VMware Tools Installation Manual

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Installing and Configuring VMware

Tools

VMware Fusion

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This document supports the version of each product listed and supports all subsequent versions until the document is replaced by a new edition. To check for more recent editions of this document, see http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs.

EN-000478-00

Installing and Configuring VMware Tools

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2 VMware, Inc.

About Installing and Configuring VMware Tools 5

Components of VMware Tools 7

VMware Tools Service 7

VMware Tools Device Drivers 8

VMware User Process 9

Installing and Upgrading VMware Tools 11

Installing VMware Tools 11

Upgrading VMware Tools 12

Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a Windows Virtual Machine 13

Automate the Installation of VMware Tools in a Windows Virtual Machine 14

Names of VMware Tools Components Used in Silent Installations 15

Suppress Prompts About Unsigned Drivers on Pre-Windows Vista Operating Systems 17

Add VMware as a Trusted Publisher to Suppress Driver Prompts 17

Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a Linux Virtual Machine 18

Operating System Specific Packages for Linux Guest Operating Systems 20

Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a Solaris Virtual Machine 20

Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a FreeBSD Virtual Machine 22

Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a NetWare Virtual Machine 23

Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a Mac OS X Virtual Machine 24

Repairing, Changing, and Uninstalling VMware Tools Components 25

Repair or Change Modules in Windows Virtual Machines 25

Uninstall VMware Tools 26

Start the VMware User Process Manually If You Do Not Use a Session Manager 27

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Using the VMware Tools Configuration Utility 29

Configure Time Synchronization Between Guest and Host Operating Systems 30

Disable Time Synchronization Completely 31

Connect or Disconnect a Virtual Device 32

Shrink a Virtual Disk 33

Use Custom VMware Tools Scripts 34

Default VMware Tools Scripts 36

Disable a VMware Tools Script 37

Execute Commands During Power Off or Reset of a Virtual Machine 38

Retrieve Status Information About the Virtual Machine 38

Subcommands for the stat Command 39

Exit Codes 39

Installing and Configuring VMware Tools

Using Other Methods to Configure VMware Tools 41

Configuring VMware Tools from Within VMware Products 41

Using vmwtool to Configure VMware Tools in a NetWare Virtual Machine 42

Security Considerations for Configuring VMware Tools 43

Index 47

4 VMware, Inc.

About Installing and Configuring VMware Tools

Installing and Configuring VMware Tools provides information about using the various VMware® products to install, upgrade, and configure VMware Tools.

VMware Tools is a suite of utilities that you install in the operating system of a virtual machine. VMware Tools enhances the performance of a virtual machine and makes possible many of the ease-of-use features in VMware products. For example, the following features are just some of the features that are available only if VMware Tools is installed:

Significantly faster graphics performance and Windows Aero on operating systems that support Aero

Copying and pasting text, graphics, and files between the virtual machine and the host or client desktop

Improved mouse performance

Synchronization of the clock in the virtual machine with the clock on the host or client desktop

Scripting that helps automate guest operating system operations

Not all features are supported on all guest operating systems or in all VMware products.

Intended Audience

This information is intended for anyone who wants to install, upgrade, or configure VMware Tools in a virtual machine. The information in this book is written for experienced Windows or Linux system administrators who are familiar with virtual machine technology and datacenter operations.

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Installing and Configuring VMware Tools

6 VMware, Inc.

Components of VMware Tools 1

VMware Tools is a suite of utilities that enhances the performance of a virtual machine. Although a guest operating system can run without VMware Tools, many VMware features are not available until you install VMware Tools.

NOTE The graphical user interface for VMware Tools, which is sometimes called the VMware Tools control panel and which is available from the notification area in the guest operating system, has been deprecated and will be removed from the product in a future release. The preferred method of configuring VMware Tools is to use the settings available from within your VMware product or to use the command-line VMware Tools configuration utility.

This chapter includes the following topics:

“VMware Tools Service,” on page 7

“VMware Tools Device Drivers,” on page 8

“VMware User Process,” on page 9

VMware Tools Service

The VMware Tools service starts when the guest operating system boots. The service passes information between host and guest operating systems.

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This program, which runs in the background, is called vmtoolsd.exe in Windows guest operating systems,

vmware-tools-daemon in Mac OS X guest operating systems, and vmtoolsd in Linux, FreeBSD, and Solaris guest

operating systems. The VMware Tools service performs the following tasks:

Passes messages from the host to the guest operating system, except in Mac OS X guest operating systems.

Runs scripts that help automate guest operating system operations. The scripts run when the power state of the virtual machine changes.

Synchronizes the time in the guest operating system with the time on the host, except in Mac OS X guest operating systems.

In Windows guest operating systems, allows the pointer to move freely between the guest and the vSphere client or the Workstation, Fusion, or Player host operating system.

In Windows and Mac OS X guest operating systems, fits the screen display resolution of the guest to the screen resolution of the vSphere client or the Workstation, Fusion, or Player host, if running in full screen mode. If running in windowed mode, fits the screen resolution of the guest to the size of the window on the client or host.

In Windows guest operating systems, helps create the quiesced snapshots used by certain backup applications. This feature applies to vSphere and VMware Server.

Installing and Configuring VMware Tools

In Linux, Solaris, and FreeBSD guest operating systems, executes commands in the virtual machine when you shut down or restart the guest operating system.

Is one of the processes that sends a heartbeat to the VMware product to indicate that the guest operating system is running. When the virtual machine runs under vSphere or VMware Server, a gauge for this heartbeat appears in the management interface.

Provides support for guest operating system-bound calls created with the VMware VIX API, except in Mac OS X guest operating systems.

VMware Tools Device Drivers

Device drivers smooth mouse operations, make VMware features such as folder sharing available, and improve sound, graphics, and networking performance. If you do a custom VMware Tools installation or reinstallation, you can choose which drivers to install.

Which drivers are installed when you install VMware Tools also depends on the guest operating system and the VMware product. The following device drivers can be included with VMware Tools:

SVGA driver

SCSI driver

Paravirtual SCSI driver

VMXNet NIC drivers

This virtual driver enables 32-bit displays, high display resolution, and significantly faster graphics performance. When you install VMware Tools, a virtual SVGA driver replaces the default VGA driver, which allows for only 640 X 480 resolution and 16-color graphics.

On Windows guest operating systems whose operating system is Windows Vista or later, the VMware SVGA 3D (Microsoft - WDDM) driver is installed. This driver provides the same base functionality as the SVGA driver, and it adds Windows Aero support.

When you create a virtual machine, if you specify that you want the virtual machine to use a BusLogic adapter, the guest operating system uses the SCSI driver that VMware Tools provides. Some recent guest operating systems, however, contain LSI Logic Parallel or LSI Logic SAS drivers. For example, Windows Server 2008 defaults to LSI Logic SAS, which provides the best performance for that operating system. In this case, the LSI Logic SAS driver provided by the operating system is used.

This driver is for PVSCSI adapters, which enhance the performance of some virtualized applications.

The vmxnet and vmxnet3 networking drivers improve network performance. Which driver is used depends on how you configure device settings for the virtual machine. Search the VMware Knowledge Base for information on which guest operating systems support these drivers.

When you install VMware Tools, a VMXNet NIC driver replaces the default

vlance driver.

Mouse driver

The virtual mouse driver improves mouse performance. This driver is required if you use some third-party tools such as Microsoft Terminal Services.

Audio driver

This sound driver is required for all 64-bit Windows guest operating systems and 32-bit Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, and Windows Vista guest operating systems if you use the virtual machine with VMware Server, Workstation, or Fusion.

Kernel module for sharing folders

The host-guest file system module, called hgfs.sys on Windows guest operating systems and vmhgfs on Linux and Solaris, is required to use the virtual machine with Workstation or Fusion and share folders between hosts and guests.

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Chapter 1 Components of VMware Tools

ThinPrint driver

Memory control driver

Modules and drivers that support making automatic backups

VMCI and VMCI Sockets drivers

VMware User Process

With the VMware user process, you can use such features as copy and paste, drag and drop, and Unity with VMware products that support these features.

This driver enables the virtual printing feature on Microsoft Windows virtual machines. With virtual printing, printers added to the operating system on the client or host appear in the list of available printers in the guest operating system. No additional printer drivers must be installed in the virtual machine.

This driver is available and recommended if you use VMware vSphere. Excluding this driver hinders the memory management capabilities of the virtual machine in a vSphere deployment.

If the guest operating system is Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003, or other newer Windows operating systems, a Volume Shadow Copy Services (VSS) module is installed. For other, older Windows operating systems, the Filesystem Sync driver is installed. These modules enable backup applications to create application-consistent snapshots. During the snapshotting process, certain processes are paused and virtual machine disks are quiesced.

The Virtual Machine Communication Interface driver allows fast and efficient communication between virtual machines. Developers can write client-server applications to the VMCI Sock (vsock) interface to make use of the VMCI virtual device.

On Linux guest operating systems, this process starts when you begin an X11 session. On Windows guest operating systems, it starts when you log in to the desktop. On either system, you can start it manually.

The program file for this process is called vmtoolsd.exe on Windows guest operating systems and vmware-

user on Linux, Solaris, and FreeBSD guest operating systems. This process supports the following tasks:

Allows you to copy and paste text between guest operating system and the vSphere client or the Workstation, Fusion, or Player host operating system. For virtual machines that are used with Workstation or Fusion, you can copy and paste files between the host operating system and Windows, Linux, Solaris, and FreeBSD guest operating systems.

On Linux, Solaris, and FreeBSD guest operating systems, grabs and releases the pointer when the SVGA driver is not installed.

