Cannot See the /vmimages Datastores Directory When Attempting to Mount an ISO Image on a VirtualCenter 2.0-Managed ESX Server 2.x Host

To solve this problem, do the following on the VMware ESX Server 2.x host:

1. Manually create a vmimages directory in the / directory.
2. Manually copy over any ISO images to the /vmimages directory.
3. Mount the ISO image or add a link to the mounted ISO images.

Note: If you are going to use a directory other than /vmimages as your ISO images directory, specify that directory in the vpxa.cfg file. The datastore browser reads that directory when you are looking for ISO images.

Use the following steps to edit the vpxa.cfg file:

1. Log in to the service console as the root user.
2. Change directories to /etc/vmware/.
3. Open the vpxa.cfg file using nano or another text editor.
4. Find the following XML segment:

   <><></datastorePrincipal><></hostIp><>30</memoryCheckerTimeInSecs><></serverIp><></serverPort></vpxa>

   Where XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX is an IP address and PPP is a port number, typically 902.
5. Add the following line after PPP:
   <>/DDDD/SSSSSS</vmImages>
   Where /DDDD/SSSSS is the directory you created on the host to store images of the software you install on virtual machines.
6. Save your changes and close the file.
7. Enter the following command to restart the vmware-vpxa process:
   service vmware-vpxa restart