Updated on: 10 DEC 2020

VMware Tools | 10 DEC 2020 | Build 17243207

Check for additions and updates to these release notes.

What's in the Release Notes

The release notes cover the following topics:

What's New

VMware Tools 11.2.1 version addresses only two Windows graphics issues that are mentioned in the Resolved Issues section. The non-windows users who have already installed VMware Tools 11.2.0 version, need not upgrade to 11.2.1 version. 

Earlier Releases of VMware Tools

  • For earlier releases of VMware Tools, see the VMware Tools Documentation page.

Before You Begin

  • VMware Tools 11.2.1 supports the following guest operating systems:
    • windows.iso supports Windows 7 SP1 or Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 and later. 
      • VMware Tools 11.2.1 depends on and ships Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2015, 2017 and 2019.
        While preparing the system for VMware Tools 11.2.1 installation, ensure that Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2015, 2017 and 2019 is installed on the system as a prerequisite. Installing or upgrading to VMware Tools 11.2.1 is not supported for Windows versions that do not meet the prerequisite and customers should continue to use VMware Tools 10.2.x or older until they can patch or update Windows OS to meet the prerequisites for VMware Tools 11.2.1. Refer to Microsoft's update KB2977003 for latest supported Visual C++ downloads.
      • Windows OS level prerequisites
        • Windows Server 2019
        • Windows Server 2016
        • Windows 10
        • Windows Server 2012 R2 with Microsoft's update KB2919355
        • Windows 8.1 with Microsoft's update  KB2919355
        • Windows Server 2012 
        • Windows 8
        • Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1) with Microsoft's update KB4474419.
        • Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1) with Microsoft's update KB4474419.
    • darwin.iso supports Mac OS X versions 10.11 and later.
    • For details on linux.iso, refer to VMware Tools 10.3.23 Release Notes.
    • For details on solaris.iso, refer to VMware Tools 10.3.10 Release Notes.
  • VMware Tools ISO images are frozen for some end of life guest operating systems. Some ISO images are not included with ESXi in the tools-light VIB. For more details, see the VMware Tools Documentation page. All VMware Tools ISO images are available for download from http://my.vmware.com.
  • VMware Tools for Windows: 32-bit and 64-bit installer executable (.exe) files are available for download. These files are provided for easier access and installation of VMware Tools in Windows guest operating systems.

Important note about upgrading to ESXi 6.5 or later

Resolution on incompatibility and general guidelines: While upgrading ESXi hosts to ESXi 6.5 or later, and using older versions of Horizon View Agent, refer to the knowledge base articles:

Internationalization

VMware Tools 11.2.1 is available in the following languages:

  • English
  • French
  • German
  • Spanish
  • Italian
  • Japanese
  • Korean
  • Simplified Chinese
  • Traditional Chinese

Product Support Notice

  • The Windows pre-Vista iso image for VMWare Tools is no longer packaged with ESXi. The Windows pre-Vista iso image is available for download by users who require it. For download information, see the Product Download page.

End of Feature Support Notice

  • Balloon driver has been removed from MacOS VMware Tools 11.1.0.
  • The tar tools (linux.iso) and OSPs shipped with VMware Tools 10.3.x release will continue to be supported. However, releases after VMware Tools 10.3.5 will only include critical and security fixes and no new feature support in these types of VMware Tools (tar tools and OSP's). It is recommended that customers use open-vm-tools for those operating systems that support open-vm-tools. For more information on different types of VMware Tools, see https://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2016/02/understanding-the-three-types-of-vm-tools.html

Compatibility Notes

  • Starting with VMware Tools version 10.2.0, Perl script-based VMware Tools installation for FreeBSD has been discontinued. FreeBSD systems are supported only through the open-vm-tools packages directly available from FreeBSD package repositories. FreeBSD packages for open-vm-tools 10.1.0 and later are available from FreeBSD package repositories.

Guest Operating System Customization Support

The Guest OS Customization Support Matrix provides details about the guest operating systems supported for customization.

Interoperability Matrix

The VMware Product Interoperability Matrix provides details about the compatibility of current and earlier versions of VMware Products. The VMware Product Interoperability Matrix of VMware Tools 11.2.0 can be applied to VMware Tools 11.2.1.

Installation and Upgrades for this release

VMware Tools can be downloaded from the Product Download page.

The steps to install VMware Tools vary depending on your VMware product and the guest operating system you have installed. For general steps to install VMware Tools in most VMware products, see General VMware Tools installation instructions (1014294).To set up productLocker to point to the shared datastore, see KB 2004018.

For specific instructions to install, upgrade, and configure VMware Tools, see the VMware Tools Documentation page.

