'Protection lost with VMware NSX Distributed Malware Prevention Service.' Message and icon seen on Windows tray after installing VMTools 12.3.0 with NSX Guest Introspection components

Products

• VMware NSX

Issue/Introduction

There is no impact on VMTools or NSX functionality due to this problem. This icon is a distraction and is misleading in environments where Guest Introspection drivers are installed but the NSX Distributed Malware Prevention service is absent.

Symptoms:

NSX Distributed Malware Prevention icon shows up inside taskbar tray on a Windows Virtual Machine even if there is no NSX installed or no NSX Distributed Malware Prevention Solution deployed and configured for the ESXi host where the Virtual Machine resides.

This happens with VMTools 12.3.0 if both the below mentioned conditions are met:

1. NSX File Introspection driver is installed as part of VMTools custom or complete installation.

2. Windows taskbar is recreated due to Explorer crash or restart.

NOTE: This may not be a problem if the ESXi host is configured for protection with compatible version of NSX Distributed Malware Prevention.

Environment

VMware Tools 12.3.5
VMware Tools 12.3.0

Resolution

Currently there is no resolution to the issue. This will be fixed in the future release.

Workaround:

To workaround the issue, the undesired tooltips can be turned off in following manner:
 
 Please turn off the GITray feature from VMTools configuration file.

1.  Open 'tools.conf' file located in 'C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware Tools\' in administrator mode.

2.  Add the below entry on tools.conf.

[gitray]
enabled=false.

3.  Logoff and re-login to the system

 This will suppress the GITray tooltip upon installation of VMTools 12.3.0.