Understanding the Purpose of 7za.exe Installed with VMware Tools

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

This article explains the presence of the 7za.exe executable included with VMware Tools, providing clarity on why it is installed as part of the standard package on virtual machines.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 

Resolution

The file located at <drive>:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Tools\7za.exe is the 7-Zip (7za) executable that is installed as part of the standard VMware Tools package on Windows virtual machines.


VMware Tools utilizes 7-Zip for two specific use cases:

1. Creation of quiesced snapshots – A manifest file is generated, compressed, and stored with the guest OS in the VM directory.

2. Creation of the Guest OS support bundle.
   
   

Note: Users who require 7-Zip for any additional purposes should install a separate, up-to-date version rather than relying on the copy included with VMware Tools. The 7-Zip executable bundled with VMware Tools is intended solely for internal VMware Tools operations and should not be used directly by users.

Additional Information

For information on version details of the included 7-Zip utility, refer to the VMware Tools 13.0.0.0 Release Notes