Hardware Model

Question

Hello,

I have several windows server 2019 running under vmware, and when issuing this command Get-CimInstance -Class Win32_ComputerSystem to getting the hardware model why the result is different.

Some of the win 2019 have model VMware7,1 and some of win 2019 have model VMware Virtual Platform.

From the host level we use same VMware ESXi version and same physical hardware.

Answer 1

AFAIK, this discrepancy likely stems from the virtual hardware version configured for individua VMs. Even though the VMs are running on the same VMware ESXi version and physical hardware, the virtual hardware version can differ between VMs, and this affects how the VM identifies its hardware.

In particular, VMware7,1 indicates the VM is using a newer virtual hardware version (likely version 17 or higher). VMware Virtual Platform indicates the VM is using an older virtual hardware version (e.g., version 14 or earlier). The virtual hardware version defines the capabilities of the VM, including supported features and the identifiers exposed to the guest OS.

VMs might have been created at different times and defaulted to different hardware versions based on the ESXi or vSphere version at the time of creation. If some VMs were upgraded to newer virtual hardware versions while others were not, their reported model names will differ. I gather it's also possible that the VM settings may have been manually modified during configuration or migration, leading to different virtual hardware versions.

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hth

Marcin

Answer 2

hi..

I found the different.

If firmware on the boot set to BIOS then it will detect as VMware Virtual Platform, but if set to EFI it will detect as VMware 7,1.