Starting with a major version 10.1.0, VMware tools added simplified and scalable approach for install and upgrade of VMware Tools, reboot less upgrade for newer Linux Tools, support for OSP upgrades, enhanced version reporting using UI and status reporting using API and UI. This version was released with a number of feature enhancements, driver related enhancements and support for new guest operating systems. With offline bundles and the integration with SCCM to distribute and upgrade VMware Tools, VMware Tools 12.3.0 brings in several improvements to lifecycle management.

  • Offline bundles with VMware Tools VIB that can be installed on vSphere 5.5.x, 6.0.x and 6.5.x releases using vSphere Update Manager.
  • Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) is used to manage the deployment of Windows applications across an enterprise and can be used to deploy VMware Tools. For more information, see Deploying VMware Tools using SCCM.

VMware Tools 12.3.0 depends on and ships Microsoft Visual C++ 2015-2022 Redistributable version 14.x. While preparing the system for VMware Tools 12.3.0 installation, Microsoft Visual C++ 2015-2022 Redistributable is installed on the system as a prerequisite.

Mapping of VMware Tools and Guest Operating System

In earlier versions, VMware Tools ISO images were shipped with the ESXi image. These ISO images are deployed on ProductLocker partition of the ESXi. However, this approach poses a challenge due to limited space in ProductLocker. In order to address this space limitation, only windows.iso and linux.iso are bundled with ESXi. Other ISO images are available for download from https://support.broadcom.com and will not be shipped with ESXi in the tools-light vib. ISO images for few end of life guest operating systems are frozen.

Table 1. VMware Tools support for Guest Operating Systems
ISO Images Supported Guest Operating System Available Version
windows.iso Windows Vista SP2 and later
  • Windows OS level prerequisites
    • Windows Server 2016
    • Windows 10

    • Windows Server 2012 R2 with Microsoft update KB2919355

    • Windows 8.1 with Microsoft update KB2919355
    • Windows Server 2012
    • Windows 8
    • Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1)
    • Windows 7 SP1
    • Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 (SP2)
    • Windows Vista SP2
10.3.0
linux.iso Linux guest operating systems with glibc version 2.5 and later 10.3.0
darwin.iso MAC OS versions 10.11 and later 10.3.0
solaris.iso Solaris operating systems 10.3.0
Table 2. VMware Tools support for frozen Guest Operating Systems
ISO images Supported Guest Operating System Version of VMware Tools
winPre2k.iso Versions earlier than Windows 2000 7.7.0
netware.iso Netware operating systems 8.1.0
winPreVista.iso Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003
Note: 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.
10.0.12
linuxPreGLibc25.iso Linux guest operating systems earlier than RHEL 5, SLES 11, and other distributions with glibc version earlier than 2.5 10.0.12
darwinPre15.iso MAC OS versions earlier than 10.10.x 10.0.12