Specifications

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VMware GSX Server Virtual Machine Guide
About 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
by VMware GSX Server. It is very important that you install VMware Tools in the guest
operating system. Although GSX Server can run a guest operating system without
VMware Tools, you lose important functionality and convenience.
When you install VMware Tools, you install •The VMware Tools service (or
vmware-guestd on Linux guests).
• A set of VMware device drivers, including an SVGA display driver, the vmxnet
networking driver for some guest operating systems, the BusLogic SCSI driver for
some guest operating systems and the VMware mouse driver.
• The VMware Tools control panel that lets you modify settings, shrink virtual disks,
and connect and disconnect virtual devices.
• A set of scripts that help automate guest operating system operations; the
scripts run when the virtual machine’s power state changes.
• A component that supports copying and pasting text between the guest and
host operating systems.
VMware Tools performs various duties within the guest operating system, such as
passing messages from the host operating system to the guest operating system,
sending a heartbeat to GSX Server, grabbing and releasing the mouse cursor, and
synchronizing the time in the guest operating system with the time in the host
operating system. The service starts automatically when the guest operating system
boots. For more information, see About the VMware Tools Service on page 90.
With the VMware SVGA driver installed, GSX Server supports up to 32-bit displays and
high display resolution, with significantly faster overall graphics performance. If you
run a guest operating system without VMware Tools, the graphics environment within
the virtual machine is limited to VGA mode graphics (640x480, 16 color) and display
performance may be unsatisfactory.
The VMware virtual SCSI driver is a BusLogic driver. Note that some recent guest
operating systems contain LSI Logic drivers and can take advantage of the virtual LSI
Logic adapter for better device performance.
The vmxnet networking driver improves network performance.
The VMware mouse driver improves mouse performance in some guest operating
systems. It is necessary for use with third party tools like Microsoft’s Terminal Services.