Legacy VMware Tools installation fail after open-vm-tools is removed

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

The VMware Tools service on ESXi 5.1.x and 5.5.x does not boot after you have uninstalled the open-vm-tools and installed legacy VMware Tools in SLE12.

Status message similar to the following is displayed in VMware Tools status in VMware vSphere Client after you reboot the virtual machine:

Not running(Not installed)

Environment

• VMware vSphere ESXi 5.5
• VMware vSphere ESXi 6.0
• VMware vSphere ESXi 5.1

Resolution

1. Setup a virtual machine and install SLES12 GM.
2. Run the following command to uninstall the open-vm-tools:
   # rpm -e open-vm-tools-desktop-9.4.0-9.24.x86_64
# rpm -e open-vm-tools-9.4.0-9.24.x86_64
3. Launch the VMware Tools and install in VMware vSphere Client.
4. Unzip the VMware Tools package and install legacy tools with -k and -d option.
   # ./vmware-install.pl -d -f
5. Reboot the virtual machine.