Orphaned "vmware-root_" directories accumulate in /tmp after restarting vmtoolsd service

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

When restarting the vmtoolsd service (open-vm-tools) on a Linux virtual machine, a temporary working directory named vmware-root_<number> is created in the /tmp directory. These directories are not removed when the service terminates or the system reboots, leading to an accumulation of orphaned directories over time 

Environment

open-vm-tools

Cause

This is an identified bug within the open-vm-tools package (GitHub Issue #786).

Resolution

VMware by Broadcom is aware of this issue and is working in collaboration with the community.