On Linux, Solaris, and FreeBSD guest operating systems, fits the screen display resolution of the guest to the screen resolution of the vSphere client or the Workstation, Fusion, or Player host operating system, if running in full screen mode. If running in windowed mode, fits the screen resolution of the guest to the size of the window on the client or host.

For virtual machines used with Workstation or Fusion, allows you to drag files between the host operating system and Windows, Linux, Solaris, and FreeBSD guest operating systems.

For VMware products that support the Unity feature, allows you to open an application window in a Windows or Linux guest operating system, enter Unity mode, and have that window appear on your Workstation, Fusion, or Player host desktop like any other host application window.

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Installing and Configuring VMware Tools

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Installing and Upgrading VMware

Tools 2

Installing VMware Tools is part of the process of creating a new virtual machine, and upgrading VMware Tools is part of the process of keeping your virtual machine up to current standards.

For best performance and the latest updates, install or upgrade VMware Tools to the VMware Tools version that is included with the VMware product you are using. Other compatibility options are also available.

The version of VMware Tools included in vSphere 5.0 is supported on vSphere 4.x and 5.0 virtual machines. That is, you can also use this new version of VMware Tools in virtual machines on ESX/ESXi

4.x hosts.

Virtual machines in a vSphere 5.0 environment support the versions of VMware Tools included in vSphere

4.0-5.0. That is, you are not strictly required to upgrade VMware Tools if VMware Tools was installed from an ESX/ESXi 4.x host.

This chapter includes the following topics:

“Installing VMware Tools,” on page 11

“Upgrading VMware Tools,” on page 12

“Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a Windows Virtual Machine,” on page 13

“Automate the Installation of VMware Tools in a Windows Virtual Machine,” on page 14

“Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a Linux Virtual Machine,” on page 18

“Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a Solaris Virtual Machine,” on page 20

“Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a FreeBSD Virtual Machine,” on page 22

“Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a NetWare Virtual Machine,” on page 23

“Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a Mac OS X Virtual Machine,” on page 24

Installing VMware Tools

VMware Tools is a suite of utilities that enhances the performance of the virtual machine’s guest operating system and improves management of the virtual machine.

Although the guest operating system can run without VMware Tools, many VMware features are not available until you install VMware Tools. For example, if you do not have VMware Tools installed in your virtual machine, you cannot use the shutdown or restart options from the toolbar. You can use only the power options.

If you are using VMware Fusion, Player, or Workstation, you can use the Windows Easy Install or Linux Easy Install feature to install VMware Tools as soon as the operating system is finished installing.

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Installing and Configuring VMware Tools

The installers for VMware Tools are ISO image files. An ISO image file looks like a CD-ROM to your guest operating system. There is an ISO image file for each type of guest operating system, including Windows, Linux, Solaris, FreeBSD, and NetWare. When you select the command to install or upgrade VMware Tools, the virtual machine’s first virtual CD-ROM disk drive temporarily connects to the VMware Tools ISO file for your guest operating system.

If you are using VMware Fusion, Player, or Workstation, the most recent versions of the ISO files are stored on a VMware Web site. When you select the command to install or upgrade VMware Tools, the VMware product determines whether it has downloaded the most recent version of the ISO file for the specific operating system. If the latest version has not been downloaded or if no VMware Tools ISO file for that operating system has ever been downloaded, you are prompted to download the file.

The installation procedure varies, depending on the operating system.

Upgrading VMware Tools

You can upgrade VMware Tools manually, or you can configure virtual machines to check for and install newer versions of VMware Tools.

The guest operating system checks the version of VMware Tools when you power on a virtual machine. The status bar of the virtual machine displays a message when a new version is available.

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, on 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.

IMPORTANT When you upgrade VMware Tools on Linux guest operating systems, new network modules are available but are not used until you either reboot the guest operating system or stop networking, unload and re-load the VMware networking kernel modules, and then restart networking. This behavior means that even if VMware Tools is set to automatically upgrade, you must reboot or re-load network modules to make new features available.

This strategy avoids network interruptions and allows you to work with VMware Tools over SSH.

For vSphere virtual machines, you have options for upgrading many virtual machines at the same time.

Log in to vCenter Server, select a host or cluster, and use the Virtual Machines tab to specify the virtual machines on which to perform a VMware Tools upgrade.

Use Update Manager to perform an orchestrated upgrade of virtual machines at the folder or datacenter level.

The version of VMware Tools included in vSphere 5.0 is supported on vSphere 4.x and 5.0 virtual machines. That is, you can also use this new version of VMware Tools in virtual machines on ESX/ESXi

4.x hosts.

Virtual machines in a vSphere 5.0 environment support the versions of VMware Tools included in vSphere

4.0-5.0. That is, you are not strictly required to upgrade VMware Tools if VMware Tools was installed from an ESX/ESXi 4.x host.

For more information, see the documentation for your specific VMware product.

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Chapter 2 Installing and Upgrading VMware Tools

Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a Windows Virtual Machine

All supported Windows guest operating systems support VMware Tools.

Install the latest version of VMware Tools to enhance the performance of the virtual machine's guest operating system and improve virtual machine management. When you power on a virtual machine, if a new version of VMware Tools is available, you see a notification in the status bar of the guest operating system.

For Windows 2000 and later, VMware Tools installs a virtual machine upgrade helper tool. This tool restores the network configuration if you upgrade from virtual hardware version 4 to version 7 or higher.

Prerequisites

Power on the virtual machine.

Verify that the guest operating system is running.

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

For VMware Player, Fusion, and Workstation virtual machines, 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 looks like a physical CD to your guest operating system. Use the virtual machine settings editor to set the CD/DVD drive to autodetect a physical drive.

If the guest operating system is a Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, or Windows 7 operating system, log in as an administrator. Any user can install VMware Tools in a Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows Me guest operating system.

Procedure

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

VMware Product Menu Command

vSphere Client

vSphere Web Client

Fusion

Workstation

Player

Inventory > Virtual Machine > Guest > Install/Upgrade VMware Tools

All Actions icon > Configuration > Install/Upgrade VMware Tools

Virtual Machine > Install (or Upgrade) VMware Tools

VM > Manage > Install (or Upgrade) VMware Tools

Virtual Machine > Install (or Upgrade) VMware Tools

2 If you are using vCenter Server and 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.

3 If you are installing VMware Tools for the first time, click OK in the Install VMware Tools information

screen.

If autorun is enabled for the CD-ROM drive in the guest operating system, the VMware Tools installation wizard appears.

4 If autorun is not enabled, to manually launch the wizard, click Start > Run and enter D:\setup.exe, where

D: is your first virtual CD-ROM drive.

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Installing and Configuring VMware Tools

5 Follow the on-screen instructions.

If you use vSphere, to install nondefault components, select the Custom setup.

6 If the New Hardware wizard appears, go through the wizard and accept the defaults.

7 If you are installing a beta or RC version of VMware Tools and you see a warning that a package or driver

is not signed, click Install Anyway to complete the installation.

8 When prompted, reboot the virtual machine.

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

What to do next

(Recommended) If you upgraded VMware Tools as part of a vSphere upgrade, next upgrade to the newest virtual hardware version available for the virtual machine.

Automate the Installation of VMware Tools in a Windows Virtual Machine

If you are installing VMware Tools in a number of Windows virtual machines, you can automate its installation.

The strategy you use to automate the installation of VMware Tools depends on the VMware product you are using.

If you are using VMware Player or Workstation, you can use the VMware Tools setup.exe at a command prompt in the guest operating system.

If you are using vCenter Server, you can use the Virtual Machines tab for a host or cluster and select the virtual machines on which to install or upgrade VMware Tools.

Regardless of which strategy you use, you can specify options for the components you want to include or exclude.

Prerequisites

Power on the virtual machine.

If you plan to use setup.exe at the command line to run the VMware Tools installation, edit the virtual machine settings to connect the virtual CD/DVD drive to the VMware Tools ISO image. In VMware Workstation and Player, the windows.iso file is on the host in the directory where you installed Workstation or Player.

If you want to use MSI arguments to specify options regarding the silent installation, go to the Windows Installer page on the MSDN Web site to familiarize yourself with the syntax. You can use these arguments with the setup.exe command or place them in the vCenter Server dialog box for automatic installations and upgrades.

If you want to prevent some VMware Tools components from being installed, familiarize yourself with the VMware Tools component names so that you can specify which components to exclude. See “Names

of VMware Tools Components Used in Silent Installations,” on page 15.

If you are installing VMware Tools from a beta or release candidate of a VMware product, suppress prompts about unsigned drivers. See “Suppress Prompts About Unsigned Drivers on Pre-Windows Vista

Operating Systems,” on page 17 and “Add VMware as a Trusted Publisher to Suppress Driver Prompts,” on page 17.

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Chapter 2 Installing and Upgrading VMware Tools

Procedure

If you use VMware Workstation or Player, use the setup.exe command.

a Open a command prompt in the guest operating system and change directories to the virtual CD/DVD

drive.

b Enter the setup.exe command with any MSI arguments.

setup.exe /S /v "/qn

msi_args

To exclude some of the VMware Tools components, use the ADDLOCAL and REMOVE options.

setup.exe /S /v "/qn

msi_args

ADDLOCAL=ALL REMOVE=

component

For example, the following command performs a silent installation and suppresses rebooting when installation is complete. This command also installs all components except the shared folders component.

setup.exe /S /v "/qn REBOOT=R ADDLOCAL=ALL REMOVE=Hgfs"

The next example shows the same command, but with logging added.

setup.exe /S /v "/qn /l*v ""%TEMP%\vmmsi.log"" REBOOT=R ADDLOCAL=ALL REMOVE=Hgfs"

If you use vCenter Server, use the Virtual Machines tab to select multiple virtual machines.

a In the Inventory > Hosts and Clusters view, select the host, cluster, or datacenter and click the Virtual

Machines tab.

b Control-click or Shift-click to select the virtual machines.

c Right-click and select Guest > Install/Upgrade VMware Tools.

d Complete the dialog box.

