You can configure how VMware Tools is updated on a virtual machine. You can also configure whether the clock on the guest operating system is synchronized with the clock on the host.

VMware Tools Update Options

The virtual machine VMware Tools update options override the Workstation Player preferences for automatically updating VMware Tools on Linux and Windows guest operating systems.

To configure VMware Tools updates for a selected virtual machine, select Virtual Machine > Virtual Machine Settings, click the Options tab, and select VMware Tools.

Note: Automatic updates are not supported for versions of VMware Tools included in virtual machines created with older versions of VMware products, such as Workstation 5.5 and earlier or VMware Server 1.x.
Table 1. VMware Tools Update Options
Option Description
Update manually (do nothing) You must update VMware Tools manually. A message appears on the status bar of the guest operating system when a new version of VMware Tools is available.
Update automatically VMware Tools is updated automatically when a new version is available. The status bar indicates when an update is in progress.
Use application default (currently update automatically) Use the default VMware Tools update behavior.

To install a VMware Tools update, use the same procedure that you used for installing VMware Tools the first time.

Time Synchronization

If you turn on the VMware Tools time synchronization feature, VMware Tools checks once every minute to determine whether the clocks on the guest and host operating systems still match. If not, the clock on the guest operating system is synchronized to match the clock on the host.

Native time synchronization software, such as Network Time Protocol (NTP) for Linux and the Mac OS X, or Microsoft Windows Time Service (Win32Time) for Windows, is typically more accurate than VMware Tools periodic time synchronization and is therefore preferred.