Version status of older VMware Tools on ESXi 6.5

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Signature verification for VMware Tools ISO images are enforced from ESXi 6.5. Signatures are present in VMware Tools version 10.1.0 and 10.0.12 which is bundled with ESXi 6.5.

VMware Tools version older than 10.1.0 or 10.0.12 do not have signatures. Using VMware Tools without signatures on ProductLocker will lead to VMware Tools version status being reported as guestToolsSupportedOld or guestToolsTooOld in vSphere APIs and UI.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 6.5

Resolution

The table listed below gives an example of the version status of VMware Tools, when guest is running the same version of VMware Tools as the ProductLocker on the host and signatures for VMware Tools ISO images are not available on ProductLocker. Before upgrading the host, version status of VMware Tools will be displayed as guestToolsCurrent because Tools version in the guest operating system and the host is same. However, lack of signature verification will lead to following status after upgrading the host.

Guest OS VMware Tools version in the guest Tools version status

---------------------- --------------------------------- ----------------------

Windows (<2K) Tools = 7.7.0 guestToolsSupportedOld

Windows (2K and later) Tools >= 8.0.1 && Tools < 10.1 guestToolsSupportedOld

Linux (all) Tools >= 8.0.1 && Tools < 10.1 guestToolsSupportedOld

Solaris (all) Tools >= 9.0.0 && Tools < 10.1 guestToolsSupportedOld

MacOS (<10.11) Tools < 10.0.12 guestToolsTooOld

MacOS (10.11 and later) Tools < 10.1 guestToolsTooOld

Netware (all) Tools = 8.1.0 guestToolsSupportedOld

FreeBSD (all) Tools < 10.1 guestToolsTooOld

For vSphere APIs and UI to report the correct version status of VMware Tools, ProductLocker should be updated with VMware Tools version 10.1.0 and 10.0.12. For the instructions on how to update the ProductLocker see KB 2129825.