VMware Tools version remains unchanged even after successful upgrade operation on a Windows guest

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• When a virtual machine is remediated in the VUM to upgrade VMware Tools, the guest is rebooted but VMware Tools version remains unchanged after remediation is complete.
• When VMware Tools upgrade is performed from vSphere UI or through UpgradeTools VIM API, the operation appears successful but VMware Tools version remains unchanged.

Note: This article applies to VMware Tools 10.3.x for Windows.

Cause

VMware Tools 10.3.x depends on and ships Microsoft Visual C++ 2017 Redistributable version 14.x. While preparing the system for VMware Tools 10.3.x installation, Microsoft Visual C++ 2017 Redistributable is installed on the system as a prerequisite. This may need a system restart depending on the state of the system. For more information, see KB 55798.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, attempt to upgrade VMware Tools again:

• If using VUM - Remediate the VM again
• If using vSphere UI - Repeat the operation
• If using VIM API - Re-invoke the UpgradeTools API