How to Open VM (Virtual Machine) Console Using PowerCLI – VirtuallyThatGuy

Welcome to VirtuallyThatGuy – and today we are going to be looking at how to open the VM console from the PowerCLI or PowerShell. I never really thought about using the open-vmconsolewindow cmdlet until a colleague asked the question during lunch break. I have used it in the past when the cmdlet was first introduced in version 5.5 PowerCLI. This is very useful especially if you spend a lot of time in the CLI.

There are some perquisites and I have listed them below for your information.

*PowerCLI 6.0 or above

*PowerShell Version 4.0 or above

* VMware Remote Console version 8 or above

$vCenters​​ =​​ "ntcp-vc01.lab.local"​​ ,​​ "uk3p-vc01.lab.local"

 

Connect-VIServer​​ $vCenters

 

## Get VM to verify its part of the specified vCenter

 

get-vm​​ -Name​​ dtcp-srm01​​ |​​ select​​ Name,​​ PowerState,​​ NumCpu,​​ MemoryGB,​​ Version,​​ @{N="Cluster";E={Get-Cluster​​ -VM​​ $_}},​​ VMHost​​ |​​ ft​​ -a​​ 

 

## Now run below command to open the VMRC in fullscreen mode

 

Open-VMConsoleWindow​​ -VM​​ "dtcp-srm01"​​ -FullScreen​​ # Or use below

 

Get-VM​​ dtcp-srm01​​ |​​ Open-VMConsoleWindow​​ -FullScreen

 

## There's another option using the url where by it gives you a url to copy and paste but you need flash running​​ 

 

Open-VMConsoleWindow​​ -VM​​ "dtcp-srm01"​​ -UrlOnly​​ 

 

vmrc://clone:cst-VCT-52e253e5-7e7e-0a59-6119-4fbcfeafca57--tp-E0-F6-CD-25-E4-A8-2D-97-25-F2-BF-EE-31-DC-0A-DE-22-85-24-86@uk3p-vc01.lab.local:443/?moid=vm-84

 

Disconnect-VIServer​​ $vCenters

 

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2 Comments

  1. How can i get the web url of console. because currently its returning the VMRC one. but i need web console URL.

    Please assist.

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