Windows guest drivers installed by VMware Tools

VMware Tools 11.2.1 supports the following driver versions on a Windows Guest Operating System.

Drivers VMware Tools 11.2.1
Hardware Drivers
vmci

9.8.16.0
vsock

9.8.17.0
pvscsi

1.3.15.0
wddm

8.17.02.0002
vmxnet3

1.8.16.0
vmxnet2

2.2.0.0
vmmouse

12.5.10.0
vmusbmouse

12.5.10.0
vmaudio

5.10.0.3506
efifw 1.0.0.0
Software Drivers
vmrawdsk.sys

1.1.5.0
vmmemctl.sys

7.5.5.0
vmhgfs.sys

11.0.42.0
vsepflt.sys

11.2.0.0
vnetWFP.sys 

11.2.0.0 
glgxi.sys

2.3.0.0
giappdef

2.3.1.0
Security DLL
vmwsu.dll

2.5.0.0

Resolved Issues

  • Significant delay in start up process of Windows 7 VMs with VMware Tools 11.2.0 installed.

    After powering on the VMs, there is about 2 mins black screen time before user login window appears. This issue is seen for Windows VMs with VMware Tools 11.2.0 version installed.

    This issue is resolved in this release.

  • 'Google Earth' app displays flicker with OpenGL API in Win10 Guest.

    When the 'Google Earth' app is launched in a Win10 guest VM, it displays a flickering effect. Google Earth's default 3D API is OpenGL.

    This issue is fixed in this release.

Known Issues

The known issues are grouped as follows.

VMware Tools Issues
  • After upgrading to a new version VMware Tools with installer parameter to remove the NetworkIntrospection feature, old version of vnetflt or vnetWFP driver service still runs.

    After the upgrade, the NetworkIntrospection feature is not present in the system's VMware Tools MSI database, but the feature's vnetflt or vnetWFP driver service still exists.

    Workaround:

    Refer to KB 78016. 

    Note: Future tools upgrade from version 11.1.0 to a newer tools version will not have the issue.

  • VMware Tools upgrade fails on Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 without SHA-2 code signing support.

    Microsoft has changed Windows driver signing to use SHA-2 algorithm exclusively starting December 3, 2019. Hence, legacy Windows systems without SHA-2 code signing support fails driver signature verification.

    Workaround:

    Refer to KB 78708.

  • AppDefense driver glxgi logs an error in the event viewer.

    AppDefense driver glxgi logs an error in the event viewer similar to the following:

    "The glxgi service failed to start due to the following error: A device attached to the system is not functioning."

    The events are observed when Guest Integrity is disabled.

    Workaround:

    These events do not impact the system and are safe to ignore.

  • Installing or upgrading versions earlier than VMware Tools 10.3.0 to VMware Tools 11.1.x might take longer and Windows OS might need a restart.

    Installation process might appear to be in progress and displays a message similar to the following:
    ​ "Preparing 'VMware Tools' for installation..."

    During this process, the user might be prompted to restart the operating system. 

    For more information, see KB 55798.

VMware Tools Issues in VMware Workstation or Fusion
  • Shared Folders mount is unavailable on Linux VM.

    If the Shared Folders feature is enabled on a Linux VM while it is powered off, shared folders mount is not available on restart.

    Note: This issue is applicable for VMware Tools running on Workstation and Fusion.

    Workaround:

    If the VM is powered on, disable and enable the Shared Folders feature from the interface.
    For resolving the issue permanently, edit /etc/fstab and add an entry to mount the Shared Folders automatically on boot.
    For example, add the line:
    vmhgfs-fuse   /mnt/hgfs    fuse    defaults,allow_other    0    0

  • Drag functionality fails to work in Ubuntu.

    Drag functionality fails to work in Ubuntu 16.04.4 32-bit virtual machine installed using easy install. Also, failure of copy and paste functionality is observed in the same system.

    Note: This issue is applicable for VMware Tools running on Workstation and Fusion.

    Workaround:

    • Add the modprobe.blacklist=vmwgfx linux kernel boot option.
    • To gain access to larger resolutions, remove svga.guestBackedPrimaryAware = "TRUE" option from the VMX file.
VMware Tools Issue in VMware Horizon
  • WDDM driver fails  on Windows Update installation when Horizon Agent is installed on Windows 8/Windows 8.1/Windows Server 2008 R2.

    When Horizon Agent is installed on Windows 8/Windows 8.1/Windows Server 2008 R2, WDDM driver fails on Windows Update installation.

    WDDM driver will be made available through Windows Update service, when the driver publication process completes.

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