For Solaris virtual machines, you manually install or upgrade VMware Tools by using the command line.

About this task

Before you upgrade VMware Tools, consider the environment that the virtual machine runs in and weigh the benefits of different upgrade strategies. For example, you can install the latest version of VMware Tools to enhance the performance of the virtual machine's guest operating system and improve virtual machine management, or you can continue using the existing version to provide more flexibility in your environment.

Prerequisites

  • Power on the virtual machine.

  • Verify that the guest operating system is running.

  • Because the VMware Tools installer is written in Perl, verify that Perl is installed in the guest operating system.

  • To determine whether you have the latest version of VMware Tools, look on the Summary tab for the virtual machine.

  • For vSphere virtual machines, determine whether you have the latest version of VMware Tools. In the vSphere Client inventory, select the virtual machine and click the Summary tab.

Procedure

  1. Mount the VMware Tools virtual disc on the guest operating system.

    VMware Product

    Action

    vSphere Client

    Inventory > Virtual Machine > Guest > Install/Upgrade VMware

    vSphere Web Client

    Right-click the virtual machine and select All vCenter Actions > Guest OS > Install/Upgrade VMware Tools.

    Fusion

    Virtual Machine > Install (or Upgrade) VMware Tools

    Workstation

    VM > Install (or Upgrade) VMware Tools

    Player

    Player > Manage > Install (or Upgrade) VMware Tools

  2. Right-click the virtual machine in the inventory and select All vCenter Actions > Guest OS > Install/Upgrade VMware Tools.
  3. If you are performing an upgrade or reinstallation, in the Install/Upgrade VMware Tools dialog box, select Interactive Tools Installation or Interactive Tools Upgrade and click OK.

    The process starts by mounting the VMware Tools virtual disc on the guest operating system.

  4. In the virtual machine, log in to the guest operating system as root and open a terminal window.
  5. If the Solaris volume manager does not mount the CD-ROM under /cdrom/vmwaretools, restart the volume manager. 
    /etc/init.d/volmgt stop
/etc/init.d/volmgt start
  6. Change to a working directory, for example, /tmp.

    cd /tmp

  7. Extract VMware Tools. 
    gunzip -c /cdrom/vmwaretools/vmware-solaris-tools.tar.gz | tar xf -
  8. Run the installer and configure VMware Tools. 
    cd vmware-tools-distrib
./vmware-install.pl

    Usually, the vmware-config-tools.pl configuration file runs after the installer file finishes running.

  9. Follow the prompts to accept the default values, if appropriate for your configuration.
  10. Follow the instructions at the end of the script.

    Depending on the features you use, these instructions can include restarting the X session, restarting networking, logging in again, and starting the VMware User process. You can alternatively reboot the guest operating system to accomplish all these tasks.

Results

The VMware Tools label on the Summary tab changes to OK.

If you are using vCenter Server, the VMware Tools label on the Summary tab changes to OK.

What to do next

If you upgraded VMware Tools as part of a larger, system-wide upgrade, next determine whether to upgrade the virtual machines in your environment. To review and compare the hardware available for different compatibility levels, see Hardware Features Available with Virtual Machine Compatibility Settings.

If you upgraded VMware Tools as part of a vSphere upgrade, next determine whether to upgrade the virtual machines in your environment. To review and compare the hardware available for different compatibility levels, see the vSphere Virtual Machine Administration documentation.