VM MKS Client - 2

Last year around the summer I created the Virtual Machine MKS Client. It started as sort of a contest with Bouke Groenescheij and eventually matured in a real product. I sold a few copy’s of my tool but hadn’t the time to keep up with the new active objects from VMware. This week I installed VMware Server 2.0 and while I was wondering around in my program files directory it stroked my eyes. The VMware Remote Console aka vmware-vmrc.exe. I had to do some googeling before I found out what the parameters were, but I got it working. This executable can also be used to take over the Mouse Keyboard and Screen of your VM’s running on ESX.

vmware-vmrc -h 192.168.75.128 -m "[Storage1] Nostalgia/Nostalgia.vmx"

I have been on vacation to the lovely Island of Rhodes (Greece) the past tree weeks. I didn’t take my laptop with me so besides from a few posts there has been little activity regarding the Virtual Machine MKS Client. I had the opportunity to read your suggestions and think about all the new features in the new version. But first of all since nobody sponsored the development I created a commercial version. The trial version shows a maximum of 16 virtual machines and the registered version has no limit. I added a combo box where you can type in the name of the virtual machine with an alphabetic list. You can also customize the menu bar by enabling or disable menu items from the registry. The last feature I added is the PreSelectVM registry key. After logging on to the server this VM is automatically connected. You can find all the keys involved at the hive HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\VB and VBA Program Settings\NTPRO.NL\Virtual Machine MKS Client. You can find the download link for the Virtual Machine MKS Client v1.9 in the software menu item of my blog.

Normally you would enter your Virtual Center server host name when logging in with the Virtual Machine MKS Client. But in some circumstances it may be necessary to logon to your ESX server directly. Bypassing the Virtual Center is never a good idea because you can make your cluster instable, but on the other hand if you don’t have a Virtual Center Server anymore and still want to use the Virtual Machine MKS Client you received an error. Until now, with version 1.8 you can both logon to your VC server and directly to your ESX host. Keep in mind that when you logon to the ESX server directly you have to use the service console Linux account instead of your Windows account. When you want to visit the Paypal sponsor page, please use this link. You can find the download link for the Virtual Machine MKS Client v1.8 in the software menu item of my blog.

Another new version of the Virtual Machine MKS Client is released. This new version contains a link which can be used to become a sponsor. Why is sponsorship important ? When you become a sponsor I have the opportunity to add new functions and fix bugs. This way we can keep the quality of the Virtual Machine MKS Client at a high level. When you want to visit the Paypal sponsor page, please use this link. You can find the download link for the Virtual Machine MKS Client v1.7 in the software menu item of my blog.

Today I added two new features to the Virtual Machine MKS Client. Richard suggested to ad a menu item to  send Ctrl+Alt+Delete to the virtual machine and Philippe would be very happy with a borderless window mode. Their wishes are my command and in the 1.6 version you can find both menu items under View. Just some figures, the Virtual machine MKS Client is downloaded over 600 times and the internal version is 1.0.0.11. On an average day my blog is visited by more than 800 people. You can find the download link for the Virtual Machine MKS Client v1.6 in the software menu item of my blog.

I added another really cool feature to the Virtual Machine MKS Client. When you click on the menu item Virtual Machines you will see a list of all your virtual machines. On the left of the virtual machine you see a little bullet. This bullet is an indicator of the overall status of the virtual machine. When the bullet is green there is nothing wrong. When it’s grey the virtual machine is powered down. When it’s red there is an alarm and when it’s yellow there is a warning.You can find the download link for the Virtual Machine MKS Client v1.5 in the software menu item of my blog.