00. Catalog
Article Directory
01. Overview of VMware Tools
VMware Tools is a set of services and modules that implement various functions in VMware products, allowing users to better manage and interact seamlessly with guest operating systems.
VMware Tools has the following features:
- Pass messages from the host operating system to the guest operating system.
- Customize guest operating systems as part of vCenter Server and other VMware products.
- Runs scripts that help automate the operation of the guest operating system. These scripts run when the power state of a virtual machine changes.
- Synchronize time between the guest operating system and the host operating system.
VMware Tools Lifecycle Management provides a simple and scalable way to install and upgrade VMware Tools. It contains several functional and driver-related enhancements and supports new guest operating systems.
You must be running the latest version of VMware Tools, or use the open-vm-tools distributed with your Linux operating system distribution. Although the guest operating system can run without VMware Tools installed, to use the latest features and updates, you must be running the latest version of VMware Tools in the guest operating system.
You can configure a virtual machine to automatically check for and apply VMware Tools updates each time the virtual machine is powered on.
For information on enabling automatic VMware Tools upgrades on virtual machines, see the vSphere Virtual Machine Administration Guide
- VMware Tools Service
The VMware Tools service starts when the guest operating system starts. This service passes information between the host and guest operating systems. [ Learn more] - VMware Tools Lifecycle Management
Beginning with major version 10.1.0, VMware Tools has added a simplified and scalable VMware Tools installation and upgrade method, no reboot required when upgrading to a newer version of Linux Tools, support for OSP upgrades, and enhanced use of the UI Version reporting function and status reporting function using API and UI. This release implements several feature and driver-related enhancements and supports new guest operating systems. VMware Tools 10.2.0 implements several improvements to lifecycle management by using offline packages and integration with SCCM to distribute and upgrade VMware Tools. [ Learn more] - VMware Tools Device Drivers
Device drivers improve sound, graphics, networking, and storage performance. When performing a custom install or reinstall of VMware Tools, you can choose which drivers to install. [ Learn more] - VMware User Processes
VMware User Processes allow you to use certain functions (such as copy, paste, drag and drop, etc.) in VMware products that support these functions. [ Learn more] - Open VM Tools
Open VM Tools (open-vm-tools) is an open source implementation of VMware Tools for Linux guest operating systems. [ Learn more] - Operating System Specific Packages for Linux Guest Operating Systems
For vSphere deployments, VMware provides Operating System Specific Packages (OSPs) as the packaging and distribution mechanism for VMware Tools. These VMware Tools OSPs are packaged using native package formats and standards such as rpm and deb. [ Learn more]
02. VMware Tools installation method 1
2.1 Install VMware Tools
2.2 Select Setup CD-ROM
2.3 Copy VMware Tools files to the desktop
2.4 Unzip the file
2.5 Enter the corresponding directory and execute the installation program
2.6 Execute the installation, enter yes, the default path
As long as the path appears, press Enter, and when [Yes/No] appears, select Yes for all.
2.7 After the installation is complete, restart the system
03. VMware Tools installation method 2
To enter the terminal, you only need to enter three lines of commands: (after entering, wait patiently for the command to execute)
sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt install open-vm-tools-desktop -y
sudo reboot
04. Appendix
4.1 VMware Tools official document: https://docs.vmware.com/cn/VMware-Tools/index.html
4.2 VMware Tools download: VMwareTools-10.3.21-14772444.tar.gz