Manually Install VMware Tools on macOS

You can install or upgrade VMware Tools on a macOS virtual machine using an installer assistant.

If you use VMware Fusion or ESXi on a computer with an Apple label, you can create Mac OS X Server (10.5 or later) virtual machines and install VMware Tools.

For macOS VMs, the VMware Tools contains the following two kernel extension modules that are vital for certain features when running on Fusion:

• com.vmware.kext.vmhgfs: For hgfs or shared folder support
• com.vmware.kext.VMwareGfx: For VMware video driver

Note: macOS Big Sur onwards, Apple has deprecated support for KEXT kernel extension modules. The KEXT modules are not loaded automatically when you install the VMware tools. If you want to use the features associated with the kernel extension modules, ensure that you manually allow the loading of VMware kernel extension modules when prompted with an option.

Prerequisites

• Power on the virtual machine.
• Verify that the guest operating system is running.

Procedure

1. Select the menu command to mount and open the VMware Tools virtual disc on the guest operating system.

   VMware Product	Menu Command
   vSphere Client	Right-click the virtual machine and select Guest OS > Install VMware Tools... or Guest OS > Upgrade VMware Tools... and select Interactive Tools Installation or Interactive Tools Upgrade
   Fusion	Virtual Machine > Install (or Upgrade) VMware Tools

2. On the Connect VMware Tools installer CD pop-up, click Install
3. On the VMware Tools dialog box, click Install VMware Tools.
   1. On the Welcome to the VMware Tools Installer page, click Continue.
   2. Select Standard Install on 'Macintosh HD', and then click Install.
   If this is a first-time installation on macOS Big Sur or later, a System Extension Blocked pop-up will appear for each .kext in the VMware Tools release.
4. If you do not want to load the kernel extension modules, click OK.
   Note: If you do not load the kernel extension modules, the features associated with the kernel extension modules will not work.
5. If you want to load the kernel extension modules, perform the following steps.
   1. Click Open Security Preference.
   2. Unlock the Security & Privacy user interface.
   3. For the System software from developer 'VMware, Inc.' was blocked from loading option, click Allow.
   4. For the restart prompt, click Not now.
   5. Re-lock the Security & Privacy user interface.
   6. Close the Security & Privacy window.
      The VMware Tools installation completes successfully.
6. Click Restart to reboot the system with the KEXT modules loaded.
7. Optionally, to verify that the VMware KEXT modules are loaded, log in and run the following command:

   sudo kextstat --list-only | grep -i vmware