VMware Tools Installation Manual
Installing and Configuring VMware
Tools
VMware Fusion
vSphere
VMware Workstation
VMware Player
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
You can find the most up-to-date technical documentation on the VMware Web site at:
http://www.vmware.com/support/
The VMware Web site also provides the latest product updates.
If you have comments about this documentation, submit your feedback to:
docfeedback@vmware.com
Copyright © 2009–2011 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. This product is protected by U.S. and international copyright and
intellectual property laws. VMware products are covered by one or more patents listed at
http://www.vmware.com/go/patents.
VMware is a registered trademark or trademark of VMware, Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. All other marks
and names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies.
VMware, Inc.
3401 Hillview Ave.
Palo Alto, CA 94304
www.vmware.com
2 VMware, Inc.
Contents
About Installing and Configuring VMware Tools 5
Components of VMware Tools 7
1
VMware Tools Service 7
VMware Tools Device Drivers 8
VMware User Process 9
Installing and Upgrading VMware Tools 11
2
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
3
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
4
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
3
Installing and Configuring VMware Tools
Using Other Methods to Configure VMware Tools 41
5
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
6
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:
n
Significantly faster graphics performance and Windows Aero on operating systems that support Aero
n
Copying and pasting text, graphics, and files between the virtual machine and the host or client desktop
n
Improved mouse performance
n
Synchronization of the clock in the virtual machine with the clock on the host or client desktop
n
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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5
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:
n
“VMware Tools Service,” on page 7
n
“VMware Tools Device Drivers,” on page 8
n
“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:
n
Passes messages from the host to the guest operating system, except in Mac OS X guest operating systems.
n
Runs scripts that help automate guest operating system operations. The scripts run when the power state
of the virtual machine changes.
n
Synchronizes the time in the guest operating system with the time on the host, except in Mac OS X guest
operating systems.
n
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.
n
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.
n
In Windows guest operating systems, helps create the quiesced snapshots used by certain backup
applications. This feature applies to vSphere and VMware Server.
7
Installing and Configuring VMware Tools
n
In Linux, Solaris, and FreeBSD guest operating systems, executes commands in the virtual machine when
you shut down or restart the guest operating system.
n
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.
n
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.
8 VMware, Inc.
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:
n
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.
n
On Linux, Solaris, and FreeBSD guest operating systems, grabs and releases the pointer when the SVGA
driver is not installed.
n
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.
n
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.
n
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
10 VMware, Inc.
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.
n
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.
n
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:
n
“Installing VMware Tools,” on page 11
n
“Upgrading VMware Tools,” on page 12
n
“Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a Windows Virtual Machine,” on page 13
n
“Automate the Installation of VMware Tools in a Windows Virtual Machine,” on page 14
n
“Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a Linux Virtual Machine,” on page 18
n
“Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a Solaris Virtual Machine,” on page 20
n
“Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a FreeBSD Virtual Machine,” on page 22
n
“Manually Install or Upgrade VMware Tools in a NetWare Virtual Machine,” on page 23
n
“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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11
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.
n
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.
n
Use Update Manager to perform an orchestrated upgrade of virtual machines at the folder or datacenter
level.
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.
n
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.
n
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.
12 VMware, Inc.
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
n
Power on the virtual machine.
n
Verify that the guest operating system is running.
n
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.
n
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.
n
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.
n
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.
n
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
n
Power on the virtual machine.
n
Log in to the guest operating system as an administrator.
n
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.
n
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.
n
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.
n
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.
14 VMware, Inc.
Chapter 2 Installing and Upgrading VMware Tools
Procedure
n
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"
n
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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