machine, navigate to Hosts and Clusters view, select Cluster-01, click the ACTION menu and select New Virtual Machine.

Select Create a new virtual machine and click NEXT.

Enter the name for the virtual machine such as WINVM01 and click NEXT.

Select the ESXi host and click NEXT.

Select the datastore iSCSI_DS01 and click NEXT.

Select the VM compatibility version of your choice or leave the default for the latest version and click NEXT.

The Guest OS family and Guest OS version should auto populate. Change the Guest OS Version to Microsoft Windows Server 2022 (64-bit) if needed and click NEXT.

Leave the values for CPU and Memory to default. Change the size of New Hard Disk to 60 GB and click NEXT.

On the Ready to Complete page review the virtual machine settings and click FINISH to close the wizard and create the virtual machine WINVM01.

Next we will attach the ISO file we uploaded to the NFS_ISO datastore to the virtual machine. Right click virtual machine WINVM01 and click Edit Settings.

For CD/DVD Drive 1, click on Client Device and select Datastore ISO File from the drop down menu.

Select the NFS_ISO

Select the Windows Server 2022 ISO file and click OK.

Select the check box for Connect At Power On and click OK.

Right click the virtual machine WINVM01, click Power and select Power ON from the resulting menu.

Click on LAUNCH WEB CONSOLE. This will open the virtual machine console in a new tab for you to continue with the Windows Server 2022 installation.

Press any key to boot from the Windows Server 2022 installation image and start the installation proces.

Note: Sometime you might miss this step while opening the web console. In that case just click on the Send Ctrl+Alt+Delete button highlighted below. It will restart the virtual machine and you should see the below option again and continue with the installation.

Continue with the standard Windows Server 2022 Installation prompts to complete the windows installation on the virtual machine.

Next we will install VMware Tools on the virtual machine WINVM01. VMware Tools is a suite of utilities and drivers that enhances the performance and usability of virtual machines running on VMware platforms like Workstation, Fusion, and vSphere.

Here’s what it brings to the table:

Key Features

• Seamless Mouse Integration: No more getting stuck inside the VM window—your cursor glides smoothly between host and guest.
• Improved Graphics: Enables dynamic screen resizing and multi-monitor support.
• Time Synchronization: Keeps the guest OS clock in sync with the host.
• Clipboard Sharing: Copy-paste between host and guest becomes effortless.
• Better VM Management: Allows graceful shutdowns, automated scripts, and enhanced monitoring.

Without VMware Tools, your VM feels like a clunky sandbox. With it, the experience becomes fluid and responsive—almost like working on a native machine.

Installing VMware Tools

From the virtual machine console, login using the Administrator password you set during the installation.

Right click the virtual machine WINVM01, Select Guest OS and click on Install VMware tools.

Click MOUNT to mount the VMware Tools installation image inside the windows virtual machine.

Navigate to the tab hosting the virtual machine console. Open Windows File Explorer and select the VMware Tools DVD Drive (D:). Double click the setup file to start the VMware Tools installation.

The VMware Tools setup will start. Click Next to continue.

Select Typical and click Next.

Click Install to continue.

Once the installation is completed, click Finish to exit the installation wizard.

Installation of VMware Tools requires the virtual machine to be rebooted. Click Yes to reboot the virtual machine.