Guest OS not supported when starting VPMA-45 virtual appliance

Introduction

VPMA-45 virtual performance appliances are build for ESXi 5.5 compatibility and higher.  When attempting to start the VM, you may receive the following error:

Guest operating system ... not supported

 

Solution

This error is related to Compatibility.

Right click on the VM and do:

1. Compatibility
2. Upgrade VM compatibility
3. Accept the warning (Yes)
4. Chose your ESXi version

The VM will now start.