Working with VMware Tools

Last update: June 04 2025

Working with VMware Tools

VMware Tools™ (open-vm-tools) is a set of services for managing guest operating systems. For more information about VMware Tools, see About VMware Tools Administration in the VMware documentation.

For Windows, the version of VMware Tools must be at least 12288. For Linux, the current version number depends on the OS.

You can check the installed version can be checked in Cloud Director. If the version is not up to date, update VMware Tools.

Install VMware Tools⁠

The initial installation automatically installs the latest version of VMware Tools.

1. From the Control Panel, open the Cloud Director panel: from the top menu, click Products → VMware-based Cloud → Cloud Director.

2. Open the virtual data center page.

3. Go to Compute → Virtual Machines.

4. From the ACTIONS menu of the virtual machine, select Install VMware Tools → Install.

5. Verify that the package has installed:

   Linux

   dpkg -l | grep open-vm-tools

   Example of a response in case of successful installation:

   ii open-vm-tools 2:12.1.5-3~ubuntu0.22.04.1 amd64 Open VMware Tools for virtual machines hosted on VMware (CLI)

   Windows

   Open the list of installed programs and check for VMware Tools.

6. Verify that VMware Tools is running:

   Linux

   sudo systemctl status open-vm-tools.service

   Windows

   Open the Services → VMware Tools application and look at the Status column . It should be set to Running and the startup type should be Automatic.

Check the VMware Tools version⁠

1. From the Control Panel, open the Cloud Director panel: from the top menu, click Products → VMware-based Cloud → Cloud Director.
2. Open the virtual data center page.
3. Go to Compute → Virtual Machines.
4. In the virtual machine card, click DETAILS.
5. In the General section, in the VMware Tools field, look for the version of VMware Tools. If Not installed is specified, VMware Tools is not installed.

Update VMware Tools⁠

We recommend that you always update VMware Tools to the latest version.

Windows

1. From the official VMware repository, download the VMware Tools installer.
2. Run the installer and follow the steps.
3. Reboot the virtual machine.

Ubuntu/Debian

1. Update information about the latest packages from all configured sources:

   sudo apt update

2. Check for available updates:

   sudo apt list —upgradable | grep open-vm-tools

3. If there is an update available, install it:

   sudo apt install open-vm-tools

RHEL/CentOS

1. Update information about the latest packages from all configured sources:

   sudo dnf check-update

2. Check for available updates:

   sudo dnf list available | grep open-vm-tools

3. If there is an update available, install it:

   sudo dnf install open-vm-tools