Installation guide

Table 13-1 summarizes the downtime required by guest operating system and by upgrade operation.
Table 13-1. Virtual Machine Downtime by Guest Operating System
Guest Operating System Upgrade VMware Tools Upgrade Virtual Hardware
Linux No downtime Downtime for shut down and power on of
virtual machine
Netware No downtime Downtime for shut down and power on of
virtual machine
Solaris No downtime Downtime for shut down and power on of
virtual machine
Microsoft Windows Downtime for reboot of guest
operating system
Downtime for shut down and power on of
virtual machine
Perform an Interactive Upgrade of VMware Tools on a Microsoft
Windows Guest
Upgrade VMware Tools to the latest version to enhance the performance of the virtual machine’s guest
operating system and improve virtual machine management.
Prerequisites
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Back up your virtual machines to prevent data loss. See Basic System Administration.
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Make sure that a supported guest operating system is installed on the virtual machine.
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You must have an ESX/ESXi license or be using evaluation mode to power on the virtual machine.
Procedure
1 From the vSphere Client, right-click the virtual machine, select Power, and select Power On.
2 Select the virtual machine and click the Summary tab.
The VMware Tools label indicates whether VMware Tools is installed and current, installed and not
current, or not installed.
3 Click the Console tab to make sure that the guest operating system starts successfully and log in if
necessary.
4 Right-click the virtual machine, select Guest, and select Install/Upgrade VMware Tools.
5 Select Interactive Tools Upgrade and click OK.
The upgrade process starts by mounting the VMware Tools bundle on the guest operating system.
6 If the Microsoft Windows New Hardware wizard appears in the virtual machine console, complete the
wizard and accept the defaults.
Upgrading virtual hardware and installing or upgrading VMware Tools includes enhancements to the
virtual network adapter. A Microsoft Windows guest operating system might interpret these changes as
indicating a different network adapter in the virtual machine and start the New Hardware wizard
accordingly.
7 In the virtual machine console, do one of the following:
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If autorun is enabled, click OK to confirm that you want to install VMware Tools and start the
InstallShield wizard.
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If autorun is not enabled, manually start the VMware Tools installer, by clicking Start > Run and
entering D:\setup.exe, where D: is your first virtual CD-ROM drive.
vSphere Upgrade Guide
86 VMware, Inc.