Datastore Browser

vSphere Management Assistant and vSphere Command-Line Interface

1. Open a console to your vSphere Management Assistant (vMA) appliance or a vSphere Command-Line Interface (CLI).
2. Download the file and edit by executing:
   
   vifs.pl <connection parameters> --get '[<datastore>] <path>/<filename>' <localpath>/<filename>
   
   Where:
3. • <connection parameters> specify the host that has access to the datastore or vCenter and the username and password of an Administrator account.
   • <datastore> is the name of the datastore that contains the file.
   • <path> is the path within the datastore that contains the file.
   • <filename> is the name of the file.
   • <localpath> is the path where you can download the file to. Make note of this location.
     
     For more information and examples about the vifs utility, see Performing File System Operations with vifs in the vSphere CLI documentation.
      
4. Modify the file as required using the vMA or transfer it to another system for modification. If you are using the vCLI, proceed to the following step.
5. Open a preferred text editor. For more information about preferred editors, see Preferred Editors in this article.
6. Open the downloaded file, modify it as required, and save the file.
7. Return to the vMA appliance console or vSphere CLI.
8. Make a backup copy of the original by executing:
   
   vifs.pl <connection parameters> --move '[<datastore>] <path>/<filename>' '[<datastore>] <path>/<filename>.bak'
   
   Where:
9. • <connection parameters> specify the host that has access to the datastore or vCenter and the username and password of an Administrator account.
   • <datastore> is the name of the datastore that contains the file. For our purposes, both <datastore> values should be the same.
   • <path> is the path within the datastore that contains the file. For our purposes, both <path> values should be the same.
   • <filename> is the name of the file. For our purposes, the second <filename> value should include a .bak extension to indicate a backup copy.
     
     Caution: Omitting the additional .bak extension to the destination file name will result in overwriting your original file.
     
     For more information and examples about the vifs utility, see Performing File System Operations with vifs section of the vSphere CLI documentation.
      
10. Upload the modified file to the original location by executing:
    
    vifs.pl <connection parameters> --put <localpath>/<filename> '[<datastore>] <path>/<filename>'
    
    Where:
11. • <connection parameters> specify the host that has access to the datastore or vCenter and the username and password of an Administrator account.
    • <datastore> is the name of the datastore that contains the file.
    • <path> is the path within the datastore that contains the file.
    • <filename> is the name of the file.
    • <localpath> is the path where you will download the file to. Make note of this location.
      
      For more information and examples about the vifs utility, see Performing File System Operations with vifs section of the vSphere CLI documentation.

VMware ESXi or ESX Terminal

1. Log in to the VMware ESX host as the root user.
   • For more information on VMware ESX Service Console, see Unable to connect to an ESX host using Secure Shell (SSH) (1003807).
   • For more information on VMware ESXi Technical Support Mode, see Tech Support Mode for Emergency Support (1003677).
2. Make a backup copy of the file by executing:
   
   cp <path>/<filename> <path>/<filename>.bak
   
   Where:
3. • <path> is the full path of the file.
   • <filename> is the name of the file.
     
     
     Note: The second parameter in the cp command should have a filename with the .bak extension to indicate that it is a backup copy.
      
4. Edit the file by executing:
   
   <editor> <path>/<filename>
   
   Where:
5. • <editor> is your preferred editor. For more information about preferred editors, see Preferred Editors in this article.
   • <path> is the full path to the file.
   • <filename> is the name of the file.
      
6. If prompted to overwrite, ensure that you have made a backup copy and type y. Press Enter to commit your changes.

Preferred Editors

• VMware ESX includes the open source terminal-based editors nano and vi.
• VMware ESXi includes the open source terminal-based editor vi.
• Windows-based machines include basic text editors such as Notepad and Wordpad. If you are using either of these text editors, you must ensure that you are saving files in their original format and encoding.

• The editors available in the shell (vi or nano) are meant for troubleshooting purposes only and must be used only when directed by VMware. The vSphere Client, vCLI, and PowerCLI should be the primary method of propagating changes to your ESX/ESXi host.
• Notepad saves documents as ANSI text which may not be the same file format as the files downloaded from a VMware ESX or ESXi host. For more information, see Using different language formats in Notepad from Microsoft's Windows XP Professional Product Documentation.