VMware Tools

VMware Tools is a utility suite that enhances the performance of a virtual machine's guest OS. If VMware Tools is not installed in the guest operating system, the guest will be lacking in some important functionality. The VMware Tools utility improves virtual machine management by replacing the generic OS drivers with VMware drivers optimized for virtual hardware. The following components are included after the installation of VMware Tools:

The VMware Tools service passes information between guest operating systems and the ESXi host; service starts when the guest OS boots. This runs as a vmtoolsd.exe program in Windows, vmware-tools-daemon in Mac OS X, and vmtoolsd in Solaris, FreeBSD, and Linux guest operating systems.

This service can run scripts that help automate repetitive guest operating system operations. Synchronization of the guest operating system time with the time on the ESXi host (with the exception of Mac OS X) can be configured with VMware Tools, though this is not necessarily recommended. Another benefit is the ability to move the mouse cursor freely between a Windows guest operating system in the VM and the vSphere Client (otherwise, Ctrl + Alt must be pressed in order to release the cursor from the VM console). Windows operating systems have the ability to quiesce snapshots used by certain backup operations provided by the service. VMware Tools also provides the process that sends heartbeats to VMware products to indicate that the guest operating system is running.

VMware Tools device drivers refine mouse operations and improve performance of networking, sound, and graphics. The guest OS will determine which drivers are installed with VMware Tools. The following device drivers can be included with VMware Tools:

The VMware user process starts when a user logs in to a Windows guest OS or starts a desktop environment session in Linux. The process' program file is called vmtoolsd.exe on Windows guest OSes and vmusr for FreeBSD, Solaris, and Linux operating systems. This allows for copy-and-paste interaction between the guest operating system and the vSphere Client, matching the screen display resolution of the guest with that of the vSphere Client.

VIX support is provided for using the VMware VIX API for guest operating system-bound API calls. The VIX API allows for the automation of virtual machine operations on the ESXi platform.