I was setting up a new host the other day and I received a call from one of my admins letting me know that they could not copy/paste within the console; but they can copy/paste in RDP.
This is a simple fix found in KB1026437. You can make the change on an individual VM, but I think it is best to change it on the host (which applies to all VMs). I really wish the default would have this enabled.
Open a Putty session…if you don’t have putty then get it here.
1. Log into the ESXi host that you want to change.
2. Type vi /etc/vmware/config
3. Arrow down to the last line and type i which stands for “insert”.
4. Add the lines:
vmx.fullpath = “/bin/vmx”
isolation.tools.copy.disable=”FALSE”
isolation.tools.paste.disable=”FALSE”
5. Press the ESC key and then type :wq which stands for “write and quit”.
The next time each VM is power cycled it will enable the copy/paste functionality. Keep in mind that if you ever upgrade this host to a new ESXi version that this setting will go back to the default of disabled and you will have to add this line again.
Favoritevmguy 