To specify any MSI arguments or to specify which VMware Tools components to exclude, add the same arguments and options that you would for the setup.exe program in the Advanced text box.

Names of VMware Tools Components Used in Silent Installations

In Windows virtual machines, when running an automatic installation or running an installation of VMware Tools using the command line, you can specify which VMware Tools components to install.

Because VMware Tools contains so many components, if you do not want to install particular components, you specify which ones to exclude rather than which ones to include. The syntax is ADDLOCAL=ALL

REMOVE=

Not all components are installed on all operating systems.

component

. The valid values for VMware Tools components are listed in the following table.

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Installing and Configuring VMware Tools

Table 2-1. VMware Tools Component Values

Valid Component Values Description

Drivers

Audio

BootCamp

Buslogic

Debug

LSI

MemCtl

Mouse

PVSCSI

SVGA

Sync

ThinPrint

VMCI

Hgfs

VMXNet

VMXNet3

VSS

Audio driver for 64-bit operating systems and Windows Vista and later systems.

Driver for Mac BootCamp support.

VMware BusLogic driver. If your virtual machine is configured to use the LSI driver, you might want to remove this feature.

Driver for the VMware record/replay feature.

PCI Fusion-MPT Miniport driver for Windows XP systems.

VMware memory control driver. Use this driver if you plan to use this virtual machine in a vSphere environment. Excluding this feature hinders the memory management capabilities of the virtual machine running in a vSphere environment.

VMware mouse driver. Excluding this feature decreases mouse performance in your virtual machine.

Driver for PVSCSI adapters, which enhance the performance of some virtualized applications.

VMware SVGA driver. Excluding this feature limits the display capabilities of your virtual machine.

Filesystem Sync driver, which enables backup applications to create application-consistent snapshots. This driver ensures that no I/O is written during snapshot creation. This driver is used if the guest operating system is earlier than Windows Server 2003. For newer operating systems, the VSS driver is used instead.

Driver that enables printers added to the host operating system to appear in the list of available printers in the virtual machine. This virtual printing feature does not require any additional printer drivers to be installed in the virtual machine.

Virtual Machine Communication Interface driver. This driver allows virtual machines to communicate with each other without using the network. Developers can write client-server applications to the VMCI Sock (vsock) interface to make use of the VMCI virtual device.

VMware shared folders driver. Use this driver if you plan to use this virtual machine with VMware Workstation, Player, or Fusion. Excluding this feature prevents you from sharing a folder between your virtual machine and the host system.

VMware VMXnet networking driver.

Next-generation VMware VMXnet networking driver for virtual machines that use virtual hardware version 7 and higher. For more information, see the VMware Knowledge Base article 1001805.

Driver for creating automatic backups. This driver is used if the guest operating system is Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003, or other newer operating system. For older operating systems, the Filesystem Sync driver is used instead.

Toolbox

Unity

Component to support the Unity feature, which allows you to open an application window in a virtual machine, enter Unity mode, and have that window appear on your host desktop like any other host application window.

PerfMon

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Driver for WMI performance logging.

Chapter 2 Installing and Upgrading VMware Tools

IMPORTANT One way to determine the component values to use is to run the interactive VMware Tools installer with full logging turned on, select the components that you want installed, and then search the log files for the ADDLOCAL and REMOVE properties. The log files show the names used by the program. The following command runs the interactive installer with full logging turned on:

Setup.exe /s /v"/qn /l*v ""%TEMP%\vmmsi.log"""

Suppress Prompts About Unsigned Drivers on Pre-Windows Vista Operating Systems

If you are installing a beta or RC version of VMware Tools in a Windows Server 2003 or earlier guest operating system, you can use a computer properties setting to suppress prompts that interfere with automatic installation of VMware Tools.

The version of VMware Tools included in a beta or release candidate version of a VMware product usually has some drivers that are signed only by VMware. If you are installing one of these versions in many virtual machines that run Windows Server 2003 or earlier guest operating systems, or if you plan to install VMware Tools from the command line, you can suppress prompts about unsigned drivers. If you do not suppress the prompts, during a VMware Tools installation, a message box appears several times and requires you to click Continue Anyway to complete the installation.

Prerequisites

Power on the virtual machine.

Procedure

1 In the Windows Server 2003 or earlier guest operating system, in the Start menu, right-click My

Computer and select Properties.

2 In the System Properties dialog box, click the Hardware tab and click Driver Signing.

3 In the Driver Signing Options dialog box, click Ignore and click OK.

4 Click OK in the System Properties dialog box.

When you run the VMware Tools installer, no prompts appear in the guest operating system.

What to do next

Install VMware Tools. See “Automate the Installation of VMware Tools in a Windows Virtual Machine,” on page 14.

Add VMware as a Trusted Publisher to Suppress Driver Prompts

If you are installing a beta or RC version of VMware Tools in a Windows Vista or later guest operating system, you can add a VMware certificate to suppress prompts that interfere with automatic installation of VMware Tools.

The version of VMware Tools included in a beta or release candidate version of a VMware product usually has some drivers that are signed only by VMware. If you are installing one of these versions in many virtual machines that run Windows Vista or later guest operating systems, or if you plan to install VMware Tools from the command line, add a VMware security certificate to the trusted publishers group. If you do not add the VMware certificate, during a VMware Tools installation, a message box appears several times and prompts you to install device software from VMware.

Prerequisites

Power on the virtual machine.

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Installing and Configuring VMware Tools

Procedure

1 Use the certificate export wizard to create a VMware certificate file.

a Locate a signed VMware file, such as a VMware .exe or .sys file.

b Right-click the file and select Properties.

c Click the Digital Signatures tab and select View Certificate.

d Click the Details tab and click Copy to File.

e Complete the instructions in the export wizard and name the exported certificate vmware.cer.

2 Copy the exported VMware certificate to the guest operating system on which you plan to install VMware

Tools.

3 Obtain a copy of the certmgr.exe application and copy it to the guest operating system on which you plan

to install VMware Tools.

The certmgr.exe application is included in the Windows SDK.

4 In the guest operating system, run the certmgr.exe command to add the VMware certificate to the trusted

publishers group.

certmgr.exe -add vmware.cer -c -s -r localMachine TrustedPublisher

When you run the VMware Tools installer, no prompts appear in the guest operating system.

What to do next

Install VMware Tools. See “Automate the Installation of VMware Tools in a Windows Virtual Machine,” on page 14.

Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a Linux Virtual Machine

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

NOTE This procedure describes how to use the VMware Tools tar installer to install or upgrade VMware Tools. For virtual machines in a vSphere environment, you can alternatively use VMware Tools operating system specific packages (OSPs) to install and upgrade VMware Tools. With OSPs you can use the native update mechanisms of your operating system to download, install, and manage VMware Tools. For more information, see “Operating System Specific Packages for Linux Guest Operating Systems,” on page 20.

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.

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

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Chapter 2 Installing and Upgrading VMware Tools

Procedure

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

VMware Product Menu Command

vSphere Client

vSphere Web Client

Fusion

Workstation

Player

Inventory > Virtual Machine > Guest > Install/Upgrade VMware Tools

All Actions icon > Configuration > Install/Upgrade VMware Tools

Virtual Machine > Install (or Upgrade) VMware Tools

VM > Manage > Install (or Upgrade) VMware Tools

Virtual Machine > Install (or Upgrade) VMware Tools

2 In the virtual machine, log in to the guest operating system as root and open a terminal window.

3 Run the mount command with no arguments to determine whether your Linux distribution automatically

mounted the VMware Tools virtual CD-ROM image.

If the CD-ROM device is mounted, the CD-ROM device and its mount point are listed as something like this:

/dev/cdrom on /mnt/cdrom type iso9660 (ro,nosuid,nodev)

4 If the VMware Tools virtual CD-ROM image is not mounted, mount the CD-ROM drive.

a If a mount point directory does not already exist, create it.

mkdir /mnt/cdrom

Some Linux distributions use different mount point names. For example, on some distributions the mount point is /media/VMware Tools rather than /mnt/cdrom. Modify the command to reflect the conventions that your distribution uses.

b Mount the CD-ROM drive.

mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom

Some Linux distributions use different device names or organize the /dev directory differently. If your CD-ROM drive is not /dev/cdrom or if the mount point for a CD-ROM is not /mnt/cdrom, modify the command to reflect the conventions that your distribution uses.

5 Change to a working directory (for example, /tmp).

cd /tmp

6 Delete any previous vmware-tools-distrib directory before you install VMware Tools.

The location of this directory depends on where you placed it during the previous installation. Often this directory is placed in /tmp/vmware-tools-distrib.

7 List the contents of the mount point directory and note the filename of the VMware Tools tar installer.

mount-point

8 Uncompress the installer.

tar zxpf /mnt/cdrom/VMwareTools-

x.x.x-yyyy

.tar.gz

The value x.x.x is the product version number, and yyyy is the build number of the product release.

If you attempt to install a tar installation over an RPM installation, or the reverse, the installer detects the previous installation and must convert the installer database format before continuing.

9 If necessary, unmount the CD-ROM image.

umount /dev/cdrom

If your Linux distribution automatically mounted the CD-ROM, you do not need to unmount the image.

VMware, Inc. 19

Installing and Configuring VMware Tools

10 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.

11 Respond to the prompts by pressing Enter to accept the default values, if appropriate for your

configuration.

12 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.

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

What to do next

(Recommended) If you upgraded VMware Tools as part of a vSphere upgrade, next upgrade to the newest virtual hardware version available for the virtual machine.

