order.diff

diff --git a/cloudinit/sources/DataSourceVMware.py b/cloudinit/sources/DataSourceVMware.py
index 3cf410b7..bfa596ad 100644
--- a/cloudinit/sources/DataSourceVMware.py
+++ b/cloudinit/sources/DataSourceVMware.py
@@ -141,8 +141,12 @@ class DataSourceVMware(sources.DataSource):
         _get_data loads the metadata, userdata, and vendordata from one of
         the following locations in the given order:
 
-            * guestinfo
             * envvars
+            * guestinfo
+
+        Please note when updating this function with support for new data
+        transports, the order should match the order in the dscheck_VMware
+        function from the file ds-identify.
         """
 
         # Initialize the locally scoped metadata, userdata, and vendordata
@@ -150,24 +154,24 @@ class DataSourceVMware(sources.DataSource):
         # access method.
         md, ud, vd = None, None, None
 
-        # First check to see if there is data via guestinfo.
-        if self.vmware_rpctool:
-            md = guestinfo("metadata", self.vmware_rpctool)
-            ud = guestinfo("userdata", self.vmware_rpctool)
-            vd = guestinfo("vendordata", self.vmware_rpctool)
+        # First check to see if there is data via env vars.
+        if os.environ.get(VMX_GUESTINFO, ""):
+            md = guestinfo_envvar("metadata")
+            ud = guestinfo_envvar("userdata")
+            vd = guestinfo_envvar("vendordata")
 
             if md or ud or vd:
-                self.data_access_method = DATA_ACCESS_METHOD_GUESTINFO
+                self.data_access_method = DATA_ACCESS_METHOD_ENVVAR
 
-        # If data has not been loaded, check via envvars.
+        # If no data was detected, check the guestinfo transport next.
         if not self.data_access_method:
-            if os.environ.get(VMX_GUESTINFO, ""):
-                md = guestinfo_envvar("metadata")
-                ud = guestinfo_envvar("userdata")
-                vd = guestinfo_envvar("vendordata")
+            if self.vmware_rpctool:
+                md = guestinfo("metadata", self.vmware_rpctool)
+                ud = guestinfo("userdata", self.vmware_rpctool)
+                vd = guestinfo("vendordata", self.vmware_rpctool)
 
                 if md or ud or vd:
-                    self.data_access_method = DATA_ACCESS_METHOD_ENVVAR
+                    self.data_access_method = DATA_ACCESS_METHOD_GUESTINFO
 
         if not self.data_access_method:
             LOG.error("failed to find a valid data access method")
diff --git a/tools/ds-identify b/tools/ds-identify
index 17e4ea27..234ffa81 100755
--- a/tools/ds-identify
+++ b/tools/ds-identify
@@ -1397,6 +1397,16 @@ vmware_rpctool_guestinfo_vendordata() {
 }
 
 dscheck_VMware() {
+    # Checks to see if there is valid data for the VMware datasource.
+    # The data transports are checked in the following order:
+    #
+    #   * envvars
+    #   * guestinfo
+    #
+    # Please note when updating this function with support for new data
+    # transports, the order should match the order in the _get_data
+    # function from the file DataSourceVMware.py.
+
     # Check to see if running in a container and the VMware
     # datasource is configured via environment variables.
     if vmware_has_envvar_vmx_guestinfo; then

+1 This looks good and aligns w/ your logic ordering in ds-identify