Verifying a VMware Tools build version

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

This article provides steps to determine the version of VMware Tools installed on a virtual machine and to check if the installed version corresponds to the version on the ESXi/ESX host.

Resolution

To determine the VMware Tool version:

• Windows:

• From the Console or an remote desktop session, open VMware Tools from the Task Bar and click About.
• From the directory located at C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Tools\, run the command:
  
  VMwareToolboxCmd.exe -v

• Linux:

• From the Console, run the vmware-toolbox command from terminal and click About.
• To determine the vmware-tools version, run the command:
  
  vmware-toolbox-cmd -v

To compare the versions of the host build level is required. 

If the VMware Tools version installed is a lower build number than the corresponding ESXi/ESX host build number then upgrade the VMware Tools to the latest version.

Note: The Tools version can also be accessed from the ESXi/ESX command line by running the command:

 

grep toolbox /vmfs/volumes/datastore/vm_name/vmware.log

 

An alternative command to verify the tools version on an ESX/ESXi host is:

 

grep build- /vmfs/volumes/datastore/vm_name/vmware.log

Additional Information

• How to install VMware Tools
• Managing virtual machines using PowerCLI