Determining the version of VMware Tools running in a Solaris virtual machine

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

This process provides a way to determine the version of VMware Tools running in a Solaris virtual machine, since that information cannot be obtained from the vSphere Client.

Symptoms:

The Summary tab of a Solaris virtual machine shows that VMware Tools has a status of Current or Out of Date, when seen via the vSphere Client.

Environment

VMware ESXi 4.1.x Embedded
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.1
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.5
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Installable
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0
VMware ESX 4.1.x

Resolution

To determine the version of VMware Tools installed in a Solaris virtual machine:

1. Launch an SSH session to the virtual machine or right-click within the virtual machine and click Open Terminal.
2. Change to the appropriate directory:
   
   
   • For 32-bit virtual machines, run the command:
     
     cd /usr/lib/vmware-tools/sbin/i86
     
     
   • For 64-bit virtual machines, run the command:
     
     cd /usr/lib/vmware-tools/sbin/amd64
     
     
3. Use the strings command to get the version details:
   
   strings vmtoolsd | less
   
   
4. The VMware Tools version and the associated build number is listed in the output. For example:
   
   VMware Tools daemon, version
   build-731933
   8.6.5.13851