You can perform VMware Tools upgrade for virtual machines from the GuestStore repository.

VMware provides VMware Tools content for download with each new release of VMware Tools. Starting with VMware Tools releases after 11.2.5, you can download the VMware Tools content from VMware website and extract it under the GuestStore repository path. Among all VMware Tools versions extracted in GuestStore repository, the latest version is selected by default for subsequent upgrades unless overridden by a setting in the VMware Tools configuration file.

By importing the VMware Tools content in the GuestStore repository, you can schedule an automated VMware Tools upgrade at the next reboot of the virtual machines. You can also trigger VMware Tools upgrade from GuestStore repository for particular virtual machines through vSphere UI or API.
Note: Triggering VMware Tools upgrade from GuestStore repository using VMware Tools Toolbox command line is not supported in this release.

GuestStore based VMware Tools upgrade is installed as part of VMware Tools installation. This feature generates notification to the logged-on user, if GuestStore repository has newer version of VMware Tools and if VMware Tools upgrade needs a system restart to complete the upgrade process.

There are multiple policies supported for GuestStore based VMware Tools upgrade. In tools.conf following setting can be used to configure the policy:

[guestStoreUpgrade]

policy=manual

where, "policy" can have one of the following values:

  • off
    • Disables the GuestStore based VMware Tools upgrade in the guest.
  • manual
    • This is the default policy. This policy allows vSphere administrators to trigger VMware Tools upgrade from GuestStore repository using vSphere UI or API.
    • If the virtual machine has VMware Tools upgrade policy configured to upgrade at powercycle (VMX setting tools.upgrade.policy = "upgradeAtPowerCycle"), the setting is applied when the GuestStore based VMware Tools upgrade feature is enabled. On first VMware Tools system service start after virtual machine powers on, VMware Tools system service queries the host side VMware Tools upgrade policy setting for the virtual machine. If the policy is set to upgrade at powercycle, a check for an upgrade of VMware Tools from the GuestStore repository is triggered automatically.
      Note: When GuestStore based VMware Tools upgrade is enabled, the VMware Tools bundled with VMware ESXi host is not used including the VMware Tools images added to VMware ESXi host through vSphere Update Manager (VUM).
  • powercycle
    • Triggers VMware Tools upgrade from GuestStore repository right after guest OS boots up.
    • This policy also allows vSphere administrators to trigger VMware Tools upgrade from GuestStore repository using vSphere UI or API.

By default, GuestStore based VMware Tools upgrade picks the latest version of VMware Tools from GuestStore repository. This behavior can be overridden by specifying a VMware Tools version for "vmtools-version-key" setting. This setting defaults to "vmtools" which refers to the latest VMware Tools version in the GuestStore repository.

For example, following setting restricts VMware Tools upgrades from the GuestStore repository to version 11.2.5.

vmtools-version-key=vmtools-11.2.5