6.0

In Windows virtual machines, you can set VMware Tools to notify you when an upgrade is available. If this
notication 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 rst time. Upgrading VMware Tools means installing a new version.
For Windows and Linux guest operating systems, you can congure 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 o or restart the
virtual machine. The status bar displays the message Installing VMware Tools ... when an upgrade is in
progress.
I After you upgrade VMware Tools on Linux guest operating systems, new network modules
are available but are not used until you either restart the guest operating system or stop networking, unload
and reload the VMware networking kernel modules, and restart networking. This behavior means that even
if VMware Tools is set to automatically upgrade, you must restart or reload network modules to make new
features available.
This strategy avoids network interruptions and allows you to install VMware Tools over SSH.
Upgrading VMware Tools on Windows guest operation systems automatically installs the WDDM graphics
drivers. The WDDM graphics driver makes the sleep mode available in guest OS power seings to adjust
the sleep options. For example, you can use the sleep mode seing Change when the computer sleeps to
congure your guest OS to automatically go to sleep mode after a certain time or prevent your guest OS
from automatically switching to sleep mode after being idle for some time.
For vSphere virtual machines, you can use one of the following processes to upgrade multiple virtual
machines at the same time.
You can use one of the following processes to upgrade multiple virtual machines at the same time.
n
Log in to vCenter Server, select a host or cluster, and on the Virtual Machines tab 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.
Some features in a particular release of a VMware product might depend on installing or upgrading to the
version of VMware Tools included in that release. Upgrading to the latest version of VMware Tools is not
always necessary, however, VMware highly recommends that you upgrade to the most updated version of
the VMware Tools. Newer versions of VMware Tools are compatible with several ESXi host versions. To
avoid unnecessary upgrades, evaluate whether the added features and capabilities are necessary for your
environment. See vSphere Virtual Machine Administration. However, VMware highly recommends installing
and using the latest version of VMware Tools.
Some features in a particular release of a VMware product might depend on installing or upgrading to the
version of VMware Tools included in that release. Upgrading to the latest version of VMware Tools is not
always necessary. Newer versions of VMware Tools are compatible with several host versions. To avoid
unnecessary upgrades, evaluate whether the added features and capabilities are necessary for your
environment.
Table 3‑1. Virtual Machine Compatibility Options
Compatibility Description
ESXi 6.0 and later This virtual machine (hardware version 11) is compatible with ESXi 6.0 and later.
ESXi 5.5 and later This virtual machine (hardware version 10) is compatible with ESXi 5.5 and later.
ESXi 5.1 and later This virtual machine (hardware version 9) is compatible with ESXi 5.1 and later.
ESXi 5.0 and later This virtual machine (hardware version 8) is compatible with ESXi 5.0 and 5.1.
Chapter 3 Virtual Machine Management with the VMware Host Client
VMware, Inc. 45