Alert "VMware Tools upgrade available" Observed When Latest VMware Tools Version is Installed

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi
• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• In the vSphere client, in the summary tab of the VM you see the alert "A newer version of VMware Tools is available for this Virtual Machine."

• You also see "VMware Tools: Running, Version:##### (Upgrade available)." However, the VM is already on the latest available version of VMware tools.

• In the ESXi host Client, no Banner/alert indicates that a VMware Tools upgrade is available for the VM.

• The issue has been observed on VMs running Microsoft Windows Server 2016.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0.3

VMware vCenter Server 7.0.3

Resolution

Uninstall VMware Tools within the guest OS, and reinstall VMware Tools.

- See VMware Tools Administration & Installing and upgrading VMware Tools in vSphere

 

If the reinstall does not resolve the issue, verify that the correct version of Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable is installed as required by VMware Tools. 

- See Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable Requirement for VMware Tools

Additional Information

VMware Tools Installation for Linux - https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware-cis/vsphere/tools/11-1-0/vmware-tools-administration-11-1-0/installing-vmware-tools/install-open-vm-tools.html