VMware Tools is a set of services and modules that enable several features in VMware products for better management of guests operating systems and seamless user interactions with them.
VMware Tools has the ability to:
- Pass messages from the host operating system to the guest operating system.
- Customize guest operating systems as a part of the vCenter Server and other VMware products.
- Run scripts that help automate guest operating system operations. The scripts run when the power state of the virtual machine changes.
- Synchronize the time in the guest operating system with the time on the host operating system
VMware Tools Lifecycle Management provides a simplified and scalable approach for installation and upgrade of VMware Tools. It includes a number of feature enhancements, driver-related enhancements, and support for new guest operating systems.
You must run the latest version of VMware Tools or use open-vm-tools distributed with the Linux OS distribution. Although a guest operating system can run without VMware Tools, you must always run the latest version of VMware Tools in your guest operating systems to access the latest features and updates.
You can configure your virtual machine to automatically check and apply VMware Tools upgrades each time you power on your virtual machines.
For information about enabling automatic upgrade of VMware Tools on your virtual machines, see vSphere Virtual Machine Administration Guide
Installing VMware Tools
Although you can use guest operating systems without VMware Tools, many VMware features are not available unless you install VMware Tools. VMware Tools enhances the performance of the guest operating system of your virtual machines.
Installing VMware Tools is part of the process of creating new virtual machines. It is important to upgrade VMware Tools as updates become available. For information about creating virtual machines, see the VMware Tools User Guide.
The installers for VMware Tools are ISO image files. An ISO image file looks like a CD-ROM to your guest operating system. Each type of guest operating system, including Windows, Linux, Solaris, FreeBSD, and NetWare, has an ISO image file. When you install or upgrade VMware Tools, the first virtual CD-ROM disk drive of the virtual machine temporarily connects to the VMware Tools ISO file of your guest operating system.
For information about installing or upgrading VMware Tools in Windows virtual machines, Linux virtual machines, Mac OS X virtual machines, Solaris virtual machines, NetWare virtual machines, or FreeBSD virtual machines, see the VMware Tools User Guide.
Install VMware Tools from the VMware Host Client
VMware Tools is a suite of utilities that you install in the operating system of a virtual machine. VMware Tools enhances the performance and management of the virtual machine.
Procedure
Upgrading VMware Tools
You can upgrade VMware Tools manually or you can configure virtual machines to check for newer versions of VMware Tools and install them.
The guest operating system checks the version of VMware Tools when you power on a virtual machine. The status bar of your virtual machine displays a message when a new version is available.
A newer version of Tools is available for this VM
In Windows virtual machines, you can set VMware Tools to notify you when an upgrade is available. If this notification option is enabled, the VMware Tools icon in the Windows taskbar includes a yellow caution icon when a VMware Tools upgrade is available.
To install a VMware Tools upgrade, you can use the same procedure that you used for installing VMware Tools the first time. Upgrading VMware Tools means installing a new version.
For Windows and Linux guest operating systems, you can configure the virtual machine to automatically upgrade VMware Tools. Although the version check is performed when you power on the virtual machine, in case of Windows guest operating systems, the automatic upgrade occurs when you power off or restart the virtual machine. The status bar displays the message Installing VMware Tools ... when an upgrade is in progress. The procedure is mentioned below.
Upgrading VMware Tools on Windows guest operation systems automatically installs the SVGA graphics drivers. The SVGA graphics driver allows the sleep mode available in guest OS power settings to adjust the sleep options. For example, you can use the sleep mode setting Change when the computer sleeps to configure your guest OS to automatically go to sleep mode after a certain time or prevent your guest OS from automatically switching to sleep mode after being idle for some time.
For vSphere virtual machines, you can use one of the following processes to upgrade multiple virtual machines at the same time.
You can use one of the following processes to upgrade multiple virtual machines at the same time.
- Log in to vCenter Server, select a host or cluster, and on the Virtual Machines tab specify the virtual machines on which to perform a VMware Tools upgrade.
- Use vSphere Lifecycle Manager to perform an orchestrated upgrade of virtual machines at the folder or data center level.