Operating System Specific Packages for Linux Guest Operating Systems

For vSphere deployments, VMware provides operating system specific packages (OSPs) as a packaging and distribution mechanism for VMware Tools. These VMware Tools OSPs are packaged using native package formats and standards such as rpm and deb.

Using OSPs provides the following benefits:

You can use the native update mechanisms of the guest operating system to download, install, and manage VMware Tools.

You can upgrade to the latest version of VMware Tools without having to upgrade to the latest version of vSphere.

Because VMware Tools OSPs follow the best practices and standards of the specific Linux operating system, OSPs use standard mechanisms for determining dependencies among packages. These mechanisms allow you to audit the packages on virtual machines with or without graphics components.

You can use standard operating system tools to examine OSPs during VMware Tools installation. This process allows you to easily determine which components to install and to verify the validity of the packaging.

IMPORTANT Use OSPs if you want to use native update mechanisms, rather than vCenter Server, to manage updates for VMware Tools. If you use an OSP, the VMware Tools status is unmanaged on the virtual machine Summary tab. The status unmanaged means that you cannot use vCenter Server to manage VMware Tools and you cannot use vSphere Update Manager to upgrade VMware Tools.

For more information, go to the VMware Operating System Specific Packages Web site, at

http://www.vmware.com/download/packages.html.

Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a Solaris Virtual Machine

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

20 VMware, Inc.

Chapter 2 Installing and Upgrading VMware Tools

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.

For vSphere virtual machines, to 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 Select the menu command to mount the VMware Tools virtual disc on the guest operating system.

VMware Product Menu Command

vSphere Client

vSphere Web Client

Fusion

Workstation

Player

Inventory > Virtual Machine > Guest > Install/Upgrade VMware Tools

All Actions icon > Configuration > Install/Upgrade VMware Tools

Virtual Machine > Install (or Upgrade) VMware Tools

VM > Manage > Install (or Upgrade) VMware Tools

Virtual Machine > Install (or Upgrade) VMware Tools

2 In the virtual machine, log in to the guest operating system as root and open a terminal window.

3 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

4 Change to a working directory (for example, /tmp).

cd /tmp

5 Extract VMware Tools.

gunzip -c /cdrom/vmwaretools/vmware-solaris-tools.tar.gz | tar xf -

6 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.

7 Respond to the prompts by pressing Enter to accept the default values, if appropriate for your

configuration.

8 Follow the instructions at the end of the script.

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

What to do next

(Recommended) If you upgraded VMware Tools as part of a vSphere upgrade, next upgrade to the newest virtual hardware version available for the virtual machine.

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Installing and Configuring VMware Tools

Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a FreeBSD Virtual Machine

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

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.

For vSphere virtual machines, to 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 Select the menu command to mount the VMware Tools virtual disc on the guest operating system.

VMware Product Menu Command

vSphere Client

vSphere Web Client

Fusion

Workstation

Player

Inventory > Virtual Machine > Guest > Install/Upgrade VMware Tools

All Actions icon > Configuration > Install/Upgrade VMware Tools

Virtual Machine > Install (or Upgrade) VMware Tools

VM > Manage > Install (or Upgrade) VMware Tools

Virtual Machine > Install (or Upgrade) VMware Tools

2 In the virtual machine, log in to the guest operating system as root and open a terminal window.

3 If the distribution does not automatically mount CD-ROMs, mount the VMware Tools virtual CD-ROM

image.

For example, type mount /cdrom.

4 Change to a working directory (for example, /tmp).

cd /tmp

5 Untar the VMware Tools tar file.

tar zxpf /cdrom/vmware-freebsd-tools.tar.gz

6 If the distribution does not use automounting, unmount the VMware Tools virtual CD-ROM image.

umount /cdrom

7 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.

8 Respond to the prompts by pressing Enter to accept the default values, if appropriate for your

configuration.

22 VMware, Inc.

Chapter 2 Installing and Upgrading VMware Tools

9 Follow the instructions at the end of the script.

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

What to do next

(Recommended) If you upgraded VMware Tools as part of a vSphere upgrade, next upgrade to the newest virtual hardware version available for the virtual machine.

Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a NetWare Virtual Machine

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

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.

For vSphere virtual machines, to 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 Select the menu command to mount the VMware Tools virtual disc on the guest operating system.

VMware Product Menu Command

vSphere Client

vSphere Web Client

Fusion

Workstation

Player

Inventory > Virtual Machine > Guest > Install/Upgrade VMware Tools

All Actions icon > Configuration > Install/Upgrade VMware Tools

Virtual Machine > Install (or Upgrade) VMware Tools

VM > Manage > Install (or Upgrade) VMware Tools

Virtual Machine > Install (or Upgrade) VMware Tools

2 Load the CD-ROM driver so that the virtual CD-ROM device mounts the ISO image as a volume.

Operating System Command

NetWare 6.5

NetWare 6.0 or NetWare 5.1

NetWare 4.2 (not available in vSphere)

LOAD CDDVD

LOAD CD9660.NSS

load cdrom

When the installation finishes, the message VMware Tools for NetWare are now running appears in the Logger Screen for NetWare 6.5 and NetWare 6.0 guest operating systems and in the Console Screen for NetWare 4.2 and 5.1 operating systems.

VMware, Inc. 23

Installing and Configuring VMware Tools

3 For NetWare 4.2 guest operating systems, restart the guest operating system.

a In the system console, shut down the system.

down

b In the system console, restart the guest operating system.

restart server

4 If the VMware Tools virtual disc (netware.iso) is attached to the virtual machine, right-click the CD-ROM

icon in the status bar of the console window and select Disconnect to disconnect it.

What to do next

(Recommended) If you upgraded VMware Tools as part of a vSphere upgrade, next upgrade to the newest virtual hardware version available for the virtual machine.

Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a Mac OS X Virtual Machine

For Mac OS X Server virtual machines you install or upgrade VMware Tools using an installer assistant.

If you use VMware Fusion or ESXi on an Apple-labed computer, you can create Mac OS X Server (10.5 or 10.6) virtual machines and install VMware Tools.

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

vSphere Web Client

Fusion

Inventory > Virtual Machine > Guest > Install/Upgrade VMware Tools and select Interactive Tools Installation or Interactive Tools Upgrade

Right-click a virtual machine in the inventory tree and select

Configuration > Virtual Machine > Install/Upgrade VMware Tools

Virtual Machine > Install (or Upgrade) VMware Tools

2 Open Install VMware Tools on the VMware Tools virtual disc, follow all the steps in the installer assistant,

and click OK.

The virtual machine restarts to have VMware Tools take effect.

24 VMware, Inc.

Repairing, Changing, and Uninstalling

VMware Tools Components 3

Usually when you upgrade VMware Tools, the modules are upgraded and new features are added. On Windows guests, however, if you do not perform a custom upgrade, new modules might not be added. If some features do not work correctly after an upgrade, you must change or repair modules. On operating systems other than Windows, you must manually start the VMware User process after an upgrade.

This chapter includes the following topics:

“Repair or Change Modules in Windows Virtual Machines,” on page 25

“Uninstall VMware Tools,” on page 26

“Start the VMware User Process Manually If You Do Not Use a Session Manager,” on page 27

Repair or Change Modules in Windows Virtual Machines

If you have problems with enhanced graphics display or mouse actions or with features that depend on VMware Tools, you might need to repair or modify installed modules.

Occasionally, some new modules are not installed during a VMware Tools upgrade. You can manually install new modules by modifying installed modules.

IMPORTANT Do not use the guest operating system’s Add/Remove Programs item in the Windows Control Panel to repair or modify VMware Tools.

Prerequisites

Power on the virtual machine.

Procedure

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

VMware Product Menu Command

vSphere Client

vSphere Web Client

Fusion

Workstation

Player

2 If autorun is not enabled for the CD-ROM drive, to manually launch the VMware Tools installation wizard,

click Start > Run and enter D:\setup.exe, where D: is your first virtual CD-ROM drive.

Inventory > Virtual Machine > Guest > Install/Upgrade VMware Tools

All Actions icon > Configuration > Install/Upgrade VMware Tools

Virtual Machine > Install (or Upgrade) VMware Tools

VM > Manage > Install (or Upgrade) VMware Tools

Virtual Machine > Install (or Upgrade) VMware Tools

VMware, Inc.

Installing and Configuring VMware Tools

3 On the Welcome page of the wizard, click Next.

4 Specify whether to repair or modify the modules.

Click Repair to repair the files, registry settings, and so on of components that are already installed.

Click Modify to specify which modules are installed.

5 Follow the on-screen instructions.

What to do next

If features still do not work, uninstall VMware Tools and reinstall.

Uninstall VMware Tools

Occasionally, an upgrade of VMware Tools is incomplete. You can usually solve the problem by uninstalling VMware Tools and then reinstalling.

In a vSphere deployment, if you decide to use Linux operating system specific packages to manage VMware Tools, and if you already used vSphere to install VMware Tools, you must uninstall the existing VMware Tools. For more information about Linux OSPs for VMware Tools, see “Operating System Specific Packages for Linux

Guest Operating Systems,” on page 20.

Prerequisites

Power on the virtual machine.

Procedure

Use the appropriate operating-system-specific procedure to uninstall VMware Tools.

Operating System Action

Windows 7

Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008

Windows XP and earlier

Linux

Linux, Solaris, FreeBSD, NetWare

Mac OS X Server

Use the guest operating system's Programs > Uninstall a program item.

Use the guest operating system's Programs and Features > Uninstall a program item.

Use the guest operating system's Add/Remove Programs item.

On a Linux guest operating system that has VMware Tools installed by using an RPM installer, enter the following command in a terminal window:

rpm -e VMwareTools

vmware-uninstall-tools.pl

Use the Uninstall VMware Tools application, found in /Library/Application Support/VMware Tools.

