Guest operating system Windows 2000 and earlier, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, and later support VMware Tools.
For Windows 2000 and later, VMware Tools installs a virtual machine upgrade helper tool. This tool restores the network configuration if you upgrade the virtual machine compatibility from ESX/ESXi 3.5 to ESX/ESXi 4.0 and later or from Workstation 5.5 to Workstation 6.0 and later.
Prerequisites
- Power on the virtual machine.
- Verify that the guest operating system is running.
- If you connected the virtual machine’s virtual CD/DVD drive to an ISO image file when you installed the operating system, change the setting so that the virtual CD/DVD drive is configured to autodetect a physical drive.
The autodetect setting enables the virtual machine's first virtual CD/DVD drive to detect and connect to the VMware Tools ISO file for a VMware Tools installation. This ISO file is detected as a physical CD by your guest operating system. Use the virtual machine settings editor to set the CD/DVD drive to autodetect a physical drive.
- Log in as an administrator unless you are using an older Windows operating system. Any user can install VMware Tools in a Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows ME guest operating system. For operating systems later than these, you must log in as an administrator.
- The AppDefense component is not installed by default. You must perform a custom installation and include that component.
Procedure
Results
What to do next
If a new virtual hardware version is available for the virtual machine, upgrade the virtual hardware.