VMs in the cluster do not detect new VMware Tools upgrade after successful baseline remediation.

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

 

• VMware Tools 12.5.2 baseline shows compliant on all hosts in the cluster.

• Windows VMs on the same cluster still show Tools version 12.1.0 as current.

• No "Upgrade Available" option is shown in vSphere Client.

 

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 8.0.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0.x

Cause

 

• ProductLocker path was not updated to point to the new VMware Tools version (12.5.2) on the affected hosts.

• Although the baseline installed the package, the old symlink/path still points to the previous tools version directory.

 

Resolution

1. Manually update the UserVars.ProductLockerLocation advanced setting on affected hosts to the correct tools path (e.g., /vmfs/volumes/tools-isoimages).
   You can refer to the KB to perform step 1 : Installing and upgrading the latest version of VMware Tools on existing hosts
   
   
2. Reboot one host to validate that VMs detect the new Tools version.
   
   
3. Once verified, reboot remaining hosts in the cluster to apply the change fully.
   
   
4. Confirm VMs now show "Upgrade available" for VMware Tools 12.5.2.