What to do next

Reinstall VMware Tools.

26 VMware, Inc.

Chapter 3 Repairing, Changing, and Uninstalling VMware Tools Components

Start the VMware User Process Manually If You Do Not Use a Session Manager

One of the executables used by VMware Tools in Linux, Solaris, and FreeBSD guest operating systems is the VMware User process. This program implements the fit-guest-to-window feature and Unity mode, among other features.

Normally, this process is started automatically after you configure VMware Tools and then log out of the desktop environment and log back in. You must start the process manually in the following environments:

If you run an X session without a session manager (for example, by using startx and getting a desktop and not using xdm, kdm, or gdm).

If you are using certain older versions of GNOME without gdm or xdm.

If you are using any session manager or environment that does not support the Desktop Application Autostart Specification, available from http://standards.freedesktop.org.

If you upgrade VMware Tools.

Procedure

To have the VMware User process start when you start an X session, add vmware-user to the appropriate X startup script, such as the .xsession or .xinitrc file.

The vmware-user program is located in the directory where you selected to install binary programs, which defaults to /usr/bin. The startup script that needs to be modified depends on your particular system.

To start the process after a VMware Tools software upgrade or if you notice certain features are not working, open a terminal window and enter the vmware-user command.

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Installing and Configuring VMware Tools

28 VMware, Inc.

Using the VMware Tools Configuration

Utility 4

The VMware Tools configuration utility is a command-line interface that you can use in the guest operating system to modify VMware Tools settings, shrink virtual disks, and connect and disconnect virtual devices.

The VMware Tools configuration utility provides a command-line interface for functionality that was previously available only in the VMware Tools control panel. The name of this program depends on the guest operating system:

On Windows operating systems the utility is called VMwareToolboxCmd.exe.

On Mac OS X operating systems the utility is called vmware-tools-cli.

Because the VMware Tools installer does not modify any PATH environment variables on Mac OS X operating systems, you must type ./ before the command.

On Linux, FreeBSD, and Solaris operating systems, the utility is called vmware-toolbox-cmd.

Use the utility's help command to display complete usage information and syntax.

The VMware Tools configuration utility is included in the following VMware products:

VMware vSphere 4.1 and later

VMware Workstation 7.0 and later

VMware Fusion 3.0 and later

VMware Player 3.0 and later

VMware ACE 2.6 and later

This chapter includes the following topics:

“Configure Time Synchronization Between Guest and Host Operating Systems,” on page 30

“Disable Time Synchronization Completely,” on page 31

“Connect or Disconnect a Virtual Device,” on page 32

“Shrink a Virtual Disk,” on page 33

“Use Custom VMware Tools Scripts,” on page 34

“Retrieve Status Information About the Virtual Machine,” on page 38

VMware, Inc.

Installing and Configuring VMware Tools

Configure Time Synchronization Between Guest and Host Operating Systems

When you turn on periodic time synchronization, VMware Tools sets the time of the guest operating system to be the same as the time of the host.

After time synchronization occurs, 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.

If the clock on the guest operating system falls behind the clock on the host, VMware Tools moves the clock on the guest forward to match the clock on the host. If the clock on the guest operating system is ahead of that on the host, VMware Tools causes the clock on the guest to run more slowly until the clocks are synchronized.

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. Use only one form of periodic time synchronization in your guests. If you are using native time synchronization software, turn off VMware Tools periodic time synchronization.

Regardless of whether you turn on VMware Tools periodic time synchronization, time synchronization occurs after certain operations:

When the VMware Tools daemon is started (such as during a reboot or power on operation)

When resuming a virtual machine from a suspend operation

After reverting to a snapshot

After shrinking a disk

When the operating system starts or reboots, and when you first turn on periodic time synchronization, synchronization can be either forward or backward in time. For other events, synchronization is forward in time.

To disable time synchronization completely, you must edit the configuration file (.vmx file) of the virtual machine and set several synchronization properties to FALSE.

Prerequisites

Disable other periodic time synchronization mechanisms. For example, some guests might have NTP or Win32Time clock synchronization turned on by default.

If you plan to script the commands used in this procedure and need to know what the exit codes are, see

“Exit Codes,” on page 39.

NOTE Mac OS X guests use NTP and do not become out of sync with the host. For Mac OS X guests, there is no need to turn on VMware Tools time synchronization.

Procedure

1 Open a command prompt or terminal in the guest operating system.

2 Change to the VMware Tools installation directory.

Operating System Default Path

Windows

Linux and Solaris

FreeBSD

C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Tools

/usr/sbin

/usr/local/sbin

30 VMware, Inc.

Chapter 4 Using the VMware Tools Configuration Utility

3 Enter the command to determine whether time synchronization is enabled.

utility-name

timesync status

For utility-name use the guest-specific program name.

Operating System Program Name

Windows

Linux, Solaris, and FreeBSD

VMwareToolboxCmd.exe

vmware-toolbox-cmd

4 Enter the command to enable or disable periodic time synchronization.

utility-name

timesync

subcommand

For subcommand, use enable or disable.

After you complete this procedure, the VMware Tools service enables or disables periodic time synchronization, as you specified. Disabling periodic time synchronization does not disable all VMware Tools time synchronization.

What to do next

If you need to keep a fictitious time in a virtual machine, so that the clock in the guest operating system is never synchronized with that on the host, disable time synchronization completely.

Disable Time Synchronization Completely

A virtual machine occasionally synchronizes time with the host even if you do not turn on periodic time synchronization. To completely disable time synchronization, you must set some properties in the virtual machine configuration file.

Prerequisites

Power off the virtual machine.

Procedure

1 Open the configuration (.vmx) file of the virtual machine with a text editor.

2 Add lines for the time synchronization properties and set the properties to FALSE.

tools.syncTime = "FALSE" time.synchronize.continue = "FALSE" time.synchronize.restore = "FALSE" time.synchronize.resume.disk = "FALSE" time.synchronize.shrink = "FALSE" time.synchronize.tools.startup = "FALSE"

3 Save and close the file.

What to do next

Power on the virtual machine.

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Installing and Configuring VMware Tools

Connect or Disconnect a Virtual Device

You can connect and disconnect removable devices such as floppy drives, DVD/CD-ROM drives, ISO images, USB devices, sound adapters, and network adapters.

IMPORTANT Note the following restrictions for connecting devices:

Some devices cannot be shared between the host and guest operating systems or between two guest operating systems. For example, only one virtual machine or the host can access the floppy drive at any one time.

The controls for connecting and disconnecting devices might not be available, depending on whether your system administrator has enabled them.

For security reasons, this feature is disabled by default. The first part of this procedure describes how to enable the feature in the virtual machine configuration file. After you enable the feature, you can run the configuration utility to connect and disconnect virtual devices.

Prerequisites

If you plan to script the commands used in this procedure and need to know what the exit codes are, see “Exit

Codes,” on page 39.

Procedure

1 Configure the virtual machine to allow connecting and disconnecting devices.

a Open the configuration (.vmx) file of the virtual machine with a text editor.

b If the following properties are not listed in the file, add them and set them to FALSE.

isolation.device.connectable.disable = "FALSE" isolation.device.edit.disable = "FALSE"

c Save and close the file.

2 Open a command prompt or terminal in the guest operating system.

3 Change to the VMware Tools installation directory.

Operating System Default Path

Windows

Linux and Solaris

FreeBSD

Mac OS X

C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Tools

/usr/sbin

/usr/local/sbin

/Library/Application Support/VMware Tools

4 Enter the command to list available devices:

utility-name

device list.

For utility-name use the guest-specific program name.

Operating System Utility Name

Windows

Linux, Solaris, and FreeBSD

Mac OS X

VMwareToolboxCmd.exe

vmware-toolbox-cmd

vmware-tools-cli

5 (Optional) Enter the command to determine whether a device is connected.

utility-name

device status

device-name

For device-name, use one of the names displayed when you used the list subcommand.

32 VMware, Inc.

6 Enter the command to connect or disconnect the device.

Chapter 4 Using the VMware Tools Configuration Utility

utility-name

Option Action

device-name

subcommand

device

After you complete this procedure, the device is connected or disconnected, as you specified.

Shrink a Virtual Disk

Shrinking a virtual disk reclaims unused space in the virtual disk and reduces the amount of space the virtual disk occupies on the host.

IMPORTANT Shrinking disks is not allowed under the following circumstances:

The virtual machine is hosted on an ESX/ESXi host. ESX/ESXi can shrink the size of a virtual disk only when a virtual machine is exported. The space occupied by the virtual disk on the server, however, does not change.

The virtual machine has a Mac OS X guest operating system.

You preallocated all the disk space to the virtual disk when you created it.

The virtual machine contains a snapshot.

The exception is if the virtual machine is used in VMware Fusion 4 and has a Windows guest operating system. In this case, you can use the Clean Up Virtual Machine button in Fusion to shrink disks.

device-name subcommand

Use one of the names displayed when you used the list subcommand.

Use enable or disable.

The virtual machine is a linked clone or the parent of a linked clone.

The virtual disk is an independent disk in nonpersistent mode.

The file system is a journaling file system, such as an ext4, xfs, or jfs file system.

Shrinking a disk is a two-step process. In the preparation step, VMware Tools reclaims all unused portions of disk partitions (such as deleted files) and prepares them for shrinking. This step takes place in the guest operating system. During this phase, you can still interact with the virtual machine.

In the shrink step, the VMware application reduces the size of the disk based on the disk space reclaimed during the preparation step. If the disk has empty space, this process reduces the amount of space the virtual disk occupies on the host drive. The shrink step takes place outside the virtual machine and takes considerable time, depending on the size of the disk. The virtual machine stops responding while VMware Tools shrinks the disks.