Some features in a particular release of a VMware product might depend on installing or upgrading to the version of VMware Tools included in that release. Upgrading to the latest version of VMware Tools is not always necessary, however, VMware highly recommends that you upgrade to the most updated version of the VMware Tools. Newer versions of VMware Tools are compatible with several ESXi host versions. To avoid unnecessary upgrades, evaluate whether the added features and capabilities are necessary for your environment. See Hardware Features Available with Virtual Machine Compatibility Settings. However, VMware highly recommends installing and using the latest version of VMware Tools.
Some features in a particular release of a VMware product might depend on installing or upgrading to the version of VMware Tools included in that release. Upgrading to the latest version of VMware Tools is not always necessary. Newer versions of VMware Tools are compatible with several host versions. To avoid unnecessary upgrades, evaluate whether the added features and capabilities are necessary for your environment.
| Compatibility | Description |
|---|---|
| ESXi 8.0 Update 3 | This virtual machine (hardware version 21) is compatible with ESXi 8.0 Update 3 and later. |
| ESXi 8.0 Update 2 | This virtual machine (hardware version 21) is compatible with ESXi 8.0 Update 2 and later. |
| ESXi 8.0 Update 1 | This virtual machine (hardware version 20) is compatible with ESXi 8.0 Update 1, ESXi 8.0 Update 2, and ESXi 8.0 Update 3. |
| ESXi 8.0 | This virtual machine (hardware version 20) is compatible with ESXi 8.0, ESXi 8.0 Update 1, ESXi 8.0 Update 2, and ESXi 8.0 Update 3. |
| ESXi 7.0 Update 3 | This virtual machine (hardware version 19) is compatible with ESXi 7.0 Update 3, ESXi 8.0, ESXi 8.0 Update 1, ESXi 8.0 Update 2, and ESXi 8.0 Update 3. |
| ESXi 7.0 Update 2 | This virtual machine (hardware version 19) is compatible with ESXi 7.0 Update 2, ESXi 7.0 Update 3, ESXi 8.0, ESXi 8.0 Update 1, ESXi 8.0 Update 2, and ESXi 8.0 Update 3. |
| ESXi 7.0 Update 1 and later | This virtual machine (hardware version 18) is compatible with ESXi 7.0 Update 1, ESXi 7.0 Update 2, ESXi 7.0 Update 3, ESXi 8.0, ESXi 8.0 Update 1, ESXi 8.0 Update 2, and ESXi 8.0 Update 3. |
| ESXi 7.0 | This virtual machine (hardware version 17) is compatible with ESXi 7.0, ESXi 7.0 Update 1, ESXi 7.0 Update 2, ESXi 7.0 Update 3, ESXi 8.0, ESXi 8.0 Update 1, ESXi 8.0 Update 2, and ESXi 8.0 Update 3. |
| ESXi 6.7 Update 2 | This virtual machine (hardware version 15) is compatible with ESXi 6.7 Update 2, ESXi 6.7 Update 3, ESXi 7.0, ESXi 7.0 Update 1, ESXi 7.0 Update 2, ESXi 7.0 Update 3, ESXi 8.0, ESXi 8.0 Update 1, ESXi 8.0 Update 2, and ESXi 8.0 Update 3. |
| ESXi 6.7 | This virtual machine (hardware version 14) is compatible with ESXi 6.7, ESXi 6.7 Update 2, ESXi 6.7 Update 3, ESXi 7.0, ESXi 7.0 Update 1, ESXi 7.0 Update 2, ESXi 7.0 Update 3, ESXi 8.0, ESXi 8.0 Update 1, ESXi 8.0 Update 2, and ESXi 8.0 Update 3. |
| ESXi 6.5 | This virtual machine (hardware version 13) is compatible with ESXi 6.5, ESXi 6.7, ESXi 6.7 Update 2, ESXi 6.7 Update 3, ESXi 7.0, ESXi 7.0 Update 1, ESXi 7.0 Update 2, ESXi 7.0 Update 3, ESXi 8.0, ESXi 8.0 Update 1, ESXi 8.0 Update 2, and ESXi 8.0 Update 3. |
For more information, see the VMware Compatibility Guide at http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility.
Upgrade VMware Tools in the VMware Host Client
You can upgrade VMware Tools on a virtual machine by using the VMware Host Client.
Prerequisites
Power on the virtual machine.
Procedure
- Click Virtual Machines in the VMware Host Client inventory.
- Select a virtual machine from the list.
- Click Actions, select Guest OS from the drop-down menu, and select Upgrade VMware Tools.
