VMware Tools compatibility with guest operating systems
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VMware Tools compatibility with guest operating systems

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Article ID: 313371

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Updated On:

Products

VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

This article gives the compatibility of VMware Tools with guest operating systems. 

Please review the following important support considerations:

  • VMware Tools installed in a virtual machine can be upgraded independently from the underlying VMware platform product. VMware Tools will gracefully degrade depending on the virtual machine hardware version and the VMware platform product's capabilities (forward and backward compatible).

  • Upgrading to newer versions of VMware Tools will provide bug fixes, enable access to new features and improve support for new guest operating system releases. Please see the release notes for VMware Tools versions for more detailed information.

  • VMware Tools releases and each VMware platform product release (vSphere, Workstation and Fusion) have independent support lifecycles.  See the VMware Product Lifecycle Matrix (lifecycle - Support Portal - Broadcom support portal) for details. Upgrading to newer versions of VMware Tools may also be necessary to stay within the generally supported life cycle phase for VMware Tools.

  • Each VMware platform product publishes compatibility information for guest operating system releases in the VMware Compatibility Guide (VCG).

  • VMware Tools includes components that enable optional VMware products and solutions, such as Horizon, NSX, and CarbonBlack. The guest operating system compatibility specified in this article only indicate the general minimum VMware Tools compatibility. Use of additional optional VMware products and solutions may require newer versions of VMware Tools beyond what is specified in this article. Please consult the documentation for the other VMware products.

  • To ensure a configuration is fully supported, confirm: 

  1. Compatibility of VMware Tools with guest operating system (this article),
  2. Compatibility of the VMware platform product with guest operating system (VCG),
  3. Compatibility of optional VMware products and solutions with guest operating system.
  4. The support lifecycle of each VMware product.


Environment

  • VMware vSphere ESXi 7.x
  • VMware vSphere ESXi 8.x

Resolution

The following sections include compatibility information for each operating system type.

Microsoft Windows

VMware Tools for Windows is distributed as an ISO that is bundled with VMware platform products and is also available on-line. An MSI is used to install VMware Tools in the Windows operating system.
 

 OS Release  Compatible VMware Tools   Versions  Note

Window Server 2025

 11.3.0 or later VMware Tools 12.5.0 or later is recommended

 Window Server 2022

 Windows 11

  10.3.5 or later VMware Tools 12.0.0 or later is recommended
 Windows Server 2019  10.1.0 or later  

 Windows Server 2016

 Windows 10

  10.1.0 or later  

 Windows Server 2012
 Windows Server 2012 R2

 Windows 8
 Windows 8.1

  10.1.0 or later  

 Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1

 Windows 7 SP1

  10.1.0 or later  

 Windows Server 2008 R2

 Windows 7

  10.1.0 through 11.0.6  

 Windows Server 2008 SP2 

 Windows Vista SP2 

  10.1.0 through 11.0.6  

 Windows Server 2008
 Windows Server 2008 SP1 

 Windows Vista
 Windows Vista SP1 

  10.1.0 through 10.2.5  

 Windows Server 2003 

 WIndows XP 

 Windows 2000 

  10.0.0 through 10.0.12 Use winPreVista.iso
 Windows NT, 95, 98  7.4.6 through 7.7.0 Use winPre2k.iso

 

Additional considerations for Windows guest operating systems:

  • Supported Windows 10 and Windows 11 Guest Operating Systems for Horizon Agent and Remote Experience, for Horizon 8 2006 and Later  - Supported Windows 10 and Windows 11 Guest Operating Systems for Horizon Agent and Remote Experience, for Omnissa Horizon 8.x (2006 and Later) (78714)
  • Legacy Windows Support Plan for VMware Horizon -Legacy Windows Support Plan for Omnissa Horizon (76934)

Linux

For Linux guest operating systems, VMware recommends the use of open-vm-tools, which is the open source implementation of VMware Tools.  More detailed information about open-vm-tools is available here:

Most Linux vendors and communities provide open-vm-tools packages for their newer releases. If a Linux distribution of interest does not provide open-vm-tools or a specific version of open-vm-tools, then please contact the operating system vendor or community. The open-vm-tools packages are available in the following operating systems:

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 and later releases
  • SUSE Linux Enterprise 12 and later releases
  • Ubuntu 14.04 and later releases
  • CentOS 7 and later releases
  • Debian 7.x and later releases
  • Oracle Linux 7 and later
  • Fedora 19 and later releases
  • openSUSE 11.x and later releases
  • Flatcar Container Linux, all releases
  • Rocky Linux 8 and later releases
  • AlmaLinux OS 8 and later releases
  • Photon OS, all releases

One of the key benefits of open-vm-tools is that updates and patches of the open-vm-tools packages are provided by the operating system vendors. Therefore, maintenance of open-vm-tools can be done at the same time as the underlying operating system. This simplifies maintenance burden and eliminates additional workload downtime.