IMPORTANT For your convenience, some newer versions of some VMware products include a button or menu command that performs the same function as the shrink-disk command. For example, Workstation includes a Compact menu command that you can use when the virtual machine is powered off. VMware Fusion 4 includes a Clean Up Virtual Machine button that can shrink disks even if you have snapshots.

Under some conditions, the ability to invoke a shrink-disk command might be considered a security risk. To configure a setting that disables the ability to shrink disk, see “Threats Associated with Unprivileged User

Accounts,” on page 44.

Prerequisites

On Linux, Solaris, and FreeBSD guest operating systems, log in as root. If you shrink the virtual disk as a nonroot user, you cannot prepare to shrink the parts of the virtual disk that require root-level permissions.

On Windows guests, log in as an administrator.

VMware, Inc. 33

Installing and Configuring VMware Tools

Verify that the host has free disk space equal to the size of the virtual disk that you plan to shrink.

Procedure

1 Open a command prompt or terminal in the guest operating system.

2 Change to the VMware Tools installation directory.

Operating System Default Path

Windows

Linux and Solaris

FreeBSD

3 Enter the command to list available mount points.

C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Tools

/usr/sbin

/usr/local/sbin

utility-name

disk list

For utility-name use the guest-specific program name.

Operating System Utility Name

Windows

Linux, Solaris, and FreeBSD

VMwareToolboxCmd.exe

vmware-toolbox-cmd

4 Enter the command to shrink the disk at a specified mount point.

utility-name

disk

mount-point

For mount-point, use one of the mount points displayed when you used the list subcommand.

Use Custom VMware Tools Scripts

You can use scripts to automate guest operating system operations when you change the power state of a virtual machine. You can also edit default scripts or associate custom scripts with power operations.

When VMware Tools is installed, if you configure a virtual machine’s power controls to use the guest operating system, or soft, power options, one or more default scripts run on the guest whenever you change the power state of the virtual machine. You change the power state by using menu commands or by clicking the Suspend, Resume, Power On, and Power Off buttons.

For example, when you power off a virtual machine, by default the poweroff-vm-default script runs if the virtual machine is set to shut down the guest operating system rather than abruptly power off.

Scripts are run by the VMware Tools service, or daemon (vmtoolsd). Because vmtoolsd is run as root on Linux, Solaris, and FreeBSD and as System on Windows, the scripts are run in a separate session from the session of the logged-in user. The VMware Tools daemon does not detect desktop sessions, which means that it cannot display graphical applications. Do not attempt to use custom scripts to display graphical applications.

IMPORTANT You cannot run scripts on Windows NT, Me, Windows 98, and Windows 95 guest operating systems.

Prerequisites

Familiarize yourself with the default VMware Tools scripts. See “Default VMware Tools Scripts,” on page 36.

On Linux, Solaris, and FreeBSD guest operating systems, to test, edit, or disable the running of a script, log in as root.

34 VMware, Inc.

Chapter 4 Using the VMware Tools Configuration Utility

On Linux, Solaris, and FreeBSD guest operating systems, to edit a script, make sure xterm and vi are installed in the guest operating system and are in your PATH, or specify which editor to use by setting the EDITOR environment variable.

If you plan to script the commands used in this procedure and need to know what the exit codes are, see

“Exit Codes,” on page 39.

Procedure

1 Examine the contents of the default scripts to determine whether you want to create a custom script by

making changes and saving the edited scripts in a new location.

Operating System Action

Windows

Linux Solaris, and FreeBSD

Edit scripts in Program Files\VMware\VMware Tools.

Edit scripts in /etc/vmware-tools.

2 Write new scripts or modify default scripts and save them with new names.

Operating System Action

Windows

Linux, Solaris, and FreeBSD

If you write a new script, create the script as a batch file.

Create the script in any executable format, such as a shell or Perl script.

3 Open a command prompt or terminal in the guest operating system.

4 Change to the VMware Tools installation directory.

Operating System Default Path

Windows

Linux and Solaris

FreeBSD

C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Tools

/usr/sbin

/usr/local/sbin

5 Enter the command to enable the script.

utility-name

Option Action

utility-name (On Windows)

utility-name (On Linux, Solaris, and

FreeBSD)

script-name

script

script-name

enable

Use VMwareToolboxCmd.exe.

Use vmware-toolbox-cmd.

Use power, resume, suspend, or shutdown.

6 Enter the command to use the custom script you created.

utility-name

script

script-name

set

script-path

For script-path, use the full path to the file, such as, "C:\Temp\poweron-my-vm.bat".

7 Enter the command to verify that the custom script you specified is now being used.

utility-name

script

script-name

current

After you complete this procedure, the VMware Tools service runs the script whenever the specified power operation occurs.

VMware, Inc. 35

Installing and Configuring VMware Tools

Default VMware Tools Scripts

One or more default scripts for each power state are included in VMware Tools.

What the default scripts do depends in part on the guest operating system:

On most Microsoft Windows guest operating systems, the default script that runs when you suspend a virtual machine releases the IP address of the virtual machine. The default script that runs when you resume a virtual machine renews the IP address of the virtual machine. This behavior affects only virtual machines configured to use DHCP.

In Windows guest operating systems, the default scripts are located in the Program Files\VMware\VMware

Tools folder.

IMPORTANT You cannot run scripts on Windows NT, Me, Windows 98, and Windows 95 guest operating systems.

On most Linux, Solaris, and FreeBSD guest operating systems, the default script that runs when you suspend a virtual machine stops networking for the virtual machine. The default script that runs when you resume a virtual machine starts networking for the virtual machine. Scripts cannot be run on NetWare guest operating systems.

On Linux, Solaris, and FreeBSD guest operating systems, the default scripts are located in the /etc/vmware-

tools directory.

Table 4-1. Default VMware Tools Scripts

Script Name Description

poweroff-vm-default

poweron-vm-default

If you configured the power-off operation to shut down the guest operating system, this script runs when the virtual machine is being powered off.

If you configured the reset operation to restart the guest operating system, this script runs when the virtual machine is being reset.

This script has no effect on networking for the virtual machine.

If you configured the power-on operation to start the guest operating system, this script runs when the virtual machine is being powered on rather than resumed.

If you configured the reset operation to restart the guest operating system, this script runs after virtual machine restarts.

This script has no effect on networking for the virtual machine.

36 VMware, Inc.

Chapter 4 Using the VMware Tools Configuration Utility

Table 4-1. Default VMware Tools Scripts (Continued)

Script Name Description

resume-vm-default

suspend-vm-default

If you configured the power-on operation to start the guest operating system or configured the reset operation to restart the guest, this script runs when the virtual machine is resumed after it was suspended.

On Windows guest operating systems, if the virtual machine is configured to use DHCP, this script renews the IP address of the virtual machine.

On Linux, Solaris, and FreeBSD guest operating systems, this script starts networking for the virtual machine.

If you configured the suspend operation to suspend the guest operating system, this script runs when the virtual machine is being suspended.

On Windows guest operating systems, if the virtual machine is configured to use DHCP, this script releases the IP address of the virtual machine.

On Linux, Solaris, and FreeBSD , this script stops networking for the virtual machine.

For information about how to configure various power operations, see the documentation for the specific VMware product you are using.

Disable a VMware Tools Script

Default scripts for suspending and resuming a virtual machine are written to work together. If you disable the script for one of these actions, you must disable the script for the other action as well.

IMPORTANT You cannot run scripts on Windows NT, Me, Windows 98, and Windows 95 guest operating systems.

Prerequisites

On Linux, Solaris, and FreeBSD guest operating systems, to test, edit, or disable the running of a script, log in as root.

Procedure

1 Open a command prompt or terminal in the guest operating system.

2 Change to the VMware Tools installation directory.

Operating System Default Path

Windows

Linux and Solaris

FreeBSD

3 Enter the command to disable the script.

utility-name

script

script-name

C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Tools

/usr/sbin

/usr/local/sbin

disable

Option Action

utility-name (On Windows)

utility-name (On Linux, Solaris, and

FreeBSD)

script-name

Use VMwareToolboxCmd.exe.

Use vmware-toolbox-cmd.

Use power, resume, suspend, or shutdown.

VMware, Inc. 37

Installing and Configuring VMware Tools

What to do next

If you disabled the script for suspending a virtual machine, repeat this procedure to disable the script for resuming, or if you disabled the script for resuming, also disable the script for suspending.

Execute Commands During Power Off or Reset of a Virtual Machine

In a Linux, Solaris, or FreeBSD guest operating system, you can use the VMware Tools service to execute specific commands when you shut down or restart the guest operating system. You can run commands in addition to any script that is set to run when you shut down the guest operating system.

Procedure

1 Use a text editor to open the /etc/vmware-tools/tools.conf file.

2 To the tools.conf file, add one or both of the commands to execute when shutting down or restarting the

virtual machine.

Command Description

halt-command =

reboot-command =

command

For command specify the command to execute when shutting down.

For command specify the command to execute when rebooting.

Retrieve Status Information About the Virtual Machine

You can display information about host time and CPU speed. For virtual machines hosted in a vSphere environment, you can display additional information about memory and CPU reservations and limits.

Prerequisites

Determine what status information you want to display. See “Subcommands for the stat Command,” on page 39.

If you plan to script the commands used in this procedure and need to know what the exit codes are, see

“Exit Codes,” on page 39.

Procedure

1 Open a command prompt or terminal in the guest operating system.

2 Change to the VMware Tools installation directory.

Operating System Default Path

Windows

Linux and Solaris

FreeBSD

Mac OS X

3 Type the command to display the status information.

C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Tools

/usr/sbin

/usr/local/sbin

/Library/Application Support/VMware Tools

utility-name

Option Action

utility-name (On Windows)

utility-name (On Linux, Solaris, and

FreeBSD)

38 VMware, Inc.

stat

subcommand

Use VMwareToolboxCmd.exe.

