1.5

Table Of Contents
Retrieve or Modify the GuestCustomizationSection of a Virtual Machine
The GuestCustomizationSection element includes a customization script and other parameters that are applied
when you customize a virtual machine.
The GuestCustomizationSection includes predefined property names that VMware guest customization tools
recognize. In addition, the vCloud API supports use of the ovf:ProductSection to pass an arbitrary set of
key=value pairs to a vApp or virtual machine through the ovf:Environment element. See “Retrieve or Modify
ProductSection Elements,” on page 102.
Prerequisites
Verify that you are logged in as a system administrator or the object owner.
Procedure
1 Retrieve the GuestCustomizationSection to modify.
Make a GET request to the URL in the section's href attribute value.
GET https://vcloud.example.com/api/vApp/vm-12/guestCustomizationSection/
2 Modify the retrieved section.
Modified sections must contain all required elements, even if you are not changing their values. Because
optional elements revert to default values if they are omitted or empty, it is a best practice to include
optional elements in updates. Link elements and href attributes from responses do not need to be included
in modified sections. Some elements and attributes might be read-only. See the schema reference for
details.
3 Update the section with your modifications.
In the section, find the Link element where rel="edit". Make a PUT request to the URL in that link's
href attribute value, and supply the modified section as the request body.
The response to this request is a Task element that tracks the update operation. When the task completes,
the section is updated.
The modified section replaces the contents of the original section. For some section types, modifications take
effect immediately. For others, modifications take effect only after a power or deployment state change.
Example: Modify the Guest Customization Section of a Virtual Machine
Request:
PUT https://vcloud.example.com/api/vApp/vm-12/guestCustomizationSection/
Content-type: application/vnd.vmware.vcloud.guestcustomizationsection+xml
...
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<GuestCustomizationSection
xmlns="http://www.vmware.com/vcloud/v1.5"
xmlns:ovf="http://schemas.dmtf.org/ovf/envelope/1"
ovf:required="false">
<ovf:Info>Specifies Guest OS Customization Settings</ovf:Info>
<Enabled>true</Enabled>
<ChangeSid>true</ChangeSid>
<VirtualMachineId>12</VirtualMachineId>
<JoinDomainEnabled>false</JoinDomainEnabled>
<UseOrgSettings>false</UseOrgSettings>
<DomainName />
<DomainUserName />
Chapter 5 Deploying and Operating vApps
VMware, Inc. 101