The following support considerations apply to open-vm-tools:

  • VMware is the maintainer of the open-vm-tools project.
  • VMware will assist and collaborate with operating systems vendors to support open-vm-tools through the vendor's support processes on certified combinations of guest operating system releases. 
  • Each operating system vendor is expected to provide support for the packages that are distribute by the vendor, including open-vm-tools. This includes troubleshooting, providing workarounds and if necessary, providing patches. Only the operating system vendor can provide updates and patches for the open-vm-tools packages distributed by the vendor.
  • In order to update to newer version of open-vm-tools, update to a newer version of the guest operating system where available. Please contact operating system vendor for more information about availability of specific open-vm-tools versions.
  • The VMware Product Lifecycle Matrix (lifecycle - Support Portal - Broadcom support portal) for VMware Tools does not apply to open-vm-tools that is distributed by operating system vendors. Instead, open-vm-tools is supported through the operating system vendor's lifecycle and policies.

For older operating system releases where the vendor does not provide open-vm-tools, then it is recommended to install VMware Tools for Linux in the guest operating system. VMware Tools for Linux is distributed on an ISO (linux.iso) in TAR format and installed using a perl script. The perl script can run on variety of Linux distributions. VMware Tools for Linux contains both user space application and kernel modules (drivers). The kernel modules are installed only if guest operating system kernel does not already contain the same kernel modules.

VMware Tools for Linux (linux.iso) has been discontinued in favor open-vm-tools and is no longer available beyond version 10.3.x.

For RHEL, SLES and Ubuntu, VMware Tools are also available in the form of Operating system Specific Packages (OSPs) that may be downloaded and installed using the native package manager. OSP format tools have also been discontinued in favor open-vm-tools and is no longer available beyond version 10.3.x.

Additional considerations for Linux guest operating systems:
The following table details the compatibility of TAR and OSP format VMware Tools with Linux guest operating systems.

 OS Release  Compatible   VMware Tools   Versions  Open- vm-   tools  Notes

 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.x or later

 Oracle Linux 8.x or later

 CentOS 8.x or later

 Asianux 8.x or later
 N/A
 Available
  • Use open-vm-tools
 

 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.x

 Oracle Linux 7.x

 CentOS 7.x

 Asianux 7.x
 9.0.10 through 10.3.x 
 Available
  • Recommend use of open-vm-tools
  • VMT and open-vm-tools available
  • No OSP Format available

 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.x

 Oracle Linux 6.x

 CentOS 6.x

 Asianux 4.x
 8.0.0 through 10.3.x
 Not available
  • VMware Tools for Linux is no longer available beyond version 10.3.x.

 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.x

 Oracle Linux 5.x

 CentOS 5.x

 Asianux 3.x
 7.4.6 through 10.3.22
 Not available
  • VMware Tools for Linux version 10.3.23 and later requires distributions that include glibc version 2.11 or later and are not compatible with these guest operating systems - https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article?legacyId=2147454