Use vmware-toolbox-cmd.

Chapter 4 Using the VMware Tools Configuration Utility

Option Action

utility-name (On Mac OS X)

subcommand

Use vmware-tools-cli.

Use hosttime or speed, or, if applicable, one of the subcommands available for virtual machines hosted in a vSphere environment.

Subcommands for the stat Command

You can use the stat command to display information such as host time and CPU speed. Additional subcommands are available for virtual machines in a vSphere environment.

Table 4-2. Subcommands for the stat Command

Subcommand Name Description

hosttime

speed

balloon

swap

memlimit

memres

cpures

cpulimit

sessionid

Displays the date and time on the host.

Displays the CPU speed, in MHz.

(vSphere only) Displays the amount of memory that is currently reclaimed from the virtual machine through ballooning, in megabytes.

(vSphere only) Displays the current amount of memory swapped out to the virtual machine's swap file, in megabytes.

(vSphere only) Displays memory limit information, in megabytes.

(vSphere only) Displays memory reservation information, in megabytes.

(vSphere only) Displays CPU reservation information, in MHz.

(vSphere only) Displays CPU limit information, in MHz.

(vSphere only) Displays the current session ID.

Exit Codes

You might use exit codes if you want to integrate the VMware Tools configuration utility commands with a scripting tool.

Table 4-3. Exit Codes

Code Number Applicable Command Description

0 All commands The command was successful.

1 All commands Always indicates that an error occurred.

For the shrink command, 1 indicates that although shrinking is enabled, the shrink command cannot be carried out.

64 All commands The command-line argument is not valid.

69 device and stat For the device command, 69 indicates that the specified

script

The file name does not exist.

device does not exist. Use the list subcommand to display valid names of devices.

For the stat command, 69 indicates that the program could not communicate with the host (EX_UNAVAILABLE).

VMware, Inc. 39

Installing and Configuring VMware Tools

Table 4-3. Exit Codes (Continued)

Code Number Applicable Command Description

77 All commands Permission errors.

stat

The host does not support the query, perhaps because the host is not an ESX/ESXi host (EX_TEMPFAIL).

40 VMware, Inc.

Using Other Methods to Configure

VMware Tools 5

Some VMware Tools configuration settings are available from within your VMware product. Also, if you have a NetWare virtual machine, you must use the vmwtool program because the VMware Tools Configuration Utility is not available for that operating system.

This chapter includes the following topics:

“Configuring VMware Tools from Within VMware Products,” on page 41

“Using vmwtool to Configure VMware Tools in a NetWare Virtual Machine,” on page 42

Configuring VMware Tools from Within VMware Products

You can use menu commands and dialog boxes from within VMware Workstation, Player, Fusion, and vCenter Server to configure several settings for VMware Tools.

VMware Workstation and VMware Player

VMware Fusion

vSphere

In addition, in many VMware products, you can connect and disconnect removable devices by using menu commands or buttons in the virtual machine's status bar.

You can use the Virtual Machine Settings dialog box and the Preferences dialog box to automatically check for, download, and install VMware Tools upgrades. The Virtual Machine Settings dialog box also contains a command to shrink virtual disks and to enable and disable VMware scripts for power operations.

In Fusion 4 you can use the Automatically check for updates button to update both Fusion and VMware Tools, and use the Clean Up Virtual Machine button to shrink virtual disks.

You can use the virtual machine Edit Settings dialog box to automatically check for and upgrade VMware Tools. Also use this dialog box to enable and disable VMware Scripts for power operations or to set the virtual machine to synchronize its clock with that on the host.

VMware, Inc.

Installing and Configuring VMware Tools

Using vmwtool to Configure VMware Tools in a NetWare Virtual Machine

In a NetWare virtual machine, using the system console, you can configure certain virtual machine options such as time synchronization, CPU idling, and device configuration with VMware Tools. The VMware Tools command-line program is called vmwtool.

Although you cannot use the VMware Tools configuration utility in a NetWare virtual machine, you can use the vmwtool command to achieve some of the same functionality. This command has the following syntax:

vmwtool

command

For command, you can use the commands and options listed in the following table.

Table 5-1. vmwtool Commands

vmwtool Command Description

help

partitonlist

shrink [

devicelist

disabledevice [

enabledevice [

synctime [on|off]

idle [on|off]

partition

device_name

]

Displays a summary of VMware Tools commands and options in a NetWare guest operating system.

Displays a list of all disk partitions in the virtual disk and whether or not a partition can be shrunk.

Shrinks the listed partitions. If no partitions are specified, all partitions in the virtual disk are shrunk.

The status of the shrink process appears at the bottom of the system console.

Lists each removable device in the virtual machine, its device ID, and whether the device is enabled or disabled. Removable devices include the virtual network adapter, CD-ROM, and floppy drives. By default, floppy drive is not connected when the virtual machine powers on.

Disables the specified device or devices in the virtual machine. If no device is specified, all removable devices in the virtual machine are disabled.

Enables the specified device or devices in the virtual machine. If no device is specified, all removable devices in the virtual machine are enabled.

Lets you turn on or off synchronization of time in the guest operating system with time on the host operating system. By default, time synchronization is turned off.

Use this command without any options to view the current time synchronization status.

Lets you turn the CPU idler on or off. By default, the idler is turned on. The CPU idler program is included in VMware Tools for NetWare guest operating systems.

The idler program is needed because NetWare servers do not idle the CPU when the operating system is idle. As a result, a virtual machine takes CPU time from the host regardless of whether the NetWare server software is idle or busy.

42 VMware, Inc.

Security Considerations for

Configuring VMware Tools 6

Some VMware Tools settings might expose security risks. For example, VMware Tools enables you to connect virtual devices such as serial and parallel ports to virtual machines. A connected device could be a potential channel of attack. To harden a virtual machine and reduce security risks as much as possible, disable the VMware Tools features that might be vulnerable to security threats.

For complete information about securely deploying VMware vSphere in a production environment, including security recommendations for hosts, virtual machines, management components, and a networking infrastructure, see the vSphere Hardening Guide. VMware Tools settings relate only to the virtual machine aspect of a deployment.

Virtual machines are encapsulated in a small number of files. One of the important files is the configuration file (.vmx file). This file governs the performance of the virtual hardware and other settings. You can use several methods to see and modify the configuration settings:

Open the .vmx file directly in a text editor.

Use the vSphere Client to edit virtual machine settings. In the vSphere Client, editing these configuration parameters is an advanced option in the virtual machine Edit Settings dialog box.

Use the vSphere Web Client to edit virtual machine settings. In the vSphere Web Client, editing these configuration parameters is an advanced option in the virtual machine Edit Settings dialog box.

VMware, Inc.

Use a vSphere API-based tool, such as Power CLI, to view and modify .vmx parameters.

After you edit a setting, the change does not take effect until you restart the virtual machine.

Review the following list of potential security threats and the corresponding VMware Tools parameters to set in the virtual machine's .vmx file. The defaults for many of these parameters are already set to protect virtual machines from these threats.

Installing and Configuring VMware Tools

Threats Associated with Unprivileged User Accounts

Disk shrinking feature

Copy and paste feature

Shrinking a virtual disk reclaims unused disk space. Users and processes without root or administrator privileges can invoke this procedure. Because the disk-shrinking process can take considerable time to complete, invoking the disk-shrinking procedure repeatedly can cause a denial of service. The virtual disk is unavailable during the shrinking process. Use the following .vmx settings to disable disk shrinking:

isolation.tools.diskWiper.disable = "TRUE" isolation.tools.diskShrink.disable = "TRUE"

By default, the ability to copy and paste text, graphics, and files is disabled, as is the ability to drag and drop files. When this feature is enabled, you can copy and paste rich text and, depending on the VMware product, graphics and files from your clipboard to the guest operating system in a virtual machine. That is, as soon as the console window of a virtual machine gains focus, nonprivileged users and processes running in the virtual machine can access the clipboard on the computer where the console window is running. To avoid risks associated with this feature, retain the following .vmx settings, which disable copying and pasting:

isolation.tools.copy.disable = "TRUE" isolation.tools.paste.disable = "TRUE" isolation.tools.dnd.disable = "TRUE" isolation.tools.setGUIOptions.enable = "FALSE"

Threats Associated with Virtual Devices

Connecting and modifying devices

Virtual Machine Communication Interface (VMCI)

By default, the ability to connect and disconnect devices is disabled. When this feature is enabled, users and processes without root or administrator privileges can connect devices such as network adapters and CD-ROM drives, and they can modify device settings. That is, a user can connect a disconnected CD-ROM drive and access sensitive information on the media left in the drive. A user can also disconnect a network adapter to isolate the virtual machine from its network, which is a denial of service. To avoid risks associated with this feature, retain the following .vmx settings, which disable the ability to connect and disconnect devices or to modify device settings:

isolation.device.connectable.disable = "TRUE" isolation.device.edit.disable = "TRUE"

If VMCI is not restricted, a virtual machine can detect and be detected by all others with the same option enabled within the same host. Custom-built software that uses this interface might have unexpected vulnerabilities that lead to an exploit. Also, a virtual machine could detect how many other virtual machines are within the same ESX/ESXi system by registering the virtual machine. This information could be used for a malicious objective. The virtual machine can be exposed to others within the system as long as at least one program is connected to the VMCI socket interface. Use the following .vmx setting to restrict VMCI:

vmci0.unrestricted = "FALSE"

