VMware Cloud Director: "Install VMware Tools" only mounts the VMware Tools ISO - No automatic installation occurs

Products

• VMware Cloud Director

Issue/Introduction

When "Install VMware Tools" is selected for a powered-on VM in VMware Cloud Director, only the VMware Tools ISO is mounted; no automatic installation or upgrade is triggered.

In the /var/run/log/hostd.log file on the ESXi host, the following information is observed:

<YYYY-MM-DD>T<HH:MM:SS> In(###) Hostd[#######]: [Originator@#### sub=Vimsvc.TaskManager opID=vcd-########-####-####-####-############;activity=urn:uuid:########-####-####-####-############-##-##-#### sid=######## user=vpxuser:VSPHERE.LOCAL\vcloud_director] Task Completed : haTask-####-vim.VirtualMachine.mountToolsInstaller-######### Status success

Environment

VMware Cloud Director 10.6.x

Resolution

VMware Cloud Director cannot initiate the actual installation or upgrade of VMware Tools inside the guest operating system; it only mounts the VMware Tools ISO to the VM’s CD-ROM drive.
The user must then manually complete the installation or upgrade by following the standard VMware Tools setup process within the guest OS.