 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.x

 Oracle Linux 4.x

 CentOS 4.x
 7.4.6 through 10.0.12
 Not available
  • Use linuxPreGLibc25.iso 
  • VMware Tools for Linux version 10.1.0 and later requires distributions that include glibc version 2.5 or later and are not compatible with these guest operating systems - https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article?legacyId=2147454
 Red Hat Enterprise 
 Linux 3.x
 7.4.6 through 10.0.12
 Not available
  • Use linuxPreGLibc25.iso 
  • VMware Tools for Linux version 10.1.0 and later requires distributions that include glibc version 2.5 or later and are not compatible with these guest operating systems -https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article?legacyId=2147454
 SUSE Linux 
 Enterprise 12 or later
 N/A
 Available
  • Use open-vm-tools
 SUSE Linux 
 Enterprise 11
 7.4.7 through 10.3.x
 Available
  • VMware Tools for Linux is no longer available beyond version 10.3.x.
  • SUSE provides open-vm-tools packages
  • Check the Release Notes for the specific 10.3.x version for any known limitations or issues for desktop users.
 SUSE Linux 
 Enterprise 10
 7.4.6 through 10.0.12
 Not available
  • Use linuxPreGLibc25.iso 
  • VMware Tools for Linux version 10.1.0 and later requires distributions that include glibc version 2.5 or later and are not compatible with these guest operating systems - https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article?legacyId=2147454
 SUSE Linux 
 Enterprise 9
 7.4.6 through 10.0.12
 Not available
  • Use linuxPreGLibc25.iso 
  • VMware Tools for Linux version 10.1.0 and later requires distributions that include glibc version 2.5 or later and are not compatible with these guest operating systems - https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article?legacyId=2147454
 Ubuntu 16.04 or later
 9.4.0 through 10.3.x
 Available
  • Use open-vm-tools
 Ubuntu 14.04
 9.0.10 through 10.3.x
 Available
  • Use open-vm-tools
 Ubuntu 12.04 LTS
 8.3.12 through 10.3.x
 Not available
  • VMware Tools for Linux is no longer available beyond version 10.3.x.
 Ubuntu 10.04 LTS
  8.0.3 through 10.3.2  Not available  
 Ubuntu 7.04 or Ubuntu < 10.04  7.4.6 through 10.0.12  Not available
  • Use linuxPreGLibc25.iso 
  • VMware Tools for Linux version 10.1.0 and later requires distributions that include glibc version 2.5 or later and are not compatible with these guest operating systems - https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article?legacyId=2147454
 Photon 2.0 or later  N/A  Available
  • Use open-vm-tools
 Debian 11.x (Bullseye) or later  N/A  Available
  • Use open-vm-tools
 Debian 10.x (Buster)  10.1.0 through 10.3.x  Available
  • VMware Tools for Linux is no longer available beyond version 10.3.x.
  • VMware Tools for Linux and open-vm-tools packages are available.
 Debian 9.x (Stretch)  9.10.0 through 10.3.x  Available
  • VMware Tools for Linux is no longer available beyond version 10.3.x.
  • VMware Tools for Linux and open-vm-tools packages are available.
 Debian 8.x (Jessie)  9.10.0 through 10.3.x  Available
  • VMware Tools for Linux is no longer available beyond version 10.3.x.
  • VMware Tools for Linux and open-vm-tools packages are available.
 Debian 7.x (Wheezy)  9.4.0 through 10.3.x  Available
  • VMware Tools for Linux is no longer available beyond version 10.3.x.
  • VMware Tools for Linux and open-vm-tools packages are available.

  • Supported Guest Operating Systems for Horizon Linux Agent for Horizon 8 2103 and Later -- Supported Guest Operating Systems for Horizon Linux Agent for Horizon 8 2103 and Later (87277) (omnissa.com)

FreeBSD

For the FreeBSD operating system, VMware recommends the use of open-vm-tools, which is the open-source implementation of VMware Tools. More detailed information about open-vm-tools is available here:

The open-vm-tools packages are available for the FreeBSD 10 and later releases.

For older operating system releases where open-vm-tools packages are not available, then it is recommended to install VMware Tools for FreeBSD in the guest operating system. VMware Tools for FreeBSD is distributed on an ISO (freebsd.iso) in TAR format and installed using a perl script. 

VMware Tools for FreeBSD (freebsd.iso) has been discontinued in favor open-vm-tools and is no longer available beyond version 10.1.x.

The following table details the compatibility of VMware Tools for FreeBSD (freebsd.iso) with guest operating systems.

 OS   Release  Compatible   VMware Tools   Versions  Notes
 FreeBSD 11.x or later N/A
  • Use open-vm-tools
 FreeBSD 10.x  9.4.10 through 10.1.x  
  • VMware Tools for FreeBSD and open-vm-tools packages are available.
  • Recommend using open-vm-tool.
 FreeBSD 9.x  9.0.0 through 10.1.x  

 

Apple macOS

Support for macOS as a guest operating system will be discontinued on VMware products. Refer to the following article for more information:

 OS Release  Compatible VMware Tools   Versions   Note
 macOS versions 10.11 and later  10.1.0 through 12.1.1
  • Use darwin.iso
    • 10.3.10 works per internal OS wikis
    • 11.0-RN: VMware Tools is notarized for MacOS 10.14.5 starting with VMware Tools 11.0.0 release.
 macOS versions 10.10.x and   older  9.10.0 through 10.0.12
  • Use darwinPre15.iso

Solaris

The last version of VMware Tools for Solaris was 10.3.10.

VMware-tools-10310-release-notes:

  • VMware Tools 10.3.10 release freezes support for Solaris guests.

 OS Release  Compatible VMware Tools Versions  Note
 Solaris 10.x, 11.x  7.4.6 through 10.3.10 solaris.iso



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