44 VMware, Inc.

Chapter 6 Security Considerations for Configuring VMware Tools

Threats Associated with Virtual Machine Information Flow

Configuring virtual machine log size

VMX file size

Because often a new log file is created only when a host is rebooted, log files can grow to be quite large. Uncontrolled logging can lead to denial of service if the datastore runs out of disk space. VMware recommends saving 10 log files, with each one limited to 1,000KB. Use the following .vmx settings to set these limits:

log.rotateSize = "10000" log.keepOld = "10"

A more extreme strategy is to disable logging altogether for the virtual machine. Disabling logging makes troubleshooting challenging and support difficult. Do not consider disabling logging unless the log file rotation approach proves insufficient. Use the following .vmx setting to disable logging altogether:

logging = "FALSE"

By default the configuration file is limited to a size of 1MB because uncontrolled size for the file can lead to a denial of service if the datastore runs out of disk space. Informational messages are sometimes sent from the virtual machine to the .vmx file. These setinfo messages define virtual machine characteristics or identifiers by writing name-value pairs to the file. You might need to increase the size of the file if large amounts of custom information must be stored in the file. The property name is tools.setInfo.sizeLimit, and you specify the value in kilobytes. Retain the following .vmx setting:

tools.setInfo.sizeLimit = "1048576"

Sending performance counters into PerfMon

You can integrate virtual machine performance counters for CPU and memory into PerfMon for Microsoft Windows guest operating systems. This feature makes detailed information about the physical host available to the guest operating system. An adversary could potentially use this information to inform further attacks on the host. By default this feature is disabled. Retain the following .vmx setting to prevent host information from being sent to the virtual machine:

tools.guestlib.enableHostInfo = "FALSE"

This setting blocks some but not all metrics. If you set this property to FALSE, the following metrics are blocked:

GUESTLIB_HOST_CPU_NUM_CORES

GUESTLIB_HOST_CPU_USED_MS

GUESTLIB_HOST_MEM_SWAPPED_MB

GUESTLIB_HOST_MEM_SHARED_MB

GUESTLIB_HOST_MEM_USED_MB

GUESTLIB_HOST_MEM_PHYS_MB

GUESTLIB_HOST_MEM_PHYS_FREE_MB

GUESTLIB_HOST_MEM_KERN_OVHD_MB

GUESTLIB_HOST_MEM_MAPPED_MB

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Installing and Configuring VMware Tools

GUESTLIB_HOST_MEM_UNMAPPED_MB

Features not exposed in vSphere that could cause vulnerabilities

Because VMware virtual machines run in many VMware products in addition to vSphere, some virtual machine parameters do not apply in a vSphere environment. Although these features do not appear in vSphere user interfaces, disabling them reduces the number of vectors through which a guest operating system could access a host. Use the following .vmx setting to disable these features:

isolation.tools.unity.push.update.disable = "TRUE" isolation.tools.hgfsServerSet.disable = "TRUE" isolation.tools.memSchedFakeSampleStats.disable = "TRUE" isolation.tools.getCreds.disable = "TRUE"

46 VMware, Inc.

Index

audio adapters, connecting 32 audio drivers, virtual 8

backup applications, drivers for 8 BusLogic SCSI adapters 8

CD-ROM drives, connecting 32 clock, synchronization between host and guest

operating systems 30, 31, 42 configuration utility for VMware Tools 29 connecting virtual devices 32, 43 copy and paste, of files and text 9, 43 CPU statistics 38, 39 custom VMware Tools scripts 34

device command 32, 42 device drivers, virtual 8 disconnecting virtual devices 32, 43 disk command 33 drag and drop, of files and text 9, 43

drivers, VMware Tools 8 DVD drives, connecting 32

Microsoft Windows 13 NetWare (tar installer) 23 process overview 11 silently on Windows guest operating

systems 14

Solaris (tar installer) 20

ISO images, connecting 32 isolation.device.connectable.disable property 43 isolation.device.edit.disable property 43 isolation.tools.copy.disable property 43 isolation.tools.diskShrink.disable property 43 isolation.tools.diskWiper.disable property 43 isolation.tools.dnd.disable property 43 isolation.tools.paste.disable property 43 isolation.tools.setGUIOptions.enable

property 43

Linux guest, VMware Tools installation or upgrade

(tar installer) 18

Linux operating system specific packages for

VMware Tools 20, 26 log.keepOld property 43 log.rotateSize property 43 logging property 43 LSI Logic adapters, virtual 8

exit codes 39

Filesystem Sync drivers 8 floppy drives, connecting 32

FreeBSD guest operating system, VMware Tools

installation or upgrade (tar installer) 22

halt-command for Linux, Solaris, and FreeBSD

guest operating systems 38 hgfs.sys kernel module 8 host time 38

installing VMware Tools

FreeBSD (tar installer) 22 Linux (tar installer) 18 Mac OS X 24

VMware, Inc. 47

Mac OS X guest operating system, VMware Tools

installation or upgrade 24

memory control drivers, virtual 8 memory statistics 38, 39 Microsoft Windows guest operating system,

VMware Tools installation or

upgrade 13 modifying VMware Tools modules 25 mouse drivers, virtual 8

NetWare guest operating system, VMware Tools

installation or upgrade (tar installer) 23 NetWare, Novell 42 network adapters, connecting 32

network drivers, virtual 8

Installing and Configuring VMware Tools

operating system specific packages for VMware

Tools in Linux virtual machines 20, 26

OSPs for installing VMWare Tools in Linux virtual

machines 20, 26

paravirtual SCSI drivers 8 poweroff-vm-default script 36 poweron-vm-default script 36 processes, VMware user 9

quiet mode for installing VMware Tools on

Windows guests 14

reboot-command for Linux, Solaris, and FreeBSD

guest operating systems 38 removable devices 32, 42 repairing VMware Tools installations 25, 27 resume-vm-default script 36

script command 34 scripts, VMware Tools 34, 36, 41

SCSI drivers, virtual 8 security-related configuration settings 43 service, VMware Tools 7 session ID 38 shared folders, kernel module for 8 shrinking a virtual disk 33, 42, 43 Solaris guest operating system, VMware Tools

installation or upgrade (tar installer) 20 sound adapters, connecting 32

stat command 38, 39 status information, retrieving 38 suspend-vm-default script 36 SVGA drivers, virtual 8

tar installer 18 time synchronization 30, 31, 42 timesync command 30 tools.conf file 38 tools.guestlib.enableHostInfo property 43 tools.setInfo.sizeLimit property 43

uninstalling VMware Tools 26 Unity feature 9 unsigned drivers, in beta versions of VMware

Tools 17

upgrading VMware Tools

FreeBSD (tar installer) 22 Linux (tar installer) 18 Mac OS X 24 Microsoft Windows 13 NetWare (tar installer) 23 process overview 12

Solaris (tar installer) 20 USB devices, connecting 32 user process, VMware 9

virtual disks, shrinking 33, 42, 43 virtual machine configuration file (.vmx file) 43 VMCI drivers 8, 43 vmci0.unrestricted property 43 vmhgfs kernel module 8 vmtoolsd 7 VMware Tools

components of 7

configuration utility 29

configuring from within VMware products 41

introduction to 5

security considerations 43 VMware Tools installation

automated install on Windows guests 14, 15

FreeBSD (tar installer) 22

Linux (tar installer) 18

Mac OS X 24

Microsoft Windows 13

NetWare (tar installer) 23

process 11

repairing 25

silent install on Windows guests 14, 15

Solaris (tar installer) 20

troubleshooting 25

unsigned drivers 17 VMware Tools scripts

custom 34

default 36

disabling 37 VMware Tools service 7 VMware Tools upgrade

automatic updates 41

FreeBSD (tar installer) 22

Linux (tar installer) 18

Mac OS X 24

Microsoft Windows 13

NetWare (tar installer) 23

process 11, 12

Solaris (tar installer) 20

troubleshooting 25 VMware user process 9

48 VMware, Inc.

vmware-toolbox-cmd utility for Linux, Solaris, and

FreeBSD guest operating systems 29

vmware-tools-cli utility for Mac OS X guest

operating systems with Fusion 29 vmware-user, starting manually 27 VMwareToolboxCmd.exe utility for Windows

guest operating systems 29 vmwtool command 42 vmxnet networking drivers 8 Volume Shadow Copy Services drivers 8

Index

VMware, Inc. 49

Installing and Configuring VMware Tools

50 VMware, Inc.

VMware Tools Installation Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

Contents

About Installing and Configuring VMware Tools

Components of VMware Tools 1

VMware Tools Service

VMware Tools Device Drivers

VMware User Process

Installing VMware Tools

Upgrading VMware Tools

Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a Windows Virtual Machine

Automate the Installation of VMware Tools in a Windows Virtual Machine

Names of VMware Tools Components Used in Silent Installations

Suppress Prompts About Unsigned Drivers on Pre-Windows Vista Operating Systems

Add VMware as a Trusted Publisher to Suppress Driver Prompts

Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a Linux Virtual Machine

Operating System Specific Packages for Linux Guest Operating Systems

Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a Solaris Virtual Machine

Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a FreeBSD Virtual Machine

Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a NetWare Virtual Machine

Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a Mac OS X Virtual Machine

Repair or Change Modules in Windows Virtual Machines

Uninstall VMware Tools

Start the VMware User Process Manually If You Do Not Use a Session Manager

Configure Time Synchronization Between Guest and Host Operating Systems

Disable Time Synchronization Completely

Connect or Disconnect a Virtual Device

Shrink a Virtual Disk

Use Custom VMware Tools Scripts

Default VMware Tools Scripts

Disable a VMware Tools Script

Execute Commands During Power Off or Reset of a Virtual Machine

Retrieve Status Information About the Virtual Machine

Subcommands for the stat Command

Exit Codes

Configuring VMware Tools from Within VMware Products

Using vmwtool to Configure VMware Tools in a NetWare Virtual Machine

Index