Unable to install VMware Tools

IBM HS22 Blade with IBM ESXi 4.1update2  USB Key
VMware tools installation fails with the error below...

Unable to install VMware Tools. An error occurred while trying to access image file "/usr/lib/vmware/isoimages/windows.iso" needed to install VMware Tools: 2 (No such file or directory). If your product shipped with the VMware Tools package, reinstall VMware ESX, then try again to install the VMware Tools package in the virtual machine.
 The required VMware Tools ISO image does not exist or is inaccessible.

Troubleshooting
SSH to the Vmware host reveals that the /usr/lib/vmware is not accessible




ls -l reveals that the isoimages folder is a symbolic link to /productLocker/vmtools/


cd /productLocker is inaccessible




/vmfs/volumes is missing Hypervisor3

The ESXi partition table can be checked using the command fdisk -l

There is a Warning for partition table 8
Warning: ignoring extra data in partition table 8

And the file system for mpx.vmhba32:C0:T0:L0p8 is Unknowm
/dev/disks/mpx.vmhba32:C0:T0:L0p8   ?    740786   1480957 757935405   5a  Unknown

mpx.vmhba32:C0:T0:L0p8 should be the scratch disk location.

The fix

It is recommended that the persistent scratch location be set for ESXi

Configuring persistent scratch location using the vSphere Client

You can configure persistent scratch space for ESXi using the vSphere Client:

1. Connect to vCenter Server or the ESXi host using the vSphere Client.
2. Select the ESXi host in the inventory.
3. Click the Configuration tab.
4. Click Storage.
5. Right-click a datastore and select Browse.
6. Create a uniquely-named directory for this ESX host (eg, .locker-ESXHostname)
7. Close the Datastore Browser.
8. Click Advanced Settings under Software. 
9. Select the ScratchConfig section.
10. Change the ScratchConfig.ConfiguredScratchLocation configuration option, specifying the full path to the directory. For example:
    
    /vmfs/volumes/DatastoreName/.locker-ESXHostname
11. Click OK.
12. Put the ESXi host in maintenance mode and reboot for the configuration change to take effect.

Recreating scratch files including Vmware tools iso's.

Once the scratch  location has been set you can run the current ESXi 4.1 update 2 patch this will recreate the Vmware tools installation iso in the scratch file location.

Once the patch has applied reboot the host.

You can check that the vmtools iso's have been created by browsing the persistent scratch datastore.

You will then be able to deploy Vmware tools